Post by blackcrowheart on Feb 11, 2006 12:14:44 GMT -5
Sacred Run Across The U.S.A
Native American Sisterhood Alliance raises funds for Sacred Run across
the United States
By Shira Zucker
February 09, 2006
www.millsweekly.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/09/43e9cf025ac63
Dennis Banks doesn't look like a man who would run across the country,
but on Saturday Feb. 11, the 75-year-old American Indian Movement leader
and founder of the Sacred Run will embark on a 71-day odyssey from
Alcatraz Island to Washington, D.C.
Before his departure from Alcatraz, members of the Native American
Sisterhood Alliance (NASA) will gather on the island for a sunrise
ceremony to bless Banks and other runners and to prepare them for their
journey.
NASA, a Mills club designed to support and represent indigenous women on
campus, spent the last week organizing and hosting a series of events
including concerts, film showings and panel discussions to benefit the
annual Sacred Run.
According to Alliance members, the Sacred Run was founded in 1978 to
strengthen indigenous communities and highlight the spiritual connection
between humans and the environment.
"Runners go to different tribal areas, participate in spiritual
ceremonies and carry the messages of the different struggles across the
country," said Alliance member Morning Star Gali, whose father
participated in the first official run.
Part of what the runners will do, said Gali, is raise awareness about
the need to protect sacred sites.
On Feb. 4, NASA hosted a panel presentation and film showing in Lucie
Stern Hall 100 to benefit the run. Moderated by Banks, the panel
featured representatives from various tribes struggling to regain
control of sacred land that has either already been developed or is
under threat of development. The event drew a multigenerational crowd of
over 50 students, activists and community members.
Included among the panelists was Klee Benally, member of the band
Blackfire who showed his film Snowball Effect, a documentary about the
attempts by 13 tribes to stop a ski resort from potentially harming the
Sacred Peaks of Arizona with wastewater snow. According to Benally, the
fate of sacred sites like the one in Arizona is inextricably linked with
the fate of Native people. "These sacred sites are the essence of our
way of life. They represent our sovereignty, our cultural identity. If
they are destroyed, it destroys who we are," Benally said.
Panelist Mark LeBeau spoke about efforts of the Pit River people of
northern California to prevent Calpine Corporation from building a power
plant adjacent to Medicine Lake, near Mount Shasta. LeBeau said if
Calpine goes through with the plan, the water that Native people rely on
for medicine production could be poisoned with mercury, arsenic and
other toxins.
A member of the Bay Area's Ohlone people, Corrina Gould, spoke about
efforts to defend sacred burial grounds called shellmounds throughout
the region. One of the most well known is located under a shopping mall
in Emeryville, which "is a horrific thing," Gould said.
Also on the panel were Wounded Knee DeOcampo and Fred Short. DeOcampo
encouraged more young people, regardless of race or spiritual
background, to come out and defend the sacred sites, while Short talked
about his efforts to provide Native spiritual ceremonies to prisoners.
Native American prisoners' rights is an issue the Alliance intends to
organize around in the future, according to junior and club member
Esther Lecero. She said they were currently in the process of being
cleared to provide spiritual ceremonies to indigenous prisoners at the
Dublin Correctional Women's Facility.
Gali attended the vigil held for former death row inmate Clarence Ray
Allen, who was executed by the state last month. According to Gali,
Allen was granted two spiritual advisors at his execution site but was
not allowed a Native spiritual guide during his last walk.
"Attending prayer vigils at these executions is something I grew up
with," said Gali, whose father founded American Indians Against the
Death Penalty. "It's really important to bring awareness to the fact
that prisoners are being denied their spiritual rights."
Many of the events the Alliance hosted recently, including the Sacred
Run fundraisers, were organized in participation with the International
Indian Treaty Council, the Vallejo Intertribal Council and other local
community organizations. Working in a coalition can sometimes present
challenges, but Alliance members say they wouldn't have it any other
way.
"The Bay Area Indian community has a longtime history of using community
activism as a continuous way to make change," said Gali. "These events
were a great way for NASA to reach out and also to bring that community
here to Mills."
Lecero agrees. "As an organization we're committed to participating in
political activism, particularly in support of the Native community,"
she said. "I think what we're doing is a very small piece."
According to Lecero, it's not too late for Mills students to do their
own small piece to support the Sacred Run. Alliance members are inviting
students to attend a benefit concert at StudioZ in San Francisco on Feb.
10 and tickets are still available for the sunrise ceremony on Feb. 11.
