Surviving 'La Migra'

As the devil's civilization continues to fall from it's plight, the government, despite it's facade of racial and cultural tolerance (remember the "American melting pot" idea?), marches on in it's crusade against anyone who was not born within U.S. borders. They persist with making our day to day lives more and more difficult with their policies of discrimination and exclusion. The policy of racial profiling has been and remains very contraversial, as it affects so many people, especially those whom are technical not in any violation of the law. However, as time goes on, we bear witness that just being who you are, in and of it self, is a violation of U.S. law. It was the census bureau and social scientist, along with urban anthropologist's that gave the prediction of people of color outnumbering "white" people in the U.S. by 2050. Which is quite frightening for those with racist tendencies. Especially considering that a large portion of that population may not even be U.S. born, or at the very least, 1st generation. This matters in the mindset of the racially privileged and economic/political elite because the majority would have more of a popular influence behind policy in the U.S. and therefore those policies which complimented the old majority would be more than likely re-written or altered in order to compliment the new majority. And as we see, today's mathematics is 'wisdom power'. The words, ways and actions of the Original people having the greatest influence or power over daily life in 'Amekikia'. That which is only the inevitable (we outnumber them, of European descent, on the planet Earth) is seen by the right-winged politicos as some sort of conspiracy to destroy the "American way of life", a code phrase for "white way of life". In the mean time, we can't go to the 'mercado', the bus stop, the park with our 'ninos' without extreme paranoia, a sense of being picked up and swept off to some Guatanamo prison for 'spics and darkies'. They ultimately want to prevent a "colorful uprising", something that was feared by the Spanish Empire for years throughout their colonies. In the early 1800's the colonial government of El Salvador, after abolishing slavery, halted all immigration of those of African descent in their country. Many countries, while not abolishing slavery or completely halting immigration, simply set out on campaign's to incourage European immgration and settlement in their countries in efforts to combat the strong African-Indigenous prescence. Whilst, in places like Puerto Rico, whom had a considerably large "free-colored" population, the European immigration only widened the gap in numbers between the white populus and the sector of color. At various points in Puerto Rican history the number of 'free-blacks' rivaled those of whites and despite being 'free', they were still non-white and were stigmatized by a view of having non-white 'ways' which threatened those culture of those in 'power'.

Is Riding the Bus a Ticket to Jail?
By Caroline Kim and Jenna Loyd

In December 2007, Artemio and two of his friends were traveling by bus through Syracuse, New York on their way to their homes in Mexico. Rather than celebrating Christmas with their families, however, the three men were arrested by immigration agents at a bus station. They were then detained at a county jail before being transferred to the ICE facility in Batavia, New York, and eventually deported to Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, also known as the Border Patrol, confirms that its agents in Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo check the citizenship status of travelers passing through by bus and train every day. These three cities are within 100 miles of the US-Canadian border. But more important than the border zone is the location of these cities on a major transportation corridor linking the Northeast (New York City and Boston) with the Midwest (Cleveland and Chicago). Border Patrol agents use Syracuse’s location as the functional equivalent of the border to police people traveling within the interior of the country.

Agents check for citizenship in the bus and train station—often waiting at the Greyhound ticket counter, or watching people as they disembark for food—and onboard buses and trains already filled with passengers. People who have witnessed or been subject to Border Patrol agents questioning describe two practices: agents explicitly target a group of people or ask everyone on board about their citizenship status.

According to reports from the Detainment Task Force, a Northern New York group, people routinely singled out for questioning include those who appear to be Mexican, Central American, South Asian, Asian, Afro-Caribbean, or Middle Eastern. Border Patrol officials deny that the agency racially profiles, insisting that they look for suspicious behaviors and, “question people with blond hair and blue eyes as much as anyone else.” But common understandings of race in the U.S. fuse nationality and ethnicity so that some groups are permanently deemed to be “foreign.”

The story of Tomas, who is from Guatemala, illustrates the ways in which law enforcement’s use of racial profiling—and the collaboration of local law enforcement with Border Patrol agents—impedes people’s ability to travel.

In July 2007, Tomas and his friend Salvador were driving to a doctor’s appointment. As they pulled out of the toll plaza from the I-90 throughway in Syracuse, a state trooper stopped them. Tomas has a valid U.S. driver’s license and a properly registered vehicle. The state trooper gave no indication of why he had stopped the vehicle, but he did ask Tomas and Salvador about their immigration status and then called Border Patrol agents. “The police officer stopped us because we have Hispanic faces,” Tomas said.

Tomas has had the same experience traveling by bus. Last October he was traveling to Syracuse on Greyhound when Border Patrol agents boarded the bus at the Rochester bus station. “The Border Patrol agents questioned all the Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Asian passengers,” he recalled. “They did not question any of the white passengers except some women who were wearing veils. Border Patrol had dogs with them and checked the whole bus. They even looked in the bathroom.”

A separate incident occurred in December when Tomas was at the Syracuse bus station with another friend. They were speaking to each other in Spanish as they approached the ticket counter where a Border Patrol agent was stationed. “As soon as the Border Patrol agent heard us speaking Spanish, he asked me for my papers,” he said.

Even when Latino travelers produce documents proving their legal status, they are not safe from harassment.

When Tomas finally boarded the bus and arrived in Rochester, Border Patrol was there as well. “I saw them [Border Patrol] on the platform questioning two Hispanic men. The men gave them permanent resident cards. The Border Patrol agent didn’t believe them. He took the cards and called somewhere else. The men had to wait for twenty minutes.” The two men were eventually released.

