Henry Red Cloud: a solar warrior for native America

CS Monitor: Henry Red Cloud: a solar warrior for native America

 

Henry Red Cloud’s address is 1001 Solar Warrior Road on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. But the road sign hasn’t arrived. A windmill towering over the cottonwoods in the draw of White Clay Creek marks the location of Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center and his “Solar Warrior Community.” Here Red Cloud directs the work of Lakota Solar Enterprises, his American Indian-owned and operated business dedicated to providing renewable energy to some of the poorest communities in the United States.

 

BBC: Chile Mapuche leader's house burned in suspected arson

 

A suspicious blaze has destroyed the home of an indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile, amid tension over a spate of forest fires. The suspected arson in Araucania, a region beset by land conflict, happened as the funerals were held for seven firefighters. Chilean authorities have suggested Mapuche activists may have been behind the fire that killed the men last week. The activists say the government is trying to criminalise their movement.

 

Reuters: Native American roots trump in adoption battle over toddler

 

The parents of a 2-year-old Cherokee girl adopted at birth are fighting to get her back after a court ruling based on Native American heritage allowed the biological father she has never known to take her away on New Year's Eve. Authorities took Veronica Capobianco from Matt and Melanie Capobianco of Charleston, South Carolina, on December 31 and turned the toddler over to father Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation who had sued for custody under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The Capobiancos legally adopted Veronica at birth through an open adoption in Oklahoma in 2009, said the couple's spokeswoman, Jessica Munday.  The Capobiancos are grieving for their adopted daughter, and an appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court is in the works, Munday said.

 

ICT: American Indians Offer Programs for Horses That Treat the Sacred Animals as a Way of Life

 

On November 18, President Obama approved the lifting of a congressional ban on domestic horsemeat inspections. In doing so, he raised the possibility that horses could be legally slaughtered for human consumption in the U.S. for the first time in years. Just as important, he spotlighted a major clash of cultures. Horse meat has long been considered a delicacy in many countries. Today, its cultivation is a highly regulated agribusiness. In Europe, the legal term “humane slaughter” is even used to denote the preparation of horses for eating by people. But in Indian country, there is little that is viewed as humane about horse butchering. Indeed, so keenly felt are Native views on horses that they raise important questions of long-term relationships with animals who remain indispensable to the Indian way of life.

AP: Obama administration approves 20-year ban on new mining claims near Grand Canyon

The Obama administration announced a federal ban Monday on new mining claims affecting a million acres near the Grand Canyon, an area known to be rich in high-grade uranium ore reserves. In doing so, the administration brushed off pressure from congressional Republicans and mining industry figures who wanted a policy change. Supporters of the ban say any increase in mining jobs is not worth risks to the Colorado River, lands considered sacred by American Indian tribes or wildlife habitat. A mining mishap also could be disastrous for tourism in one of the nation’s most-visited parks.

 

O’Malley to sign order formally recognizing 2 American Indian groups native to Md.

 

Gov. Martin O’Malley plans to formally recognize two American Indian groups indigenous to Maryland. O’Malley, a Democrat, will sign executive orders Monday formalizing the Maryland Indian Status of the two groups. The ceremony follows a process established by the General Assembly to formally recognize American Indian tribes, bands or clans. According to the Census, Maryland has 58,000 people who identify themselves as having American Indian heritage.

 

Church-related environmental group says Indian child killed in Brazil's remote north

 

A group associated with the Roman Catholic Church says a child from an isolated indigenous community in northern Brazil was killed and the body burned in a region where loggers operate. The Pastoral Commission of the Earth on Friday denounced the killing of the child, whose name, age and gender are unknown because communication with remote indigenous groups in Brazil is difficult. The church-associated environmental group says the child’s burned body was found by leaders of a neighboring indigenous community in Maranhao state.

 

NPR: Urban American Indians Rewrite Relocation's Legacy

 

Los Angeles County is home to the largest urban American Indian population — more than 160,000. In 1952, the federal government created the Urban Relocation Program, which encouraged American Indians to move off reservations and into cities such as Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. They were lured by the hope of a better life, but for many, that promise was not realized