For information about these events, visit www.sacredrun.org.
Native American Sisterhood Alliance raises funds for Sacred Run across
the United States
By Shira Zucker
February 09, 2006
www.millsweekly.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/09/43e9cf025ac63
Dennis Banks doesn't look like a man who would run across the country,
but on Saturday Feb. 11, the 75-year-old American Indian Movement leader
and founder of the Sacred Run will embark on a 71-day odyssey from
Alcatraz Island to Washington, D.C.
Before his departure from Alcatraz, members of the Native American
Sisterhood Alliance (NASA) will gather on the island for a sunrise
ceremony to bless Banks and other runners and to prepare them for their
journey.
NASA, a Mills club designed to support and represent indigenous women on
campus, spent the last week organizing and hosting a series of events
including concerts, film showings and panel discussions to benefit the
annual Sacred Run.
According to Alliance members, the Sacred Run was founded in 1978 to
strengthen indigenous communities and highlight the spiritual connection
between humans and the environment.
"Runners go to different tribal areas, participate in spiritual
ceremonies and carry the messages of the different struggles across the
country," said Alliance member Morning Star Gali, whose father
participated in the first official run.
Part of what the runners will do, said Gali, is raise awareness about
the need to protect sacred sites.
On Feb. 4, NASA hosted a panel presentation and film showing in Lucie
Stern Hall 100 to benefit the run. Moderated by Banks, the panel
featured representatives from various tribes struggling to regain
control of sacred land that has either already been developed or is
under threat of development. The event drew a multigenerational crowd of
over 50 students, activists and community members.
Included among the panelists was Klee Benally, member of the band
Blackfire who showed his film Snowball Effect, a documentary about the
attempts by 13 tribes to stop a ski resort from potentially harming the
Sacred Peaks of Arizona with wastewater snow. According to Benally, the
fate of sacred sites like the one in Arizona is inextricably linked with
the fate of Native people. "These sacred sites are the essence of our
way of life. They represent our sovereignty, our cultural identity. If
they are destroyed, it destroys who we are," Benally said.
Panelist Mark LeBeau spoke about efforts of the Pit River people of
northern California to prevent Calpine Corporation from building a power
plant adjacent to Medicine Lake, near Mount Shasta. LeBeau said if
Calpine goes through with the plan, the water that Native people rely on
for medicine production could be poisoned with mercury, arsenic and
other toxins.
A member of the Bay Area's Ohlone people, Corrina Gould, spoke about
efforts to defend sacred burial grounds called shellmounds throughout
the region. One of the most well known is located under a shopping mall
in Emeryville, which "is a horrific thing," Gould said.
Also on the panel were Wounded Knee DeOcampo and Fred Short. DeOcampo
encouraged more young people, regardless of race or spiritual
background, to come out and defend the sacred sites, while Short talked
about his efforts to provide Native spiritual ceremonies to prisoners.
Native American prisoners' rights is an issue the Alliance intends to
organize around in the future, according to junior and club member
Esther Lecero. She said they were currently in the process of being
cleared to provide spiritual ceremonies to indigenous prisoners at the
Dublin Correctional Women's Facility.
Gali attended the vigil held for former death row inmate Clarence Ray
Allen, who was executed by the state last month. According to Gali,
Allen was granted two spiritual advisors at his execution site but was
not allowed a Native spiritual guide during his last walk.
"Attending prayer vigils at these executions is something I grew up
with," said Gali, whose father founded American Indians Against the
Death Penalty. "It's really important to bring awareness to the fact
that prisoners are being denied their spiritual rights."
Many of the events the Alliance hosted recently, including the Sacred
Run fundraisers, were organized in participation with the International
Indian Treaty Council, the Vallejo Intertribal Council and other local
community organizations. Working in a coalition can sometimes present
challenges, but Alliance members say they wouldn't have it any other
way.
"The Bay Area Indian community has a longtime history of using community
activism as a continuous way to make change," said Gali. "These events
were a great way for NASA to reach out and also to bring that community
here to Mills."
Lecero agrees. "As an organization we're committed to participating in
political activism, particularly in support of the Native community,"
she said. "I think what we're doing is a very small piece."
According to Lecero, it's not too late for Mills students to do their
own small piece to support the Sacred Run. Alliance members are inviting
students to attend a benefit concert at StudioZ in San Francisco on Feb.
10 and tickets are still available for the sunrise ceremony on Feb. 11.
For information about these events, visit www.sacredrun.org.