Tomas’s testimony is not unique. A professor at Syracuse University who is a naturalized citizen originally from the Dominican Republic has been questioned multiple times in his travels and a Syracuse University student who is a U.S. citizen of South Asian descent was separated from his wife, a legal permanent resident, and both interrogated about their status.

Original source: http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=304

Descanse en Paz

Peace! Paz!

I wanted to send my eternal positive thought and meditation to my sister- 'Queen True Reality Earth', of Now Justice (New Jersey), rest in peace- descanse en paz. As well as my condolences to her physical family, of Ecuador. She has recently transitioned and succumbed to the evils of domestic abuse, and unfortunately by someone who 'claimed' to be "righteous". Unfortunately, the truth is that the effects of colonialization are still ingrained in many of us, in varying degrees. Despite this, violence, especially against our women and children, is inexcusable and unacceptable.

Murdered woman's life, pain recalled
BY ED BEESON AND HEATHER APPEL

RANDOLPH — Josephine Hoppe feared for her daughter's future whenever she saw the bruises left by the man Maria Hoppe called the love of her life.

"She always came back with finger marks around her neck, and I told her, 'One of these days, you're not going to get up,' " said Josephine Hoppe, the mother of the 26-year-old Randolph woman whose body was found this week inside a Paterson apartment.

A mother's warning didn't convince Maria Hoppe to leave.

Maria Hoppe returned to the Paterson home of Randy Martin, her boyfriend and father of her two small children. It was here where police investigators said she met her end. Some three weeks after authorities said they believed she was killed, Hoppe's body was discovered Tuesday stuffed in a plastic garbage bag inside Martin's 12th Avenue apartment. Martin, a 37-year-old ex-convict, was arrested by Paterson police officers Tuesday and charged with murder. He is being held in Passaic County Jail in Paterson on $1 million bail.

Shortly after Josephine and Fernando Hoppe returned to their Morris County home on Thursday from the Norman Dean Home for Services in Denville that is handling Maria Hoppe's funeral on Saturday, her parents spoke to reporters for the first time about their daughter's death.

Her parents, natives of Ecuador, spoke in Spanish longingly for their 4-foot-11 daughter and spitefully of the man who authorities said took her life. When a friend brought them a framed photo of Maria Hoppe, her father touched it, turned and let out a mournful wail, which echoed across the hilly apartment complex where they live.

The Hoppes said they felt their daughter was headed for disaster in a relationship they felt powerless to stop.

They recalled their daughter as a bright child who played piano and danced to the Latin American rhythms of cumbia.

She grew into a romantic young woman and wrote poetry to express her feelings, Josephine Hoppe said. Her parents, who had longed for a daughter, nicknamed Maria "pequeña flor," Spanish for "little flower."

As a student at Randolph High School, Maria Hoppe decided to become a psychologist.

Her goals changed after she graduated, but she always had a career in mind.

She chased a series of degrees and training certificates from area community colleges: In business and then computing. At the time of her death, Maria Hoppe was a month shy of completing a degree in massage therapy at Dover Business College, her family said.

Maria Hoppe's relationship with Martin began five years ago when she met him while working at an office in Fairfield, her mother said. It was not clear whether Martin worked with her.

Josephine Hoppe said her concerns about the relationship mounted right away. She began to notice bruises appearing on her daughter's body, but Maria Hoppe always told her mother that the marks were an accident. Maria Hoppe was otherwise reluctant to talk about her relationship with Martin, her family said.

Nevertheless, family members said they saw what was happening.

"He was cruel. He always hit her," her father, Fernando Hoppe, said. "He turned her green, brown, blue."

There were moments when she seemed at peace. "But that was when he was in jail," Josephine Hoppe said.

Maria Hoppe stayed in the relationship with Martin. They had two children: a daughter, Jewel, now 2 years old, and a son, Zahir, who was born in January. Family photos show Maria Hoppe beaming as she held Jewel. Her son's birth invigorated her as well, her family said.

"I never saw her look so beautiful," a cousin, Jessica Hoppe, said, recalling the days after Zahir's birth. "She was glowing."

The state Division of Youth and Family Services twice intervened and took custody of the children, according to the family. Jewel and Zahir are now in the care of Josephine and Fernando Hoppe.

Maria Hoppe's final days remain mostly a mystery. She left her parent's home for the last time on May 13. Two weeks later, Josephine Hoppe said she had her last telephone conversation with her daughter.

On May 28, a state Superior Court judge in Morris County signed an order against Martin, forcing him to pay $150 a week in child support, plus $966 in arrears, court records show. The Morris County Office of Temporary Assistance had filed the child support lawsuit on behalf of Maria Hoppe, according to the court. The family reported Maria Hoppe missing to authorities on June 10.

Her relationship with Martin evidently took a toll on her mind, too, according to the family.

"Love is pain and suffering, she used to say," Josephine Hoppe said. "She said, 'You'll care for people, but you will never know love, because love is pain.' "

Her daughter's words stunned her mother. "I said, 'If that's love, then I don't want to know love,' " Josephine Hoppe said.

E-mail: beeson@northjersey.com and Heather Appel at appelh@northjersey.com

Original article: http://www.northjersey.com/news/northernnj/No_Title_-_MARIA0620TR.html?c=y&page=1

Yoca"Who?": Yuca, You and Yocahu

Mi Gente. My people of the SUN. If you have ever been to a ‘bodega’ you might have seen one. It you have ever been through the “international” vegetable section at your local supermarket you may have caught a glimpse of some. If you’ve been amongst those of so-called Latin-American or Caribbean descent, you may have even tasted it. It’s called “yuca” (pronounced- “yoo-kah”).

