Tag Archives: Native Americans

The Doyle Family: Native American Children’s Toy Company & The Family Healing Center

What happens when a family decides to devote themselves to creating a more healing world and gathers materials from nature and engage their own creativity to make toys for children by children? What if this is part of bringing into reality a vision of community healing the harm of generations of trauma experienced by First Nations people? What if the busy parents ask for assistance from a local church group, and a group of elder women joins in?

In October of 2019, some of those Elders from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bozeman, “Kaalas” in the language of the Crow, brought us to the home of Drs. of Education Megkian and Shane Doyle, where we were welcomed by four of their five children: 6 year old twins, Blake and Quanah, 9 year old Lillian, and 11 year old Ruby. They shared with us their vision of the Family Healing Center, and why they created The Native American Children’s Toy Company.

Every 10th toy the children make is given to a Native American child currently in foster care with this letter: “…. No matter what happens, you will always have a home and a homeland with your people…”

Megkian (center), Quanah (left) & Blake (right) write words in English & Crow on stones to create “Story Stones”. Players pull stones from a bag & then make up stories from them. Kaalla, Ita Kileen, in the background works on a hoop for “Sticks & Hoops”.

Quanah Doyle works on a project. A bag of “Story Stones” are in front of him.

Lilian (left) & Ruby (right) Megkian (back)

From left to right: Ruby, Brooklyn, Kaalas Robyn Lauster & Kitty Donich (photo by Megkian Doyle)

From left to right: Blake, Lily’s friend, Elizabeth, Lily, Ita Killeen, Kitty Donich in back. (photo by Megkian Doyle)

Ruby (left) & friend, Brooklyn, (right)

Lilian (left) & friend, Lia, play “Story Stones”.

Quanah demonstrates “Stick & Hoop”

Unless otherwise credited, all photos courtesy of Kaala, Robyn Lauster. The family photo at top is by Arnica Spring Rae.

The children’s company email is: nativeamericanchildrenstoyco@gmail.com

This website features some of their original work: https://raisingplaces.org/www.raisingplaces.org/community/aashbacheeitche.html

https://raisingplaces.org/www.raisingplaces.org/the-latest/action-in-valley-of-the-chiefs.html

A recent article about the business incubator: https://thesheridanpress.com/117000/lodge-grass-moves-ahead-with-planned-business-center/

Family Healing Center Narrative Description with Images 9.19

William Hogeland – THE AUTUMN OF THE BLACK SNAKE: THE CREATION OF THE U.S. ARMY AND THE INVASION THAT OPENED THE WEST

William Hogeland has written about the American Revolution era in three previous books, THE WHISKEY REBELLION, DECLARATION, AND FOUNDING FINANCE. His latest book, THE AUTUMN OF THE BLACK SNAKE: THE CREATION OF THE U.S. ARMY AND THE INVASION THAT OPENED THE WEST, published by Farrar, Strouse, Giroux in 2017, goes in depth into the history surrounding the American Revolution, and particularly a major defeat of the new United States, in fact the greatest defeat effected by North American indigenous peoples in the history of this continent. But few have heard about it, much less the individuals who made it happen. William Hogeland, is determined to remedy this.

First a bit of history: On this date, July 19th, in 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was convened. It was the first women’s rights convention, eventually leading after more than 7 decades to, among other things, the 19th Amendment granting women’s right to vote in the U.S.

And on July 19th 1692, 8 people were found guilty of witchcraft and hanged in Salem, Mass., including Rev. George Burroughs, the only minister to be executed.

But now, we’ll fast forward a hundred years to “more enlightened times,” when the American Revolution had been won, and the power elites of that era were looking West across the Appalachian Mountains to so-called “vacant lands” for speculation and expansion. With only one problem, that being the people who had been living there for millennia didn’t agree that it was vacant.

A young George Washington explored, surveyed and speculated in lands west of the Appalachians, in the process becoming one of the causes of the Seven Years War – the first global war, causing over a million casualties – and also enhancing his own career and making his fortune.
The tobacco export business required ever more new lands for planting, due to severe, rapid depletion of the soil, hence the lust for more and more new land to plant.

