We have had a poll up on the Washington Redskins nickname controversy on our sidebar, but would a more proper target be what our children are learning about Columbus? What do you Think??
Susan Bradford has her own view of the ONEIDA nation’s bullying of the Redskins Organization
More stuff on Christopher Columbus your teachers never told you:
1. On a 1493 voyage, Columbus' ship Santa Maria was shipwrecked in the area now called The Bahamas. He found the native people the 'Lucayans' friendly, healthy, helpful and generous. They freed his ship. In return, he kidnapped 25 of them. Only 7 survived the journey back to Spain.
2. Columbus told the queen the Lucayans wore gold and had many riches, but were so passive it would take only 50 men to overtake the entire island, rule them and steal their riches. The queen complied giving Columbus 17 ships, 1500 men and an arsenal of weapons.
3. When Columbus returned he demanded food, gold and women to be used as sex slaves for all his men. When anyone refused him, Columbus had their ears and nose chopped off. He sent these disfigured offenders back to their villagers to tell the people what had happened and to fear Columbus.
4. Sooner or later, the Lucayans revolted. They had no weapons other than rocks and primitive spears and Columbus' troops were well armed. The war ended quickly. Eye witnesses report fallen Lucayans were fed alive to hungry dogs as they screamed.
5. Columbus still did not have the gold he promised the queen, but he returned to Spain with a gift of 500 Lucayan slaves. Of those, 300 survived the journey.
6. Another 500 slaves were captured and forced to carry Columbus' men around on their backs, feed them, and care for them. Escaped slaves were hunted down and fed to the dogs.
7. Any villager who was stopped and asked for gold had to produce some immediately. If a villager surrendered gold, they were given a token, sort of a 'free pass' to not have to produce gold to the next one of Columbus' men that asked. However, if a native did not have a token and could not produce gold to hand over, Columbus had the man's hand chopped off and forced him to wear it around his neck.
8. Columbus finally got all the gold he wanted. His lieutenants were rewarded with sex slaves and girls of nine and ten years old were most prized. Why is it important to know this? Because it is the truth.
Showing posts with label Oneida; Shenandoah; Halbritter; disenrollment; tribal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oneida; Shenandoah; Halbritter; disenrollment; tribal. Show all posts
Monday, October 14, 2013
Friday, December 4, 2009
Mary "Maisie" Shenandoah Oneida Wolf Clan Mother, Oneida Leader R.I.P.
To her Oneida Indian Nation wolf clan, she was a leader who helped re-establish an Oneida identity after more than a century when almost all members had left their ancestral homelands
And to the world, she was a proponent of traditional Indian ways who ultimately took her nephew, Nation Representative and CEO Ray Halbritter, to task for challenging those ways as he created a gambling-based set of enterprises worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Shenandoah died early Wednesday morning in Oneida Castle after battling illness for quite some time, family members said. She was 77.
“I have spent countless hours in defense of our sovereignty, land and traditional ways,” she was quoted as saying in the 1993 book, Wisdom’s Daughters: Conversations with Women Elders of Native America.
“One day we will again stand before the world as a people who have overcome great odds and survived as a nation,” Shenandoah said.
It was Shenandoah who with her husband a half century ago moved back to ancestral lands in the outer district of the city of Oneida with the goal of re-establishing the Nation’s presence there.
And as Halbritter rose to prominence in the tribe during the 1970s, it occurred at a time when Maisie Shenandoah herself was selected to the important post of Wolf Clan mother. Women have great authority in the governance of the six tribes of the Haudenosee, or Iroquois Nation.
But aunt and nephew later clashed as Halbritter pursued first a bingo hall and then a casino as a path to prosperity for the poverty-stricken Nation. A lengthy power struggle ensued that left Shenandoah and her family dispossessed of their benefits and their voice in tribal affairs.
Halbritter offered brief condolences in a prepared statement Wednesday.
“The Oneida Nation mourns the loss of one of its members, Maisie Shenandoah,” he said. “The Nation’s thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.”
The Oneidas would have no further comment, spokesman Mark Emery said.
But there’s more to the tale.
A twin’s memories
Shenandoah’s twin sister Elizabeth Robert, declined to comment Wednesday on the situation between her sister and Halbritter.
What she did recall was the kind of person her sister was. Loving. Caring. Hard working.
The twins were born on Onondaga Nation Territory south of Syracuse, where many Oneidas had gone to live after the Nation lost virtually all of its land in the 19th century.
Above all, though, Maisie Shenandoah was a leader, Robert said.
Shenandoah was selected as clan mother in 1977 and fulfilled her duties for the next three decades, according to her obituary.
In that role, she had the duty of selecting leaders from within her clan, serving as a political adviser, spiritual leader and spokeswoman for the Oneidas.
Daughter-in-law Cheryl Schenandoah can attest to Maisie Shenandoah’s values.
“She taught me that no matter who you meet, no matter what you think, be kind to everyone, no discrimination,” Schenandoah said.
Shenandoah and her daughters were among three dozen tribal members who in 1995 formally “lost their voice” in Nation affairs — meaning they were not eligible for Nation programs and services.
At issue was the Nation’s direction under Halbritter, who negotiated an agreement in 1993 to open Turning Stone Casino in Verona. To Shenandoah and some Oneidas, it meant a focus on greed and not tradition.
In a 2001 New York Times article, the writer said Shenandoah characterized her nephew as “an overfed despot with a taste for Italian suits, ruling from a white palace near the New York State Thruway.”
Halbritter said in that article that his aunt was fighting to maintain a past that was not always productive for the Oneida people.
“Sometimes, people are sort of imprisoned in poverty so long that they begin to believe that the bars are there for their own protection,” Halbritter said.
‘Her life’s dream’
If Shenandoah died without a voice in Nation issues, the Oneidas made substantial progress during her lifetime toward a goal she’d always held, instilled by her mother, Mary Winder, who in 1920 began pressing the federal government on the issue of land.
“Her life’s dream, as passed on to her by her mother, was to create a homeland for all Oneidas,” Maisie Shenandoah’s obituary reads.
She is survived by six children, three sisters, 20 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. The funeral is Saturday.
And to the world, she was a proponent of traditional Indian ways who ultimately took her nephew, Nation Representative and CEO Ray Halbritter, to task for challenging those ways as he created a gambling-based set of enterprises worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Shenandoah died early Wednesday morning in Oneida Castle after battling illness for quite some time, family members said. She was 77.
“I have spent countless hours in defense of our sovereignty, land and traditional ways,” she was quoted as saying in the 1993 book, Wisdom’s Daughters: Conversations with Women Elders of Native America.
“One day we will again stand before the world as a people who have overcome great odds and survived as a nation,” Shenandoah said.
It was Shenandoah who with her husband a half century ago moved back to ancestral lands in the outer district of the city of Oneida with the goal of re-establishing the Nation’s presence there.
And as Halbritter rose to prominence in the tribe during the 1970s, it occurred at a time when Maisie Shenandoah herself was selected to the important post of Wolf Clan mother. Women have great authority in the governance of the six tribes of the Haudenosee, or Iroquois Nation.
But aunt and nephew later clashed as Halbritter pursued first a bingo hall and then a casino as a path to prosperity for the poverty-stricken Nation. A lengthy power struggle ensued that left Shenandoah and her family dispossessed of their benefits and their voice in tribal affairs.
Halbritter offered brief condolences in a prepared statement Wednesday.
“The Oneida Nation mourns the loss of one of its members, Maisie Shenandoah,” he said. “The Nation’s thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.”
The Oneidas would have no further comment, spokesman Mark Emery said.
But there’s more to the tale.
A twin’s memories
Shenandoah’s twin sister Elizabeth Robert, declined to comment Wednesday on the situation between her sister and Halbritter.
What she did recall was the kind of person her sister was. Loving. Caring. Hard working.
The twins were born on Onondaga Nation Territory south of Syracuse, where many Oneidas had gone to live after the Nation lost virtually all of its land in the 19th century.
Above all, though, Maisie Shenandoah was a leader, Robert said.
Shenandoah was selected as clan mother in 1977 and fulfilled her duties for the next three decades, according to her obituary.
In that role, she had the duty of selecting leaders from within her clan, serving as a political adviser, spiritual leader and spokeswoman for the Oneidas.
Daughter-in-law Cheryl Schenandoah can attest to Maisie Shenandoah’s values.
“She taught me that no matter who you meet, no matter what you think, be kind to everyone, no discrimination,” Schenandoah said.
Shenandoah and her daughters were among three dozen tribal members who in 1995 formally “lost their voice” in Nation affairs — meaning they were not eligible for Nation programs and services.
At issue was the Nation’s direction under Halbritter, who negotiated an agreement in 1993 to open Turning Stone Casino in Verona. To Shenandoah and some Oneidas, it meant a focus on greed and not tradition.
In a 2001 New York Times article, the writer said Shenandoah characterized her nephew as “an overfed despot with a taste for Italian suits, ruling from a white palace near the New York State Thruway.”
Halbritter said in that article that his aunt was fighting to maintain a past that was not always productive for the Oneida people.
“Sometimes, people are sort of imprisoned in poverty so long that they begin to believe that the bars are there for their own protection,” Halbritter said.
‘Her life’s dream’
If Shenandoah died without a voice in Nation issues, the Oneidas made substantial progress during her lifetime toward a goal she’d always held, instilled by her mother, Mary Winder, who in 1920 began pressing the federal government on the issue of land.
“Her life’s dream, as passed on to her by her mother, was to create a homeland for all Oneidas,” Maisie Shenandoah’s obituary reads.
She is survived by six children, three sisters, 20 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. The funeral is Saturday.
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