Yuca is a popular dish in Boriken (colonially named “Puerto Rico”) and throughout the West Indies. As a matter of fact, yuca, also referred to as “cassava”, is a very common dish throughout most of Latin American, Africa and some places in Asia. It is considered a staple in some parts and it is a sacred food amongst Taino peoples. Nutritionally, yuca is very high in calcium (50 mg/100g), phosphorus (40 mg/100g) and vitamin C (25 mg/100g) but it very starchy. Yuca can be served a myriad of ways especially since it is a root, like a potatoe. It can be boiled and eaten, mashed, dried and powdered, and used as flour. It’s root and it’s leaves also have some medicinal properties which have been used for thousands of years in traditional medicine. We cultivated many other crops such as sweet potatoes, beans, squash, guava, and pineapples, however yuca was our principle one. As many of the Indigenous tribes of North and Central Amekikia (America) hold ‘corn’ in especially high reverence, because of the sustenance it provided for the people, Taino’s held the same reverence for yuca.

The following is a great article, written by a Caney-Taino (Cuba) shaman, a ‘bohike’, here in Pittsburgh, regarding the ‘spiritual’ symbolism behind ‘yuca’ and it’s relationship to the ‘divine’.

Yoka Hu Bagua Ma-Orokoti
By Miguel “Sobaoko Koromo” Sague


Yoka Hu is the Lord of Life and energy. He is the spiritual manifestation of all that lives and the essence of Life itself. Yoka Hu is also Energy. He is the spiritual manifestation of all energy but especially the energy of combustion, Fire, Explosion, The sun itself.

The magic of Yoka Hu is found in the warmth of a baby's breath as well as the intense heat of a raging bonfire. It can be encountered in the searing sun-blasted force of a cloudless tropical noontime sky.

Because the heat that brings life to the surface of the Earth comes from the sun (who is called ‘Boinael’ in Caney tradition) the Caney culture sees the sun as the primary manifestation of Yokahu's presence. But the sun's energy can not really be used directly by humans and animals to live. It must be transformed from radiant energy of sunlight to food energy that can then be utilized by animals and people to stay alive. The task of converting the sun's rays into food falls to the plant people. Green plants capture he rays of the sun and through the process of photosynthesis they convert that energy into starch food. Then they store the food in their tissues. Plants thereby become repositories of solar energy. Animals and people come along and eat the plants. By doing this they release the solar energy into their bodies in the form of nutritional calories and burn it to support the business of living.

All green plants store caloric starches in their tissues but there are certain plants that excel at this task. Most of these high-starch plants have been adopted and revered by the various cultures of he world and recognized as the life-supporters that they are. They include WHEAT (the "daily bread" of Christian tradition), RICE (the staple of most of Asia), and MAIZE CORN (the staple of Central American Indians). In South America and the Caribbean root crops were adopted as the main providers. In the high Andes mountain homes of the Inca Indians the potato sustained a vast empire, and in the Amazon and Orinoco river rain forests the high-yield yuca (manioc) is the sacred provider. These two plants bear high-yield nutritious roots that sustained large populations.

The yuca of the Amazon/Orinoco basins and the Caribbean, is in fact, the namesake of Lord Yoka Hu. For his name literally means SOUL OF THE YUCA PLANT. In him is contained all the reverence and awe that we humans hold for the mighty solar life-giver and the green plants that turn his hot rays into living breath.

The yearly round of the sun or an annual crop plant provides the imagery that illustrates Yoka Hu as a living entity with an actual life cycle.

In this drawing Yoka Hu appears at the extreme bottom as an embryo within the nurturing warmth of Ata Bey's Cosmic womb, gestating during the Winter Solstice when the sun is furthest away toward the South. As the cycle moves clockwise towards the left side of the drawing, Yoka hu is born in the Spring Equinox emerging from Ata Bey's womb when the sun begins to return from his southern sojourn. The cycle keeps moving clockwise up to the top position at the Summer Solstice when the sun is at his highest strength and Yoka Hu reaches full maturity and vitality. As the deadly hurricane storms of late Summer and Fall raise the specter of death and destruction Yoka Hu wanes and finally dies at the Autumnal Equinox on the extreme right of the cycle image. The harvested plant similarly must die to rise to its ultimate destiny. Death brings on new Life as the tissues of the harvested plant are sacrificed to feed the people.
From: http://hometown.aol.com/caneypath2/yokahu.html

Much love to Brother Sague! I seek not to perpetuate any corruption in the understanding of Taino spirituality, but only to interpret it through the paradigm of the Nation of Gods and Earths and the mental framework of Allah's mathematics. As I see Native perpsectives on religion and spirituality not as literal but as metaphoric interpretations of natural forces and phenomena, products of human reasoning and therefore subject to critique, as is anything born out of human being.

Essentially, you ‘are’ what you ‘eat’. If you eat life giving foods, then you become ‘life’, ‘living’. “Yoka Hu is the Lord of Life and energy. He is the spiritual manifestation of all that lives and the essence of Life itself. Yoka Hu is also Energy. He is the spiritual manifestation of all energy but especially the energy of combustion, Fire, Explosion, The sun itself. “ With all things in life, I draw them in the 'heavens'. As I understand that it is the Original man's nature to renew history and not repeat it. This, to me, shows the ancient perspective of the relationship between the Original man and the “sun”. As within the Nation of Gods and Earths, the Blackman is symbolic to the “sun”, as the foundation of his family, his solar system. He is the life-giving force, mentally and physically, within that cipher. The provider. As ‘man’, he is a manifestation of ‘energy‘, as all things exist in degrees of energy, the Original man is the embodiment of the life-giving/taking force within the universe, in this degree of reality, here on Earth. For he is the Original man and the 'Father of Civilization'. Etymologically one could say that ‘man’ means ‘mind’ and therefore reasonably conclude that ‘man’ is a manifestation of his ‘mind’, the universal spring of divine intelligence. Man is ‘Yokahu‘. Whereas as the Original woman, being symbolic to the Earth, is paralleled with 'Atabey', or "Mother Earth".