Thomas Jefferson provided an evolving legal theory of Free Holding, dating back to the Anglo Saxon invasion of England, and disavowing the right of kings to grant tenure of lands, which had begun with the Norman Invasion. He believed anyone could take and hold any land without the permission of a sovereign, i.e Direct Ownership, as long as it was “vacant” .

His advice to farmers concerning tobacco’s soil depletion: “Better to move than manure.”

Blue Jacket, a Shawnee leader, rallied his people to resist American Westward expansion.

Unlike Blue Jacket, Little Turtle believed that without British armaments, the Americans could not be decisively defeated. His efforts to procure them were unsuccessful.

Joseph Brant, a member of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy tried to be a diplomat and go-between among the warring factions – American, Indian and British. His efforts only resulted in ever diminishing trust and respect on all sides.

One treaty after another was made and broken by the Americans, although for the most part honored by the Indians. As westward encroachment increased – 10,000 immigrants coming down the Ohio River per month – war was inevitable.

General Arthur St. Clair, who suffered the greatest defeat by Indians in U.S. history, when as many as 1,200 men, women and children – out of 1,500 – were killed, including most of the officers of the U.S. military.

St. Clair’s defeat by the Miami Indians at the Battle of the Wabash River Nov. 4, 1791.

Exact numbers are impossible to determine, but according to David Johnson in Fort Amanda – A Historical Redress (1790-1815):

In a 3 hour battle, of 982 soldiers and 250 civilians, 757 were killed, 413 wounded, 34 unwounded, a Total Casualty Rate of 95%. Placed head to toe, the bodies of those killed at St Clair’s Defeat would measure approximately 4,400 feet.

Julian Brave Noisecat: Global Indigenous Revolution + Doug Peacock: Grizzly delisting

“For Indians, defeat in the face of American Progress and Manifest Destiny was supposed to be a foregone conclusion.” So writes our guest in the first half of today’s broadcast, Julian Brave Noisecat, in his article, When the Indians Defeat the Cowboys, published in the January 2017 issue of Jacobin magazine. This young indigenous scholar, journalist and activist is in the first half of our show. In the second half hour, we speak with Doug Peacock, Montana grizzly bear aficionado, who among many, many other things, was an erstwhile friend of Edward Abbey, and inspiration for the character, George Washington Hayduke, in Abbey’s seminal work, The MONKEY WRENCH GANG. He discusses the delisting of Yellowstone grizzly bears from the endangered species list, as well as what the heck is going on with Montana’s Washington gang, now that 2/3 of its congressional delegation – excluding the other third, organic farmer, Senator John Testor – are not only from the same small city of Bozeman, MT, who worked together at the same cyber-technology start-up, Right Now Technologies, but also both became multimillionaires after Oracle bought it for $1.5 billion. You may remember hearing about the recently elected Greg Gianforte, who pled guilty to assaulting Guardian journalist, Ben Jacobs, the night before the statewide special election to replace former Representative Ryan Zinke, who had been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. Doug recounts the recent up-close encounter with a mama grizzly and her yearling cub, who nursed for 7 minutes 35 feet from him and his daughter in Yellowstone Park.Julian Brave Noisecat graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude in History from Columbia University in 2015. The next year he received a Masters in Global and Imperial History from Oxford University, which had awarded him a Clarendon Scholarship. His writings have appeared in The Guardian, Jacobin, Fusion, Salon, High Country News, Fusion, as well as others. He is a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen Tribewithin the province of British Columbia.Doug Peacock was our guest on Forthright Radio in January 2014, after his book IN THE SHADOW OF THE SABERTOOTH: A RENEGADE NATURALIST CONSIDERS GLOBAL WARMING, THE FIRST AMERICANS AND THE TERRIBLE BEASTS OF THE PLEISTOCENE, was published. After 2 tours as a Special Forces medic in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam, Doug Peacock returned to the United States suffering from the not yet named Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He found wilderness was the only place he could be to deal with the effects of war trauma. Thus began his more than 4 decades of interacting with grizzlies, whom he credits with restoring his soul, & his dedication to protecting and preserving them, & the wilderness they – and we – need to thrive. Doug Peacock was the subject of an award winning film about grizzly bears & Vietnam, called Peacock’s War. Among his books are WALKING IT OFF: A VETERAN’S CHRONICLE OF WAR AND WILDERNESS; GRIZZLY YEARS: IN SEARCH OF THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS; AND IN THE PRESENCE OF GRIZZLIES: THE ANCIENT BOND BETWEEN MEN AND BEARS, written with his wife, Andrea Peacock.

