The Native Blog

More on that Infamous Oprah visit to the Navajo Nation

Oprah goes to Navajo Country

 

Reporter Fired by Indian Country Today

Reporter fired by Indian Country Today

Some feedback on this article at Indianz...In the Hoop!

Shabbona News

Proposed Prairie Band Casino in Illinois hits Snag!

Shabbona bingo not a done deal!

A Blurb for my book!

I just finished "Potawatomi Tracks" ... please, never stop writing poetry! You have a fantastic gift. Here is what I wrote to my friends:

As long as we keep sending soldiers out into the world to fight and die and suffer on our behalf we need poets and story tellers like Larry Mitchell to tell us the hard stories about what our actions are doing in the world. That is the other job of a good poet. "The Ballad of Vietnam" is such a poem and Larry Mitchell is such a poet.

-Zachary Jean

Eddie Joe on the "Face of Crime" article!

The local newspaper did an article in the sunday edition entitled "faces of crime".  What it amounted to was a hatchet job on an Indian man that is deceased. It was splashed across the front page with pictures. The story was about the man that was arrested the most in shawnee county with over 120 arrests. Amazingly, two of the top three were Indians. The story stated only one arrest resulted in prison time. So evidently the crimes were misdemeanors. In a city full of crime, the paper chose to highlight this story. Topeka is one of the most violent cities of its size in the country.

I studied to be a journalist. I decided against a career in it. There is no such thing as a free press. All that you see, hear and read about is what someone wants you to. Fair coverage...yeah right. Will the paper write an article about something good that an Indian did? Highly unlikely. Will the newspaper criticize the government or big business. No way, the media is controlled by them.

The man in the article is gone. But not forgotten. The Capital-Journal made sure of that. There is good in all men.  The article didnt write anything good about this man.  Or about any of the circumstances that lead the man to be arrested so many times. The slant of the story was to make this man look bad.  There was no room to treat him as a human being. I suppose if we read stories like this one, we will forget about the rest of the crime occurring in our state capitol. It's easy to pick on the little guy. No one is willing to go after bigger targets.

The story is racist.  Indians are more than criminals. We contribute much to this state.  Any progress we make is always taken away by someone with racist attitudes.  Let's keep the little injun in his place. We as people have endured much worse than this. Let the slanted stories against Indians continue. We are used to them. We will continue as  a people. No one can take away our dignity unless we allow them to.

The Face of Crime

The Prairie Band Potawatomi are like other nationalities in this country, we have educated people with PHD's and Master's degrees, authors, artists, veterans that served this country with honor, and traditional people that are keeping the culture and language alive. A cross section of  our nation that can be written about!

But the Topeka Capital Journal writes an article about two of our tribal members that were among the top five most arrested people in Shawnee County, Kansas...The Face of Crime  It is beyond me why a paper would even bother to print that, much less put it on the front page! I mean, the guy that was arrested the most in Shawnee County is now dead, so why drag his name through the mud?  You got to think about that, our soldiers are getting killed in Iraq every day and that makes the inside pages of the paper! What is of more importance here?

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation American Indian Day Pow-wow

Today is the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation American Indian Day Pow-wow. The Grand Entries at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm at Prairie People's Park outside Mayetta, Kansas.

Under a Strawberry Moon

he was caught alone out on the prairies/he was left for dead by long-time enemies/he lay on the prairies...dreams came.../a white buffalo roamed by/the wolves came close/under a strawberry moon/a dream of death came and went!

on the morning prairie/he saw her she was with an ojibwe war-party/she came toward him wearing a calico dress/and had long black hair flowing down to her waist/she had eyes like the night/she was as sweet as the maple sugar back home/she said to her brother-warriors/"i can save him; i will take him with us back to the north."

the north country came into view like a dream/the great lakes were sky-blue/the streams were full of fish/the endless forest spread as far as the eye could see/she brought him back from the land of ghosts/she healed his wounds and made his life complete/and always told him he had the prettiest brown eyes she had ever seen!

"American Indian Day"

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is shut down today 'cos it is "American Indian Day." It is cool to have an American Indian day! I look around this country and see so much progress...there is an "American Indian Day" and I read this on Indianz Daily Siren telling Indians to get out of town has now stopped! and we don't see those "No Indians or Dogs allowed" signs on the doors of bars in South Dakota anymore either, nor do we see any of those protests at the boatlandings in Wisconsin...where they had signs that said  "Save a Walleye, Spear an Indian" ! Yea, there is plenty of progress being made out there!

So have a happy American Indian day!

American Legion Ladies Auxilary

The first newsletter of the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary Unit 410 Mayetta, Ks just came out! This Auxiliary supports the Veteran's of Wa-Ta-Se Post 410 on the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation!

I was the first featured veteran in their newsletter! On page two it covered the Book Review of my soon hard to find book! I am grateful to the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary: Micki, Brenda, Kitty, Judy, Lola, Gladys, and Meeks, for including me in their first issue!

Thank you for supporting our veterans!