NewMexiKen priced a prize winning Hopi Katsina (formerly known as Kachina) at the Santa Fe Indian Market Sunday. A gorgeous piece, about 18 inches tall, perfectly sized for a nicho I have. In the rain, I figured prices would be reduced.
$8000.
Alas, blogging doesn’t pay that well. It was beautiful, down to the detail in the Indian corn.
Take a look at the rug that won Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market.
This is the 85th year.
Each year the Santa Fe Indian Market includes 1,200 artists from about 100 tribes who show their work in over 600 booths. The event attracts an estimated 100,000 visitors to Santa Fe from all over the world. Buyers, collectors and gallery owners come to Indian Market to take advantage of the opportunity to buy directly from the artists. For many visitors, this is a rare opportunity to meet the artists and learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures. Quality is the hallmark of the Santa Fe Indian Market.
That’s a part of Cliff Palace, one of the large cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park.
Did you answer the question about who lived here with Anasazi? That’s what most people with some familiarity reply. But that term isn’t accurate; indeed, it is offensive to some. More correctly (politically and otherwise) the people who lived in the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and throughout the four corners area from 1100 to 700 years ago are called the Ancestral Puebloans. Their descendants are the Pueblo Indians of modern New Mexico and Arizona.
Anasazi derives from the Navajo words for ancient and enemy. The term was first applied to the cliff dwellings and other deserted settlements by Richard Wetherill, a rancher who was among the first Anglos to explore the area. It was adapted by archaeologists in the 1920s and came into popular usage in part as a result of ranger-led tours and National Park Service literature. In the past decade Ancestral Puebloans has become the generally preferred term.
Click image to enlarge. NewMexiKen photo, August 9, 2006.
The Lakota Tatanka-Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) surrendered to the U.S. Army on this date 125 years ago.
This from a fine, brief biographical essay at AmericanHeritage.com:
On the morning of the July 20, in front of American and Canadian soldiers and a Minnesota newspaperman, Sitting Bull had his eight-year-old son, Crow Foot, hand Brotherton his Winchester rifle. “I surrender this rifle to you through my young son,” said the chief, “whom I [thereby] desire to teach . . . that he has become a friend of the Americans. . . . I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle. This boy has given it to you, and he now wants to know how he is going to make a living.”
From an editorial, The MG Dynasty in today’s New York Times:
A Toyota assembled in Kentucky is now old news. Some of us can even live with the idea of a Jaguar sold by Ford. But it’s going to take a while to get used to the thought of an MG coupe built by a Chinese auto company in a factory halfway between Dallas and Oklahoma City.
Luckily, we will have a couple of years to think about it before the first vehicle — a newly designed MG TF Coupe — rolls out of the Nanjing Automobile Group’s new plant in Ardmore, Okla. When that day comes, it will be the first new version of the MG in the United States since 1980 — and from the first auto assembly plant built in this country by a Chinese carmaker.
The Times editorial, which continues, does not mention a most interesting aspect of the plan, however. The land on which the factory is to be built is former Indian land being re-acquired (and put into trust) by the Chickasaw Nation.
The interstate, a nearby railway, an abundance of cheap land and the tax advantages of partnering with a tribe make southern Oklahoma an attractive alternative to the Metroplex, McCaleb said.
This diversification is made possible by the Dawes Act of 1887, which eliminated Oklahoma’s reservations and carved up tribal land into individual allotments.
However, a tribe can buy land anywhere within its former reservation and ask the federal government to put it into trust for the tribe’s benefit.
That gives the tribe immense advantages for economic development.
“Federal judges wield tremendous power in their courtrooms and a few end up developing the habits of bullies.”
— Rocky Mountain News columnist Vincent Carroll commenting on the removal of the judge in the Indian trust lawsuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today ordered the chief judge of the district court to reassign the Indian trust case, Elouise Pepion Cobell, et al., v. Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, et al., to a new judge.
In short, in case after case the district court granted extensive relief against Interior, and in case after case we reversed, even under highly deferential standards of review. To be sure, repeated reversals, without more, are unlikely to justify reassignment. But here there is more. For one thing, on several occasions the district court or its appointees exceeded the role of impartial arbiter by issuing orders without hearings and by actively participating in evidence-gathering. For another, the July 12 opinion levels serious charges against Interior and its officials, charges that not only bear no relationship to the issue pending before the court, but also go beyond criticizing Interior for its serious failures as trustee and condemn the Department as an institution.