TRIBAL JUSTICE: Anne Makepeace & Yurok Tribal Judge Abby Abinanti

Two judges… two tribes… one goal: restoring justice.

The Honorable Abby Abinanti
Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe on the North Coast of California, is the first Native American woman to pass the California bar exam. She established the first tribal-run clean slate program in the country to help members expunge criminal records, and focuses on keeping young people out of jail, in school and with their people. She has also served as Appellate Judge for the Colorado River Indian Tribe; Judge for the Hopi Tribal Court and Shoeshone-Bonnock Tribal Court; Chief Magistrate on the Court of Indian Offenses for the Hoopa Valley Tribal Court; and Tribal Courts Evaluator for the Indian Justice Center and the American Indian Justice Center.

The Honorable Claudette White
Judge White has served as Chief Judge for the Quechan Tribal Court since 2005. She also rides circuit, serving in tribal courts throughout Southern Arizona and California, including the Fort McDowell Indian Community, Ak-Chin Indian Community, Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and Tonto Apache Tribal Courts. She is President of the Arizona Indian Judges Association, and is a member of the Arizona Tribal, State and Federal Court Forum and the newly formed California Tribal Court/State Court Forum. She works closely with families, state court judges, probation officers and social workers to ensure the best outcomes for families and children.

Anne Makepeace has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more three decades. Her new film, Tribal Justice, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival just this past February 2017. Her previous documentary, We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân, about the return of the Wampanoag language, had its broadcast premiere on the PBS series Independent Lens in 2011. The film has won many awards, including the Full Frame Inspiration Award and the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride MountainFilm for the film most likely to effect important social change. The $3000 MountainFilm prize went directly to the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, enabling them to launch their first-ever language immersion camp for children. We Still Live Here was funded by ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the LEF Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Makepeace was able to complete the film with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Other recent films by Anne Makepeace include: I. M. PEI: Building China Modern ,(PBS broadcast on American Masters in 2010), and her Emmy nominated feature documentary Rain in a Dry Land (lead show on PBS P.O.V. 2007), which chronicled the journey and resettlement of two Somali Bantu refugee families from Africa through their first two years in America. She won a National Prime Time Emmy for her American Masters/PBS documentary Robert Capa in Love and War, which premiered at Sundance in 2003. Coming to Light, her documentary about Edward S. Curtis, also premiered at Sundance, was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2000, broadcast on American Masters in 2001, and won many prizes, including the O’Connor Award for Best Film from the American Historical Association, an Award of Excellence from the American Anthropological Association, a Gold Hugo from Chicago, Best Documentary at Telluride, and many others. Her first documentary, Baby It’s You, premiered at Sundance, was broadcast as the lead show on P.O.V. in 1998, and screened at the Whitney Biennial 2000.

Yurok Tribal Judge Abby Abinanti with Humboldt County Judge Christopher Wilson

Quechan Tribal Judge Claudette White & Imperial County Judge Juan Ulloa

Judge Abby Abinanti presiding in the Yurok Tribal Court.

“The tribal courts both incorporate traditional values and hold up an example to the nation about the possibilities of alternative dispute resolution. [They] have much to offer to the tribal communities, and much to teach the other court systems operating in the United States. ” —

The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, former Supreme Court Justice

A California Law School Reckons With the Shame of Native Massacres https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/us/hastings-college-law-native-massacre.html