Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 20:56:37 -0400
From: [S--R--Y] at [aol.com]
Subject: (AML): Permits Needed to Pray in the USA (long)
My Dear Atlantean Family and Friends:
In July, 1996, I posted a message that I had been sent regarding a group of
Native American Indians not being allowed to pray on their land (which is now
a National Park in Georgia) because they did not have a permit. I have been
trying to ascertain further information for myself and for several people who
have asked me.
Well, I finally received the information. It seems that they have had
many,many inquiries and are just now able to disseminate the requested
clarification.
Please excuse length but I feel compelled to get these facts regarding the
outrageous behavior of our government to all the world.
Thank you for your prayers, concerns and actions. When one of us is harmed,
all of us are harmed.
In Love, Light, Service and Laughter,
Julie Miller
Walelu Ageya
Hummingbird Woman
Namaste'
-----------------------------------------
My mom has asked me to send the following response to all who have written
about her needing a permit to pray at New Echota.
O'siyo to those whose hearts hear the words...
My son has forwarded to me the many letters you have each sent in
response to the piece I wrote, Permits To Pray. I thank each of you for
hearing the words and coming forth to the sacred fire with offers to help.
The incident is a true one and happened on Memorial Day weekend at New
Echota State Park in Georgia. New Echota was considered the Cherokee
*Tsalagi* Holy City. I suppose it could be equated to what Catholic people
feel about the Vatican.
New Echota was considered so holy that if anyone committed a crime in
our Nation he/she could come there and receive refuge as long as they did
not harm another. Our sacred fire was there....all of our holy relics...
We lost New Echota when we were forced to leave our lands which we
called, the Trail of Tears...in 1838...
Our Beloved Woman, Nancy Ward once found a starving group of military
soldiers and took our Cherokee cattle to them in order to save them there.
Our repayment was the burning of all of our villages and slaughter of our
People. Nancy was taken prisoner...for 19 months and never allowed to
return to her holy city...which also was burned.
We won our right to stay on our lands in the US Supreme Court but the
President, Andrew Jackson (whom the Cherokee Nation still considers
betrayed us) had a law passed called the Indian Removal Act...which passed
by ONE vote...Thus, a proud People, who had welcomed all who came to them,
were marched a thousand miles to Oklahoma Territory...losing their homes
and lands.
We began as 12,000 people, marching across the mountains...a third of us
died on that march. A third of our People are buried along that trail of
sorrow.
The March began May 26th, 1838. Thus...on that Memorial Day weekend,
another cherokee woman (both middle aged) and a young male student of mine
who was 19 years old and myself, went to New Echota (which is now a State
Park owned by the State of Georgia) to kneel on those holy lands and offer
a prayer up in memory of our ancestors.
We were met there by many Park Rangers who were armed and in force. I
spoke with the Supt there, showing him my Tribal Membership/Registration
cards and explained to him that we merely wished to kneel in a moment of
prayer on the sacred land to remember our People, as others were
remembering theirs during that Memorial Day weekend.
He refused to allow it....He told us we had to drive back to Atlanta,
which was about 60 miles away, to obtain a Permit to pray from the Georgia
Natural Resources Board, which runs the State Parks. It was on a Friday
and it was too late to get there before the office closed in order to get a
permit.
He explained there was a small patch there which they called the First
Amendment area....That area alone is the place where people can kneel...but
he said again...I had to have a permit....
He admitted they could waive this on an individual case basis...but
refused to do so in my case.
I have never been a violent Indian activist...I am a writer..a
Registered Nurse and a Wife and Mother. There was no reason for him to
refuse to allow me to kneel on my People's sacred grounds.
The Park Rangers were carrying 9 mm semi automatic weapons....They were
very angry...I knew to pursue it any further risked the student I have been
teaching all summer (about our Traditional ways) and both of we women,
being shot.
I wanted the world to know that there is no religious freedom in this
country...And until all People can pray without harassment...none are free.
The Lakota Nation's most sacred lands are National Parks...They too are
regulated in their attempts to pray and must pay to pray...entrance fees to
the parks. I wrote also of this months ago....Pay to Pray.
This Country must know of the oppression that First Nations
suffers...They must realize that we are not afforded the same religious
opportunities than the non native culture has.
If you wish to discuss this...I am at [T--l--i] at [cris.com]
My son, Black Eagle speaks with Honor...I encourage you to visit his
homepage...get on his mailing list as he forwards out messages about our
People's problems.
I wish each of you gentle winds in your Journey...and ask you today...to
Pray for First Nations...Aliski Adanudo (Spirit Dancer)....
Tanyan Mani (Walk Well)!
Wanbli Sapa (Black Eagle)
(Lakota Ikche Wichasha)
One Earth, One Life Endeavors
[i--a--u] at [ix.netcom.com]
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When you took away our good health and gave us diseases, somehow we lived on.
When you took the land that Creator had placed us on, somehow we survived.
And when you took our languages, our cultures, our medicines, our ways, all
those things that made us who we were, our spirits still lived.
But when you took our children, you took our hearts, our dreams, and we died.
But we shall live again.
We SHALL live again.
-Sunkmanitu Tanka Olowan (Wolf Song), with pride, my Dad
NOTE: write to me for information on purchasing Dad's cassette, with this
song on it.
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http://www.pobox.com/~jsd/WKmasscre.html
Wounded Knee Web Page
(compliments of the First Nations/First People Web Page)
First Nations/First Peoples Issues (4 Star Magellan site)
http://www.pobox.com/~jsd/firstnations.html