The transitioning of the sun’s energy into the food we eat is a further example of why the phrase ‘ you are what you eat’ holds so much weight. As many of us already know. As bohike Sague further states…“But the sun's energy can not really be used directly by humans and animals to live. It must be transformed from radiant energy of sunlight to food energy that can then be utilized by animals and people to stay alive. The task of converting the sun's rays into food falls to the plant people. Green plants capture he rays of the sun and through the process of photosynthesis they convert that energy into starch food. Then they store the food in their tissues. Plants thereby become repositories of solar energy. Animals and people come along and eat the plants. By doing this they release the solar energy into their bodies in the form of nutritional calories and burn it to support the business of living. “ As a science, it was understood by our people and was appreciated and celebrated symbolically through tradition, storytelling and dance- methods for the cultural transmission of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. It was the ‘sun’ whom we held as responsible for our dietary sustenance. Thus, the ‘sun’ was viewed as the source of the force behind creation and of course, food. And the Taino name for the “supreme being” is ‘Yokahu’ or ‘Yucahu‘, which as stated above, means “Soul of the Yuca”. As the Original man is symbolic to the 'sun', so is he symbolic to the number one (as sun or 'sol' in spanish, i.e 'solo'), which in our Supreme Mathematics is 'knowledge' (conocimiento). It is the sun's light that stimulates the natural elements in the Earth and brings forth life, just as knowledge stimulates wisdom to brings forth understanding- 'growth and development'. The cosmic information that is carried in sun-light and is deposited into the soil to bond with the elements in order to bring for the vital foods, packed with the 'foundation' of a healthful life- vitamins and minerals, needed for life. These vitamins and minerals are necessary factors for healthful living and healthy DNA (your biological 'information'). All putting you in tune with your 'foundation'. Your 'self'.

It is this manifestation of the ‘sun’, 'man', that continues to cultivate the yuca and thus, keeps transforming the power of the sun, via the power of the plant (the 'Earth), into the power of creation and of divine intelligence (brain power!). It is 'we', who continue to bring forth this creative intelligence, shaping and molding the universe as we know and understand it. Allowing the mathematics of 'change' to continue to take place.

From 'knowledge to born', only 'self' is the savior. Whether it be with traditional or western religion, we need to stop looking outside ourselves for what exists inside.

PEACE!

Kahentinetha Horn Attacked at Border

Kahentinetha Horn, beaten and hospitalized at the border, Katenies in prison

Monday, June 16, 2008
By Brenda Norrell

Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, was beaten by special forces at the US/Canadian border and suffered a heart attack. Kahentinetha is currently hospitalized in Canada. Katenies, who was accompanying her, was taken to prison at an undisclosed location. Please read the following message, which has been confirmed as true, and contact the leaders of Canada and demand both women be released and justice served to the perpetrators.

Kahentinetha's articles on sovereignty, mining on Indigenous lands, corruption and border rights have made her a priority target of the Canadian government for assassination. While on the Arizona border in November, at the Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas II, she challenged the Tohono O'odham Nation's incarceration of Indigenous migrants in the outdoor "cage," construction of the border vehicle barrier through the ceremonial route and the digging up of O'odham ancestors for the border wall by the contractor Boeing.
As the borders were increasingly militarized by Homeland Security and Canadian corporations increasingly seized Indigenous Peoples lands for mining, Kahentinetha and Katenies, were targeted with death threats.
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject: Kahentinetha Horn, Katenies attacked at the border!


ONE ELDER SAVED BY A HEART ATTACK - ANOTHER ELDER MISSING IN ACTION: MOHAWK GRANDMOTHERS ATTACKED AT CANADA-US BORDER CROSSING ON UNCEDED HAUDENOSAUNEE LAND

Monday, June 16, 2008Mohawk Elder and Grandmother, Kahentinetha Horn suffered a heart attack, Saturday, June 14, 2008 during a vicious, unprovoked assault by OPP and border agents at Cornwall, in Akwesasne community. She had been beaten and handcuffed when she collapsed. Earlier when she was pulled over, Kahentinetha immediately contacted her brother, a lawyer, on her cellphone. The entire incident was being filmed as her brother rushed to the scene just in time to call an ambulance for her.Meanwhile, Elder and Grandmother Katenies of Akwesasne was beaten and taken prisoner to an as yet undisclosed location. We are very concerned about her safety. We demand to know of her whereabouts and that she be> released immediately. A few months ago, Julian Fantino put out the word, warning Kahentinetha not to set foot in Ontario or else. She is the publisher of MNN and regular internet reports that are very critical of police and government actions toward Indigenous people. Her articles often clearly state the legalities/realities of the situation that Canada is a corporation plundering unceded Turtle Island. The land and resources belong to the Ongwehoneh people. Canada's huge debt to us will bankrupt them forever.The other day, while Stephen Harper was making a public apology to Indigenous for the crimes of the residential schools, he was also preparing to send the army in at 6 nations. Brantford city mayor has requested it, stating his city police cannot handle another "Mohawk uprising", in other words, peaceful protests against housing development where non resident, non Natives attack the protesters while the police watch.

The Ontario Conservatives call for military intervention every day. On Saturday, border agents were pulling over every Native person. Kahentinetha and Katenies were traveling in Akwesasne in the course of their regular activities and were caught up in the dragnet. Did Fantino set up a trap for the two outspoken, Mohawk grandmothers? We suspect that Kahentinetha would have been killed at a secret location had she not had a heart attack and been taken to hospital. Immediately following this incident, many Mohawks and supporters started to gather at Akwesasne. Kahentinetha and Katenies' attackers want them to accept being Canadian or else they will kill them and anyone else who resists colonization. This low level warfare is playing out on the "border" between Canada and the US, an imaginary line drawn right through the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and through Haudenosaunee territory which is a vast area on BOTH sides of the Great Lakes. This Great Lakes area is also a proposed center for the NWO. Many military plans are underway including nuclear submarines in the Great Lakes and JTF2, Aerospace Warfare Center and NATO FOB (Forward Operating> Base) at a new base being built at Trenton, near Tyendinaga Mohawk community.

Tyendinaga was attacked by OPP/SWAT in April when Mohawks protested housing development there. If Canadians are so damned sorry about the abuse of Native people, why is this still happening? Why do people remain silent when Mohawk elders and grandmothers are attacked like this? We are under constant surveillance> and threats and attacks while our land continues to be plundered and pillaged. Was this a failed assassination attempt ordered by Julian> Fantino, commissioner of OPP and head of the biggest gang in the area? We must demand answers and get answers. This attempted genocide must cease. We will never give up.>> Call or write to politicians, media, action lists including international. Get the word out now!!! K..... will be speaking with Kevin Annett on live radio today at 4:30 pmMontreal time.Iakoha'ko:wa Sharbot Lake, Haudenosaunee Territory

PLEASE SEND YOUR OBJECTIONS TO: QUEENIE ELIZABETH II, Buckingham Palace,>> LONDON UK; Governor General MICHAELLE "Haitian-Against-the-Nation" JEAN, 1>> Rideau Hall, OTTAWA, ONTARIO info@gg.ca; Canada Prime Minister STEPHEN>> HARPER, House of Commons, OTTAWA, ONTARIO harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Ontario Premier DALTON McGUINTY, Queen's Park, TORONTO, ONTARIO mcguinty.D@parl.gc.ca; United Nations unat@un.org; Indian Affairs Minister Strahl.c@parl.gc.ca; Brantford Mayor Michael Hancock 519-759-3330 nborowicz@brantford.ca; Ontario Attorney General 416-326-2220 or 1-800-518-7901; Minister Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Michael Bryant % Lars.Eedy@ontario.ca, Neil Smitheman, Brantford ambulance chaser n.smitheman@fasken.com 416-868-3441; Aaron Detlor adetlor@sympatico.ca; Bev Jacobs bjacobs@nwac.hq.org; Julian Fantino OPP Commissioner julian.fantino@jus.gov.on.ca; s "Paul Leblanc of \"Indian\" Affairs" , Sylvia McKenzie Justice Canada , Emanuel Chabot Public Affairs 7 Emergency Preparedness, Louis-Alesandre Guay "Justice Canada lguay"@justice.gc.ca, Gilles Rochon Aboriginal Policing> , "Chuck Strahl Minister of \"Indian\" Affairs" See http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Update re Kahentinetha Horn - Mohawk Grandmothers Attacked at Canada-US Border Crossing
June 16, 2008 1pmKahentinetha Horn has been transferred to an Ottawa hospital while the whereabouts of Katenies remain unknown. Outrage is growing in Indian country. Who will be next in the roundups? There is no doubt that this incident 'an attempt to take a human life', of Kahentinetha Horn - makes the false apology given by the Harper government to Native peoples for past tortures and maltreatment completely null and void.

Token drugstore Indians like Phil Fontaine paraded around on TV to receive this apology are all on government payrolls. They represent and speak for no one but the government. It shows the hypocrisy insidiously embedded in the Harper government.This incident was not carried out by regular border patrol personnel. It was carried out by a team of professionals who are installed at this particular border crossing for the sole purpose of apprehending Miss Horn and doing away with her permanently.

Behaviours and actions like this only come about when ordered and sanctioned by the highest levels of Harper's government and CSIS. This attempt on Miss Horn's life failed this time, but we are confident that Harper, CSIS and Fantino will continue in their efforts to silence Ms Horn forever. This attempt is just a variation of extraordinary rendition where one is whisked away to an undisclosed location, tortured and later found dead in a ditch somewhere.Karakwine will be speaking with Kevin Annett on live radio today at 4:30 pm Montreal time. Stop the Genocide. Speak out while you still can!!!Iakoha'ko:waSharbot Lake, Haudenosaunee Territory


PLEASE SEND YOUR OBJECTIONS TO: QUEENIE ELIZABETH II, Buckingham Palace,LONDON UK; Governor General MICHAELLE "Haitian-Against-the-Nation" JEAN, 1Rideau Hall, OTTAWA, ONTARIO info@gg.ca; Canada Prime Minister STEPHENHARPER, House of Commons, OTTAWA, ONTARIO harper.s@parl.gc.ca; OntarioPremier DALTON McGUINTY, Queen's Park, TORONTO, ONTARIOmcguinty.D@parl.gc.ca; United Nations unat@un.org; Indian Affairs MinisterStrahl.c@parl.gc.ca; Brantford Mayor Michael Hancock 519-759-3330nborowicz@brantford.ca; Ontario Attorney General 416-326-2220 or 1-800-518-7901;Minister Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Michael Bryant % Lars.Eedy@ontario.ca ;Neil Smitheman, Brantford ambulance chaser n.smitheman@fasken.com 416-868-3441;Aaron Detlor adetlor@sympatico.ca; Bev Jacobs bjacobs@nwac.hq.org; Julian FantinoOPP Commissioner julian.fantino@jus.gov.on.ca; s"Paul Leblanc of \"Indian\" Affairs" , Sylvia McKenzie Justice Canada , Emanuel Chabot Public Affairs 7 Emergency Preparedness , Louis-Alesandre Guay <"Justice Canada lguay"@justice.gc.ca>, Gilles Rochon Aboriginal Policing , "Chuck Strahl Minister of \"Indian\" Affairs"