From all of this evidence, “an objective observer is left with the overall impression,” Microsoft I, 56 F.3d at 1463, that the district court’s professed hostility to Interior has become “so extreme as to display clear inability to render fair judgment,” Liteky, 510 U.S. at 551. What distinguishes this case from one in which a judge has merely become “exceedingly ill disposed towards [a party which] has been shown to be … thoroughly reprehensible,” id. at 550-51, is, most certainly, not any redeeming aspect of Interior’s behavior as trustee. Rather, what distinguishes this case is the combination of the content of the July 12 opinion and the nature of the district court’s actions. Given these seemingly unique circumstances, and given that “justice must satisfy the appearance of justice,” Offutt v. United States, 348 U.S. 11, 14 (1954)—that is, reasonable observers must have confidence that judicial decisions flow from the impartial application of law to fact, not from a judge’s animosity toward a party—we conclude, reluctantly, that this is one of those rare cases in which reassignment is necessary.
… took place 130 years ago today. Dee Brown wrote the following for The Reader’s Companion to American History:
In 1876, under command of Gen. Alfred Terry, Custer led the Seventh Cavalry as one force in a three-pronged campaign against Sitting Bull’s alliance of Sioux and Cheyenne camps in Montana. During the morning of June 25, Custer’s scouts reported spotting smoke from cooking fires and other signs of Indians in the valley of the Little Bighorn. Disregarding Terry’s orders, Custer decided to attack before infantry and other support arrived. Although scouts warned that he was facing superior numbers (perhaps 2,500 warriors), Custer divided his regiment of 647 men, ordering Capt. Frederick Benteen’s battalion to scout along a ridge to the left and sending Maj. Marcus Reno’s battalion up the valley of the Little Bighorn to attack the Indian encampment. With the remainder of the regiment, Custer continued along high ground on the right side of the valley. In the resulting battle, he and about 250 of his men, outnumbered by the warriors of Crazy Horse and Gall, were surrounded and annihilated. Reno and Benteen suffered heavy casualties but managed to escape to a defensive position.
Evan S. Connell’s Son of the Morning Star is generally regarded as the finest book on the battle; indeed, one of the finest on western American history. James Welch’s Killing Custer tells the story more from the Indian perspective.
William and Mary yesterday filed an appeal with the NCAA, which last month ruled that the nickname “Tribe” coupled with a logo including feathers could be viewed by Native Americans as offensive.
“Present NCAA determinations of mascot policy – what is allowed and what is forbidden – are neither comprehensible nor capable of being sensibly defended,” Gene R. Nichol, W&M’s president, wrote in a cover letter addressed to Myles Brand, the NCAA president.
In the appeal, W&M points out that the NCAA has made exceptions to its policy, allowing Florida State to remain the “Seminoles,” Utah to remain the “Utes,” and other schools to keep Native-American nicknames or imagery because those schools were granted permission to do so by specific tribes.
“To put it bluntly, the NCAA is now a complicit partner in the practices it seeks to condemn,” states a W&M-produced summary of the 21-page appeal. The appeal contends that W&M’s “nickname and logo are a natural expression of the College’s unique history and location.”
W&M established a school to educate Native Americans in 1697. That school operated for seven decades.
…“Few will understand why the College – where athletes regularly don Phi Beta Kappa keys at commencement, gain admission to competitive graduate and professional programs in unusually high numbers, and avoid the corrupting misconduct that too often mars university sports programs elsewhere – has made it to the top of the NCAA’s regulatory agenda,” Nichol wrote to Brand, the NCAA president.
“It would make more sense to study and export William & Mary’s approach to athletics than to penalize it.”
Jill and Emily, official daughters of NewMexiKen, are alumnae of The College of William and Mary. Jill was employed in the athletic department for several years.
Several sources give June 16, 1829, as Geronimo’s date of birth. It’s not clear to NewMexiKen that the Apaches were using the Gregorian calendar at that time. And, indeed, one of those sources, The New York Times, stated in its obituary of Geronimo in February 1909 that he was nearly 90 — not 79 as this birth date would indicate. But, he had to be born some time. So why not June 16?
In her excellent 1976 biography of Geronimo, Angie Debo concludes:
Geronimo was born in the early 1820’s near the upper Gila in the mountains crossed by the present state boundary [Arizona-New Mexico], probably on the Arizona side near the present Clifton. …
He was given the name Goyahkla, with the generally accepted meaning “One Who Yawns,’ why or under what circumstances is not known.
As an adult in battle he was called Geronimo by Mexican soldiers, perhaps because they could not pronounce Goyahkla, or perhaps to invoke Saint Jerome (Geronimo is Spanish for Jerome). The name was adopted for him by his own people.
In its obituary of Geronimo, The Times provided this quote:
Gen. Miles, in his memoirs, describes his first impression of Geronimo when he was brought into camp by Lawton, thus: “He was one of the brightest, most resolute, determined-looking men that I have ever encountered. He had the clearest, sharpest dark eye I think I have ever seen, unless it was that of Gen. Sherman.”
Some have wondered what motivated Geronimo to fight so fiercely. Perhaps this from his autobiography (written with S.M. Barrett in 1905) explains a little:
In the summer of 1858, being at peace with the Mexican towns as well as with all the neighboring Indian tribes, we went south into Old Mexico to trade. Our whole tribe (Bedonkohe Apaches) went through Sonora toward Casa Grande, our destination, but just before reaching that place we stopped at another Mexican town called by the Indians Kas-ki-yeh. Here we stayed for several days, camping outside the city. Every day we would go into town to trade, leaving our camp under the protection of a small guard so that our arms, supplies, and women and children would not be disturbed during our absence.
Late one afternoon when returning from town we were met by a few women and children who told us that Mexican troops from some other town had attacked our camp, killed all the warriors of the guard, captured all our ponies, secured our arms, destroyed our supplies, and killed many of our women and children. Quickly we separated, concealing ourselves as best we could until nightfall, when we assembled at our appointed place of rendezvous–a thicket by the river. Silently we stole in one by one: sentinels were placed, and, when all were counted, I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain. There were no lights in camp, so without being noticed I silently turned away and stood by the river. How long I stood there I do not know, but when I saw the warriors arranging for a council I took my place.
Thompson and Lugthart developed a series of full-color historical maps of Montana, beginning with one of the earliest American Indian maps of a portion of Western Montana all the way through to the present. …
The historical maps show an evolution of discovery, place names and the migration of the people living on the land. Each mapmaker from each era contributes to the history of the landscape.
“Each map is a story unto itself,” Thompson said.
NewMexiKen loves maps, and thinks historical maps in particular would be good to collect once I receive my Powerball winnings.
The NCAA, in a letter to college president Gene Nichol, said it agreed that the nickname “Tribe” wasn’t offensive, but combined with the logo showing two feathers “transforms that use from one associated with ‘togetherness,’ ‘shared idealism,’ and ‘commitment’ to stereotypical reference to Native Americans.”
I guess NewMexiKen will have to get rid of my William & Mary logo mousepad. (Both NewMexiKen daughters are graduates of William & Mary.)
Via the Arizona Daily Star, a reasonably even-handed examination of the Indian trust lawsuit.
The Albuquerque Journal seems to have trouble with math, claiming in an article by Paul Logan Saturday that the Gathering of Nations “attracts more than 150,000 people and members from more than 500 tribes.”
How do 150,000 people attend a 3-day event in an 18,000 seat arena?
The Gathering of Nations is North America’s largest Indian powwow. Held annually at the University Arena (The Pit) in Albuquerque, it attracts Indian dancers from all over the U.S. and Canada.
They call them “fancy dancers” for a reason.
Two generations of fancy dancers.
Ready for the Grand Entry.
Just before the Grand Entry a bald eagle is carried around the arena floor, faced in each of the four directions, its hood removed and its wings spread. Magnificent (but hard to photograph well from my vantage point).
When the Eagle Staff enters the arena to begin the Grand Entry, everyone stands.
The Grand Entry is without a doubt the single most colorful event NewMexiKen has ever seen.
A little something new among the traditional, a baseball cap tops one young man’s colorful array.
Everybody needs to look their best at the Gathering.
Vendors of Indian arts occupy a large tent outside the arena. And no Gathering of Nations would be complete without a gathering of Pendletons (in this case a rack of vests for sale).
NewMexiKen attended North America’s largest powwow this evening — the Gathering of Nations here in Albuquerque.
I’ll attempt to show some of the color later, but for now share the sentiment I’m sure many in attendance feel.
This is the weekend for North America’s largest powwow, the Gathering of Nations right here in Albuquerque.
Click to learn more — and view hundreds of colorful photos from previous Gatherings, and much, much more.
Click here for a schedule of New Mexico Pueblo feast days and other tribal events.
Sixty percent of the Mexican people are mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish), 30% are Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, 9% are white and 1% are other. The percentage with Indian heritage is even higher among the people of Guatemala and Honduras. (Source: CIA – The World Factbook)
If 90% of Mexicans have American Indian origins, then, of course, 90% of Mexican-Americans also have some American Indian origins. It follows then that instead of 4 million American Indians and Alaska natives in the U.S. (as identified in the 2000 Census), there are easily more than 30 million persons with some American Indian ancestry.
So, all together now, who are the immigrants?
From a report in The New York Times:
Today, there are more than 50 tribal-owned courses in some 17 states, with several more under construction. From the San Carlos Apache tribe’s Apache Stronghold Golf Club in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona to the Mohicans’ Pine Hills Golf and Supper Club in the Wisconsin woods, tribal courses have changed Indian country’s physical and cultural landscape, helped diversify the tribes’ casino-dependent economies and given American golf some of its finest new playgrounds.
In nearly every case, the courses sit near the tribes’ casinos, whose profits have allowed some American Indian nations to pay in cash for their golf ventures, which run about $5 million to $9 million.
But many of the tribal courses are so good that they are hardly seen as mere casino amenities. Twin Warriors Golf Club, on the Santa Ana Pueblo north of Albuquerque, is ranked 49th on Golf Digest’s 2006 list of the best 100 publicly accessible courses in America. Thirty miles north, near Española, N.M., the Santa Clara Pueblo’s Black Mesa Golf Club was named the 62nd best modern (post-1960) design by Golfweek, which also gave the 93rd spot to the Barona Band of Mission Indians’ Barona Creek Golf Club near San Diego.
“I think the tribal courses are probably the single most impressive force in golf architecture over the last 10 years,” said Ron Whitten, Golf Digest’s architecture critic. “I’ve been impressed with every one.”
Nowhere in America has tribal golf had more impact than in New Mexico, which has the equivalent of nine 18-hole courses on six reservations. By any impartial golf standard, they are uniformly challenging and well-maintained and have a restorative solitude. All but one are found roughly between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, at 5,000 to 7,000 feet, built along mountain foothills or near the banks of the Rio Grande in the fragrant piñón-and-juniper high desert, which still surprises some tourists who come expecting arid desolation.
There’s more worth reading in this well-done article.
By the way, those who know far more about golf than I, don’t consider Twin Warriors, good as it is, to be the best public course near Albuquerque. First place usually goes to Paako Ridge (not mentioned in the article because it isn’t Indian-owned).
Oh, by the way, Governor Kempthorne, welcome to the Indian Trust litigation.
First it was Cobell v. Babbitt. Then it became Cobell v. Norton. After confirmation of Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne as the new Interior secretary, it will be Cobell v. Kempthorne.
The judge in this, the individual Indian trust class action lawsuit, has already found both Secretary Babbitt and Secretary Norton in contempt (though an appeals court overturned the latter).
The New York Times published two articles (Sunday and Monday) on drug trafficking in Indian Country.
… was authorized on this date in 1931.
Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly–including distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery–exhibit remarkable preservational integrity that provides outstanding opportunities for study and contemplation. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance–a landscape composed of places infused with collective memory.
Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it is comprised entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. NPS works in partnership with the Navajo Nation to manage park resources and sustain the living Navajo community.
From the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, February 11, 1805:
Meriwether Lewis:
The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. [1] it is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently adminstered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it’s efficacy.
Background by Journals editor:
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau would have a varied and lengthy career on the frontier, starting with his role as the youngest member of the Corps of Discovery. Clark nicknamed him Pomp or “Pompy,” and named Pompey’s Pillar (more properly Clark’s “Pompy’s Tower”) on the Yellowstone after him in 1806. Clark offered to educate the boy as if he were his own son, and apparently took him into his own home in St. Louis when the child was about six. In 1823 he attracted the notice of the traveling Prince Paul of Wurttemburg, who took him to Europe for six years. On his return to the United States he became a mountain man and fur trader, and later a guide for such explorers and soldiers as John C. Frémont, Philip St. George Cooke, W. H. Emory, and James Abert. He eventually settled in California and died in Oregon while traveling to Montana in 1866.
Source: Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online February 11, 1805
… “An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations…” was approved by President Grover Cleveland on this date in 1887.
Named for its chief author, Senator Henry Laurens Dawes from Massachusetts, the Dawes Severalty Act reversed the long-standing American policy of allowing Indian tribes to maintain their traditional practice of communal use and control of their lands. Instead, the Dawes Act gave the president the power to divide Indian reservations into individual, privately owned plots. The act dictated that men with families would receive 160 acres, single adult men were given 80 acres, and boys received 40 acres. Women received no land.
The most important motivation for the Dawes Act was Anglo-American hunger for Indian lands. The act provided that after the government had doled out land allotments to the Indians, the sizeable remainder of the reservation properties would be opened for sale to whites. Consequently, Indians eventually lost 86 million acres of land, or 62 percent of their total pre-1887 holdings.
The alloment of lands ended in 1934. The problems The Dawes Act created continue.
