American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Lakota activist Russell Means declared in October 1992 that Cristóbal Colón (better known as Christopher Columbus) “made Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent.” As this vehement denunciation of a powerful historical figure suggests, the five-hundred-year anniversary of Colón’s first voyage to the Americas ignited intense debate, bitter feelings, and conflict. The United States witnessed much of the celebration and turmoil. In popular sentiment and in Eurocentric thought, this country’s heritage is traced back to Colón, whose ”discovery” of the Western Hemisphere led to the establishment of the most just, humane, and democratic nation known to humankind. But for many individuals, especially those from non-European backgrounds, America has not been a land of freedom, justice, and equality. Along with other groups, including Chicanos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and white women, Indians have suffered political, economic, and social mistreatment. Sharing a commitment to reform society, these oppressed peoples have tried, throughout American history, to transform national consciousness and affect public policy by removing biases and distortions from written history, educational curriculum, and popular culture. Widespread protest activities during the 1950s and the Vietnam War encouraged lawmakers and judges to end legally sanctioned discrimination and segregation in many aspects of American life, but conservative notions about race and gender fueled a white backlash movement against change. By the late 1970s, the struggle for civil rights had lost its momentum.

I believe that if I pass below the Equator . . . I shall find a much cooler climate and a greater difference i n the stars and waters . . .for I believe that the earthly Paradise lies here. -Christopher Columbus, 1498 During his third voyage, Christopher Columbus became convinced that the river Orinoco, located in what is now Venezuela, was the northernmost point of the Garden of Eden as described in the second chapter of the Bible’s book of Genesis. