NDN Warriors on Independence Day
By Roy Cook

The fourth of July is a United States federal holiday. This is a fine time to recognize the military service of our Federal, State and non- government recognized Tribal American Indian Warriors. On many Tribal Nations land gatherings, pow wows, parades and celebrations take place on the Fourth of July.

NDN Warriors have always defended this great land for all the people. We appreciate and Honor our Military Veteran Warriors whom have stood on the battle line in combat to defend this land and our Indian Nations.

Just less than a few generations ago the way of life for Native people in America was very different. Just to provide a little perspective of American Indian history, it was not until 1924 that Native Americans were named United States citizens. And the state that I was born in 1943, Arizona, did not ratify this law until 1948. This is after my three uncles served in WW II and my cousins entered the military, along with myself, later also.


"Kill the Indian to save the man" -- that oppressive motto led to restrictions on many tribe's native language and native customs.

The federal government forced Indian children to go to denominational churches and boarding schools where they were re-educated, acculturated and stripped of their cultural traditions in an attempt to assimilate them.
So it makes sense that, growing up, the Fourth of July would be a dark day, a sad tribute to the country that tried and tried again to exterminate its native people and their culture. But it wasn't because Native American people are adaptable on the Fourth of July. Snow Cones and barbecues weaved together with older, indigenous traditions like music, song and powwows that would last deep into the night.

At the center of the festivities is the drum. "The beat of the drum means everything in the powwow. It signifies the heart beat of a people. There are different types of dances, ceremonies, give-aways and acknowledgements."
So what are Tribal people celebrating?

It is amazing that those that struggle the most, and who've been forced to be the most creative to survive are those that have the most to teach us. As a Nation of many cultures and ethnicities we can learn forgiveness without forgetting with incredible creativity and resilience.

At one point, for many decades and on many Reservation's, the white Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA, superintendent issued a declaration that read like this: "Dancing, exchanging of presents, traveling from one dance to another, and dancing feasts are not to be carried to excess."

The BIA superintendents decreed that permission for all traditional dances must be obtained in writing except for gatherings that were on the Fourth of July.

The Fourth of July, after all, was the time to teach Indians how to become good Americans. Some Indian children were even reassigned new birthdays to coincide with the Fourth. By the early 1900s, the Fourth had become a big day on the reservation, starting at dawn and lasting well in to the evening with traditional dances and ceremonies.
All kinds of singing and dancing, exchanging of gifts. People would visit friends, initiate people into societies and do all the sorts of things that they were ordinarily prevented from doing, under the cover of this patriotic celebration.

For more than a century, the Fourth of July has been a big day across Indian country. The Quapaw, Pawnee, Ponca, Kiowa and many other tribes in Oklahoma, the Ojibwe in Minnesota and the Northern Cheyenne in Montana are just a few of the tribes that have established big rodeos and powwows on the Fourth -- celebrating the day, but making it their own.

Of course, not all tribes or all Indian people have embraced the holiday in the same way. The Onondaga of upstate New York decided a few years ago to stop observing the Fourth of July altogether. Right after America declared independence in 1776, George Washington ordered Onondaga villages to be destroyed -- they were in the way of the new country. The film "Smoke Signals" by writer Sherman Alexie of the Spokane and Coeur D'Alene tribes captured the bitterness the day can bring in a scene between a father and son who are driving home on the Core D'Alene reservation one Fourth of July: "Happy Independence Day, Victor," the father says to his son with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Are you feeling independent?"

That line made Michelle Singer, a member of the Navajo tribe, laugh out loud when she saw it in the theater, but she has mixed feelings about Independence Day. One the one hand, when she is at Independence Day barbecues with her little brother, "he and I would certainly joke about the irony of this being Independence Day, and yet when you think about it's the beginning of the dominance of Euro culture, if you will."

On the other hand, her grandfather was a Navajo "code talker" during World War II, and she relishes the chance that the Fourth provides -- to honor him and his fellow veterans. Native Americans enlist in the military at far higher rates than any other group of Americans.

"We came from homes where our parents didn't have a college education, and here we were in our nation's capital, working in some pretty influential positions, and yet we were just these Indian kids," she says.

The birth of this country came with caveats. But in the glow of those fireworks, it seemed to Singer that, somehow, both her countries -- her sovereign tribe and the place that issued her passport -- might one day figure things out and change.

http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/02/4th_rez/

Native America: What will the signs of change be?

When the lands are given back to us, and we don't have to do fund raisers or occupations to get them back ;
When the buffalo are not hazed and killed by government agencies;
When rocks are not sold as souvenirs on Alcatraz ;
When Indian names and images are not used as Sports mascots or for commercial selling of products ;
When we can have equal time in our classrooms across the United States to learn and speak our languages so they are not lost forever;
When we have funding in our schools so our children can learn;
When all tribes can be nationally "recognized" ;
When we can keep our casino monies and take care of our own;
When we all have health care, card carrying or not ;
When we can have statues that also commemorate our own people;
When we can change historical markers to reflect the truth and not glamorize the murders;
When we can see curriculum in our school books and classrooms that are not romanticized or glossed over when it comes to what really happened in and around Indian Country ;
When we don't have to ask permission to hunt and gather for sustenance, ceremony, or for medicinal reasons;
When all Sacred Sites are in place (and protected);
When our ancestors remains or artifacts are uncovered, the corporation or
construction companies JUST STOP and find a different place to build;
When DJ's of commercial radio stations stop putting Indian people down;
When we can get our Indian Trust $$$ back out of the US Government's hands;
When we can get adequate and efficient housing for all Reservations & Rancherias & there is no waiting list ;
When we can get more of a variety of commodity foods and some fresh food...like eggs, milk, etc ;
When we can all have enough land given back to grow our own foods;
When our reservations are no longer used as toxic and nuclear waste dumps;
When the US Government apologizes and is held to answer for the atrocities and genocidal acts it did against countless Native American people ;
When our President makes a visit to each Reservation and realizes what the USA has re-created in Afghanistan, Iraq and countries to come;
When our ceremonies are not sold by those who disrespect the pipe, the sweat lodge, the sun dance and the things that help us heal ;
When we can get roads, water, power, phones, WiFi and computers to the Reservations & Rancherias that are without these things;
When we have a gym, clinic, wellness center, etc on each and every Reservation;
When we have our own radio station on each Reservation;
When we have more kids graduate from High school and college;
When we have adults returning back to school and getting their GED;
When we have less or no Indians in Prison and jail or political prisoners like Leonard Peltier;
When we have more rehab, preferably traditional and native way facilities ;
When we have more prevention programs and activities on the Reservation;
When poverty dissipates and children and adults do not have to go hungry;
When women are not referred to by ‘squaw’ or men by ‘chief’.

On the 4th of July we Remember our Gulf War NDN Warriors. During the Desert Storm conflict more than 3,000 American Indians served in the Gulf region.

Several American Indians lost their lives in the Gulf War, including Lori
Piestewa, a Hopi Indian from Arizona, who died in the ambush in which
Jessica Lynch and her compatriots were captured. Squaw Peak in
Arizona was officially re-named Piestewa Peak in her honor.

As of 1980, at least 60 women served as Eskimo Scouts in the Alaska National Guard, patrolling the western Alaska coastline. The Eskimo Scouts, organized during WW II, represent the only unit of the Alaska Guard to have a continuous active duty mission.

We Honor our American Indians on current Military Active Duty:

As of March 2012 the Pentagon estimates that since 2001, 64 American Indians and Alaskan Natives have died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq (42 in Operation Iraqi Freedom; 22 in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)). The Pentagon also reported in March that 22,248 American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) currently serve in the military (active duty). Native personnel serve across the Armed Forces at the following levels; Army: 4,404; Navy: 13,511; Marine Corps: 2,128; and Air Force: 2,205. The 2010 U.S. Census estimates that there are currently 156,515 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans. (Source: 2010 American Community Survey for the American Indian and Alaska Native alone population)

According to Department of Veteran Affairs, in 2006 more than 36,000 female veterans are AI/AN, representing almost 10 percent of all AI/AN veterans, and nearly twice the national average (6 percent of women in the overall population are veterans).

http://www.ncai.org/news/articles/2012/05/25/native-military-service-and-memorial-day-statement-by-ncai-president-jefferson-keel