See http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

SAY IT LOUD! BLACK AND PROUD

Senator Piedad Cordoba of Colombia

Paz!PEACE!Tau!

Over the weekend, my family and I stayed in New Jersey, while attending the Nation of Gods and Earths Annual Show and Prove event in Harlem, NYC (Mecca). For those who may not be aware, we refer to our women (and all Original women) as "The Earth", for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons can be found in the traditional perspective of many of our ancestors, in the parallel symbology of the woman and the planet- Mother Earth, Atabey, Pachamama, etc. Within the NGE the traditional dress of the Earths is with a headwrap and a long 3/4 dress, representing the planet and it's being covered on the surface by 3/4th's of water. A manifestation of modesty. Similar dress can be found throughout many indigenous culture, especially head coverings (see Georgia Scott's book "Headwraps: A Global Journey") however 3/4th's within the Nation is more similar to how Rastafari women and sister's of West Africa dress. For those familiar with the paradigm of the NGE, it would be no surprise. For those who view our women and sister's at a first glance, they are often awe struck and downright confused. Take for instance, this past weekend.

As me and my Earth walked into a record shop on Westfield Avenue (called "Little Colombia") in Elizabeth looking for some new cumbia cd's, the shop keeping began to converse with her, when she inquired about buying a Colombian flag. Although she may be what we refer to as a "yellow soil" ("light-skinned") she is still very noticablely "other than white". Adorned in her 3/4th's, the VERY Euro-looking shop keeper then inquired about where she was from, to which she replied she was born and raised in Bogota, only for him, the extremely Euro-looking one, to reply that she looked "anything but Colombian"....It had more to do with her choice of wardrobe than it did with phenotype. An example of the effects of colonialism of how we are "supposed to" conduct and view ourselves- with Europe as the Motherland and European values (cloaked in so-called "Latin Americanisms") as the focal point of all rational thought and action.

The Rise of Latin Africans

Hugo Chávez is known as a revolutionary in many contexts, especially his defiance of the United States. In recent years, however, he's also broken ground on a far less well-exposed subject: the question of race in Latin America. The saga began two years ago, when, during a tour of Gambia, Chávez surprised observers by declaring that "I've always said that if Spain is our mother, Africa, mother Africa, is much more so." Since then, the Venezuelan leader has often revisited the theme at home, even drawing attention to his own African roots. It may not sound shocking. But such language would have been inconceivable from a major Latin American leader just a short time ago.

That's now changing, due to a black-consciousness movement stirring in Central and South America. Emboldened by the success of their indigenous countrymen in pressing for resolution of long-ignored grievances, Afro-descendientes (people of African descent), as they are known, are now lobbying for recognition of their own communities' land rights and for increased spending to improve living conditions in urban slums and rural villages. Local activists have begun urging Latin blacks to take pride in their culture, and with the help of the Internet, leaders are reaching across borders to share tactics and compare notes with their brethren in the Caribbean, the United States and Africa. This "black-power movement has gone way beyond anything that has happened in the past," says Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, director of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "People are making critiques of racism in their own societies, and there's been a real shift in black consciousness and involvement."

Black power isn't entirely new to the region; for some time now the descendants of African slaves have wielded political clout in a few corners of the hemisphere. That's especially the case in the English-speaking Caribbean, where black heads of state are the rule. And in Brazil, where nearly half the country's 192 million people have African ancestry, Joaquim Barbosa, arguably the most influential member of the Supreme Court, is black; so is recording artist Gilberto Gil, who served as Culture minister under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for five years. Moreover, Lula's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, once announced that he himself had "one foot in the kitchen"—a colorful way of admitting intermarriage among his ancestors (albeit one that earned him criticism at the time).

In the rest of Latin America, blacks remain a small (they're thought to number about 20 million, though activists claim the figure is much higher) and marginalized minority. Demographics highlight their second-class status. For example, Ecuador's blacks, who make up 5 percent of the population, suffer a 14.5 percent unemployment rate, higher than that of the country's nonblack majority and twice that of indigenous groups. In neighboring Colombia, which is home to 10.5 million Afro-descendientes—giving it the third largest black population in the hemisphere, after Brazil and the United States—only one in five blacks has access to electricity and running water (compared with 60 percent of the rest of the population), and the black infant mortality rate is more than three times the white level.

Now, however, black communities are organizing and pressing for change. In Honduras, for example, locals of African descent, who are known as Garifunas, have staged protests in Tegucigalpa, the capital, against a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit foreigners to purchase property along the Atlantic coast, a region the Garifunas have called home since 1797. And in Ecuador, more than a hundred black housewives and working women joined forces in 2006 to seek more government assistance for housing to combat racial discrimination in the rental market.

The epicenter of the new black activism, meanwhile, is Colombia. That's due as much to circumstance as design: more than a third of the 3.2 million Colombians uprooted by the country's long-running civil war are of African ancestry, as are many of the ragged street vendors and beggars who approach motorists at busy Bogotá intersections. Foreign and local NGOs are now working hard to publicize their plight. Though a landmark 1993 law enshrined the right of Afro-Colombians to obtain formal title to their ancestral lands, including 5 million hectares along the Pacific coast—a unique experiment in ethnic self-government—implementation has lagged, as unscrupulous agribusinesses and paramilitary warlords have seized communal property with near impunity. But recently, as part of its ongoing effort to win U.S. approval for a free-trade agreement, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has begun to expel these companies and restore 8,000 hectares of stolen land to Afro-Colombian community councils.

Throughout the region, individual blacks have also begun blazing new trails. Graciela Dixon became the first black woman to head Panama's Supreme Court in 2005, and Luis Alberto Moore, a cop in Colombia, has reached the rank of general—a first for an Afro-descendiente. "I hope I will serve as an example for other black people in Colombia who will say, 'If General Moore did [it], then so can I'," says the 48-year-old Bogotá native.

But many other Latin blacks remain reluctant to openly acknowledge their background, which makes it hard for their communities to increase their influence. In 2005, for example, when Colombians were asked for the first time to identify their ethnic background in a census, less than half the country's blacks described themselves as such. Doris de la Hoz, a senior Afro-Colombian official in the Ministry of Culture, says that even this percentage represented progress, since more than 4 million people did acknowledge their heritage. But "there is still a strong separation of people by groups," she says, "and many black families try to convince their lighter-skinned children that they are white."

Yet such attitudes also seem to be shifting, albeit gradually. Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, 48, is the daughter of Haitian immigrants and grew up in middle-class Caracas, where she was usually the only black in her classroom and, later on, her office. Over the years she's endured her fair share of cruel jokes. Starting in her 20s, however, Laurent-Perrault, a biologist by training, began to develop a passionate interest in her culture and its links to Africa. She is now working on a Ph.D. at New York University analyzing the topic in the context of Venezuela. "There is [now] more pride in being black," she says. "People are mobilizing, and organizations have arisen in almost all of Latin America to expose inequality and demand that this must end."

Such organizations are drawing inspiration and financing from foreign, largely U.S., sources. In February, African-American journalist Lori Robinson launched a new Web site called vidaafrolatina.com that spotlights news, cultural events and commentary by and about Afro-Latinos. Leading members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, like Rep. Gregory Meeks, have taken a special interest in Afro-Colombians and dispatched staff to advise black Colombian legislators. USAID has funded a variety of social and economic development projects in predominantly black areas of western Colombia, and has provided money and technical assistance to an association of black mayors and groups working on behalf of internal refugees. The groundbreaking presidential bid of a certain young U.S. senator hasn't gone unnoticed in the region, either. "A triumph of Barack Obama would be extraordinary," gushes Ernesto Estupiñan, mayor of the predominantly black Ecuadoran city of Esmeraldas. "It would be a huge encouragement for all of us in terms of minority participation in politics." Indeed, if Obama does reach the White House, one of his familiar slogans could soon take root in the hearts and minds of his fellow Africano-Americanos south of the border: "¡Si se puede!"("Yes we can!")

With Steven Ambrus in Bogotá, Maria Amparo Lasso in Mexico City and Phil Gunson in Caracas

© 2008


Original source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/139401/page/1

"Mexicano Minstrel"

Once again, as I've stated before, and will continue to remind my people, you can act as if your "white" all day long. But as comedian Paul Mooney stated, "white people knows whose white and whose not white." This is what they think of us. So all you so-called Latinos who fight so hard to not be associated with "black" people, wake the fuck up. Por favor! Despite being all in the same boat (having been subjected to white supremacist rule- colonialism), we all have deep running AFRICAN roots. Stop being ashamed of it and embrace it. By the way, this video comes to us by way of England and is only about twenty-years old. Much thanks to "The Latin Americanist" for posting this.

Afro-Uruguayans and the 'Power' of Candombe

Within the Nation of Gods and Earths and the value system we live in adherence to, the "Supreme Mathematics", the number '4' represents 'culture'. The following number '5' represents 'power'. The reasoning for this is because as all life is based in a basic order (i.e. "mathematics") the numbers progress, not simply in quantity, but in the quality of the principle they represent and the quality of the degree of 'life' that they represent. It is 'culture' that gives us to environment to grow and it is 'culture' that transmits a people's knowledge, wisdom and understanding through space and time, continuing on, for future generations to embrace and live out. Thus, it is culture that brings forth one's 'power'. La cultura is what empowers us and gives us the strength to continue in the name of self-determination, severing the clutch of colonialism from our mindset and being. Las matematica de hoy es "poder".


Uruguay: Spirit of Afro Resistance Alive in Candombe
Written by Marie Trigona

In the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, Afro-Uruguayans celebrate an often-ignored part of their history - Candombe and resistance. For more than 200 years Afro descendants have maintained the tradition of Candombe, a rhythm that traveled from Africa to Uruguay with African slaves. The music carries centuries of resistance and liberation.

The word Candombe literally means "place and dance of Africans." The musical tradition evolved during the colonial area. Africans brought to Uruguay for slave labor used the rhythm of the tambores, or drums, to communicate with each other and defy colonialists.

Today the music thrives in Montevideo's working class neighborhoods, where African descendants have kept alive the tradition of the Llamadas, parades where Candombe is played. Candombe drummer Mitchel Navos says that Candombe didn't originate in Africa, but with Afro-descendants in Montevideo. "Candombe is specifically from Montevideo. Candombe like Montevideo's Candombe doesn't exist in any other part of the world." He also asserts that Candombe's spirit has been passed down for generations despite a historical void surrounding the music's origins.

Origins of Candombe

Montevideo's colonial district is the birthplace of Uruguay's Candombe music. Africans from the Southern and Western regions (Bantu regions which include Congo, Angola and Mozambique) were brought to Uruguay and Argentina through the slave trade beginning in 1750. "Africans arriving from the Bantu region brought with them the Candombe rhythm," explains Navos. "Being from different nations and regions, they didn't have the possibility of communicating through language."

In whatever time their white masters allowed, slaves communicated through drums and dance. The first Llamadas took place at this time. Some historians assert that the word Llamadas - "parade of calls," refers to the drums Africans played to call out to each other in their homes. Each tribe had a particular rhythm that could be identified from afar.

Within these living quarters, African musicians gave birth to a rhythm and tradition which has been passed on for generations. Martin Silva is a young musician from Montevideo's Barrio Sur. His grandparents taught him the Candombe rhythm and the origins of Candombe. "Before the llamadas were held in Ansinas, which was a conventillo or a housing complex here on Isla de Flores and nearby streets. It was a huge housing complex where hundreds of families lived. The llamadas were held there, they paraded inside. It was a different kind of festivity. It's not the same as today."

Upper class whites tried to ban Candombe gatherings in the 19th century. One of the earliest historical documents tracing Candombe music is an 1808 police record, when citizens of Montevideo requested that these dances be severely repressed and completely prohibited. Afro descendants took their music underground, to defy the oppressive conditions of slavery.

"We can't refer to anything before 1900 with historical certainty," explains Navos. There exists an extensive historical void regarding Candombe practices between 1800 and 1900. "What exists today is what we could hide and preserve, which has led to the transformation of Candombe in what it is today, from generation to generation," he continues.

"Barrio Sur and Palermo were where the meat curing plants were located. Many of the black slaves had to work in the meat curing plants, but also many lived in the curing plants. That's where music from Africa mixed with Catholicism." Many historians assert that the first Llamadas took place in clandestine music halls, until they went public with the abolishment of slavery in the late 19th century. "The first Llamadas held was a procession from the Meat curing plants toward Montevideo's main cathedral, in the Old part of the city. In commemoration of Day of the Kings, they made a procession to give a tribute to the Catholic Saints of the Masters. That's when Western Traditions got mixed in. That's when the term Llamadas, or walking procession, came to be. Before it wasn't about walking in the streets, it was held in a hall or like a band performance."

Symbols of Afro descendants' painful past

The dance and music are filled with symbols of African descendants' painful past. The troupes the perform the Llamadas are called comparsas, and are made up of cuerdas (drummers) and dancers. The drummers walk very slowly, barely separating their feet as they walk. This rhythm and style of procession is meant to symbolize Afro-descendants' past and historical roots when their ancestors were made to walk with chains and shackles.

Three main characters lead the llamadas: the Mama Vieja (Grandmother), Gramillero (Old Doctor), and Escobero (Wizard). The Gramillero walks with a cane as if he's about to fall over. The Mama Vieja carries an umbrella attending to the Grammillero. The Escobero sweeps the ground with a great baton.

Navos describes the significance of these three characters. "The Escobero, I don't know if he's a magician or wizard, he's the person in charge of taking charge of the spirit of the comparsa. The Escobero walks in front of the flags to clean the bad spirits opening the way for the comparsa."

The Gramillero and Mama Vieja symbolize two key figures in Afro-Uruguayan history: the old doctor who uses medicinal herbs to cure and the grandmother, the matriarchal figure. Navos explains the significance of those characters. "Those characters are as important to us as our grandparents. In a family they are the roots. They are the oldest people in the comparsa. Their dance is about that. Simulating the pain in their slow dance, there's an expression of fatigue in their dance."

Candombe as a cultural tool

Some of the city's Candombe troops feature more than 50 drummers and dozens of dancers. Each neighborhood has its own rhythm and style. In Barrio Sur, where slaves took the music underground in the 19th century, new Candombe troops are emerging today.

According to Mario Suarez a young musician playing a traditional African drum in the Isla de Flores comparsa, the Llamadas is more than a performance. "The Llamadas and Candombe for the Afro descendants are a passion and a tradition. We have to maintain the tradition. The identity of the comparsa of Isla de Flores is strong, because it's part of the identity barrio Ansinas and Barrio Sur. The first Llamadas took place here in the barrio Ansinas and the barrio Sur."

Today Afro-Uruguayans number around 100,000, or about 6 percent of the population. For many Uruguayans of Afro descent, Candombe is part of everyday life and resistance in a continually discriminating society. The Llamadas ispracticed all year long, not just during Carnival. Uruguayans have also adopted the increasingly popular Candombe music as part of their national identity. Especially in the past 30 years, the music has influenced White musicians. The music was used to express resistance to the repressive regime during Uruguay's bloody military junta from 1973-1984. Today, Candombe isn't just heard in Montevideo but has spread to Uruguay's interior and echoes in Argentina.

"Candombe is not only a question of skin color, it's a way of thinking and being," says Diego Bonga Martinez from the Afro-cultural movement in Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires, the Llamadas have been continually repressed by police and government officials. Martinez adds, �Candombe is a cultural weapon we have used to defend ourselves with, for our culture to live on." From the size and sound of the growing number of comparsas participating in the Llamadas in Montevideo, this tradition will be passed on for generations to come.


Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in Buenos Aires. She can be reached at mtrigona@msn.com

Article originally from: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1145/1/