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2 Comments

  1. OUR CEREMONIES ARE NOT FOR SALE!
    YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW
    American Indian religious rites and cultural expression under federal law have been encumbered with problems that are unique to all other minority groups in the United States. As late as 1921, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs advocated for a sweeping governmental policy of suppression of these traditions. Fast forward 100 years and despite a century of progress of supportive legislation for the protection of religious practices of other Americans, American Indians are still being treated with callous indifference and bias, or complete ignorance.
    In 1978, after Congress approved it, President Jimmy Carter signed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), in recognition of the terrible effects of decades of devastating government policies that inhibited, forced, or forbid the practice of Native American religion and religious rites. These rites include access to, and the use of sacred sites, structures, objects, and materials.
    Recently, however, California Indians as well as long-time members of the Bay Area American Indian community, from various other tribes, have become aware of a lawsuit filed by former Oakland City Councilman Wilson Riles Jr against the city’s zoning council. The lawsuit stems from the city’s refusal to issue a permit to operate a sweat lodge on his property. In his suit, Riles argues that his religious rights are being denied to him based on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) (42 U.S.C. § 19906). Although he is not a member of an Indian tribe, he claims he was given permission to build the lodge and conduct sweats by an Indian woman.
    We say NO to Riles
    In response, Bay Area Native community members have begun a campaign to inform the members of the City Council and the public of their opposition to Riles’ outrageous and spurious lawsuit. Riles, you see, has no ethical reason to have a Plains-style sweat lodge in his backyard because any claim of Indian identity he might make will be questionable.
    Furthermore, no one person, Indian or not, can give approval for a non-Indian to use, modify, or lead others in Native spiritual rituals. Such approval is the privilege of tribes. Therefore, since Riles is not a member of a sovereign Indian tribe, his lawsuit must be rendered moot.
    Neither the Oakland City Council, the Zoning Commission, or any other mainstream legislative body is qualified to approve or disapprove of appropriate ways of engaging in Native American spiritual practices. Nor are they qualified to say who should or should not be authorized to lead, discuss, or defend them. For a state, county, or city institution to grant such permission, would be a grievous violation of American Indian sovereign rights.
    Our Religions are still endangered
    American Indians today continue to encounter complex forces that serve to compromise their basic human right of religious and cultural self-expression. Their religions and cultures have long been seen as ‘exotic’ compared to Christian practices. Indian religious ceremonies and rituals are communal efforts undertaken for specific purposes in accordance with instructions handed down from one generation to the next. For this reason, Native spiritual practices are incomprehensible to most non-Indians, particularly when they are interpreted or misappropriated for various, inauthentic purposes.
    Religion vs. Culture
    The very idea of ‘religion’ and ‘culture’ as separate entities is an example of the inability of the dominant society to comprehend the spiritual beliefs, value systems, and lifeways of American Indian people, as our Native culture is contiguous with our religion. The only frameworks non-Indians who are outsiders to our communities have to evaluate Native religious practices then, are European-based values and practices.
    Impertinence
    Finally, Riles claims that he and his supporters are striving to create an “indigenous community center’ which makes this sweat lodge vitally important. Yet the East Bay already has the Intertribal Friendship House, the Native American Health Center, and the American Indian Child Resource Center. The Friendship House was established in 1955 as one of the first urban Indian Community Centers in the nation. Over the last 67 years, thousands of Indian families have passed through their doors, received services, made connections within the community, and participated in social events, as well as cultural and religious gatherings. It is the height of arrogance to assert that non-Indians could ever provide any better services for our people. Riles is treading dangerously on our sovereign and inherent right of religious freedom, and the City of Oakland may be his unwitting dupe.
    We call for support
    We the undersigned call on Riles to stop this hideous violation of our culture, and on the City of Oakland to help protect our religious freedom and to respect the letter of the AIRFA protections that our ancestors struggled so long and hard to receive.
    American Indian Elders council:
    Carole StandingElk (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate)
    [email protected]
    Shirley Guevara (Dunlap Band of Mono Indians)
    [email protected]
    Patti Jo King (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
    [email protected]
    Taweah Garcia (Dunlap Band of Mono Indians)
    [email protected]
    Michelle Maas (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)
    [email protected]
    Glenda (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa Chippewa Indians)
    [email protected]
    Stormy Ogden (Tribal citizen of the Kashia Pomo/Direct Descendent of the Tule River Yokuts)
    [email protected]
    Mona Stonefish (C.S. Ojichidaakwe)
    [email protected]

    We, Will, Continue to Fight!
    Although Alameda County Superior Court has rescheduled the ‘Riles vs. City of Oakland Planning and Zoning Department’ case to a later date, the members of the American Indian Elders Coalition have not abandoned the fight. We shall continue to oppose Mr. Riles and Ms. St Onge, two non-Indians, in their fraudulent use of the Federal American Indian Religious Freedom Act to protect their “Arapaho” style sweat lodge in the city of Oakland. We must reiterate; The Act was created to preserve and protect Native religious rites and sacred ceremonies for American Indian people. Non-Indians have no legal or moral right to use Federal Indian Law for any reason and cannot be tolerated. Therefore, we will continue to pursue justice in this matter. We continue to ask you to sign our petition and join us in our struggle to protect our ceremonies from misappropriation and fraud.
    American Indian Elders Coalition:

  2. OUR CEREMONIES ARE NOT FOR SALE!
    YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW
    American Indian religious rites and cultural expression under federal law have been encumbered with problems that are unique to all other minority groups in the United States. As late as 1921, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs advocated for a sweeping governmental policy of suppression of these traditions. Fast forward 100 years and despite a century of progress of supportive legislation for the protection of religious practices of other Americans, American Indians are still being treated with callous indifference and bias, or complete ignorance.
    In 1978, after Congress approved it, President Jimmy Carter signed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), in recognition of the terrible effects of decades of devastating government policies that inhibited, forced, or forbid the practice of Native American religion and religious rites. These rites include access to, and the use of sacred sites, structures, objects, and materials.
    Recently, however, California Indians as well as long-time members of the Bay Area American Indian community, from various other tribes, have become aware of a lawsuit filed by former Oakland City Councilman Wilson Riles Jr against the city’s zoning council. The lawsuit stems from the city’s refusal to issue a permit to operate a sweat lodge on his property. In his suit, Riles argues that his religious rights are being denied to him based on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) (42 U.S.C. § 19906). Although he is not a member of an Indian tribe, he claims he was given permission to build the lodge and conduct sweats by an Indian woman.
    We say NO to Riles
    In response, Bay Area Native community members have begun a campaign to inform the members of the City Council and the public of their opposition to Riles’ outrageous and spurious lawsuit. Riles, you see, has no ethical reason to have a Plains-style sweat lodge in his backyard because any claim of Indian identity he might make will be questionable.
    Furthermore, no one person, Indian or not, can give approval for a non-Indian to use, modify, or lead others in Native spiritual rituals. Such approval is the privilege of tribes. Therefore, since Riles is not a member of a sovereign Indian tribe, his lawsuit must be rendered moot.
    Neither the Oakland City Council, the Zoning Commission, or any other mainstream legislative body is qualified to approve or disapprove of appropriate ways of engaging in Native American spiritual practices. Nor are they qualified to say who should or should not be authorized to lead, discuss, or defend them. For a state, county, or city institution to grant such permission, would be a grievous violation of American Indian sovereign rights.
    Our Religions are still endangered
    American Indians today continue to encounter complex forces that serve to compromise their basic human right of religious and cultural self-expression. Their religions and cultures have long been seen as ‘exotic’ compared to Christian practices. Indian religious ceremonies and rituals are communal efforts undertaken for specific purposes in accordance with instructions handed down from one generation to the next. For this reason, Native spiritual practices are incomprehensible to most non-Indians, particularly when they are interpreted or misappropriated for various, inauthentic purposes.
    Religion vs. Culture
    The very idea of ‘religion’ and ‘culture’ as separate entities is an example of the inability of the dominant society to comprehend the spiritual beliefs, value systems, and lifeways of American Indian people, as our Native culture is contiguous with our religion. The only frameworks non-Indians who are outsiders to our communities have to evaluate Native religious practices then, are European-based values and practices.
    Impertinence
    Finally, Riles claims that he and his supporters are striving to create an “indigenous community center’ which makes this sweat lodge vitally important. Yet the East Bay already has the Intertribal Friendship House, the Native American Health Center, and the American Indian Child Resource Center. The Friendship House was established in 1955 as one of the first urban Indian Community Centers in the nation. Over the last 67 years, thousands of Indian families have passed through their doors, received services, made connections within the community, and participated in social events, as well as cultural and religious gatherings. It is the height of arrogance to assert that non-Indians could ever provide any better services for our people. Riles is treading dangerously on our sovereign and inherent right of religious freedom, and the City of Oakland may be his unwitting dupe.
    We call for support
    We the undersigned call on Riles to stop this hideous violation of our culture, and on the City of Oakland to help protect our religious freedom and to respect the letter of the AIRFA protections that our ancestors struggled so long and hard to receive.
    American Indian Elders council:
    Carole StandingElk (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate)
    [email protected]
    Shirley Guevara (Dunlap Band of Mono Indians)
    [email protected]
    Patti Jo King (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
    [email protected]
    Taweah Garcia (Dunlap Band of Mono Indians)
    [email protected]
    Michelle Maas (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)
    [email protected]
    Glenda (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa Chippewa Indians)
    [email protected]
    Stormy Ogden (Tribal citizen of the Kashia Pomo/Direct Descendent of the Tule River Yokuts)
    [email protected]
    Mona Stonefish (C.S. Ojichidaakwe)
    [email protected]

    We, Will, Continue to Fight!
    Although Alameda County Superior Court has rescheduled the ‘Riles vs. City of Oakland Planning and Zoning Department’ case to a later date, the members of the American Indian Elders Coalition have not abandoned the fight. We shall continue to oppose Mr. Riles and Ms. St Onge, two non-Indians, in their fraudulent use of the Federal American Indian Religious Freedom Act to protect their “Arapaho” style sweat lodge in the city of Oakland. We must reiterate; The Act was created to preserve and protect Native religious rites and sacred ceremonies for American Indian people. Non-Indians have no legal or moral right to use Federal Indian Law for any reason and cannot be tolerated. Therefore, we will continue to pursue justice in this matter. We continue to ask you to sign our petition and join us in our struggle to protect our ceremonies from misappropriation and fraud.
    American Indian Elders Coalition: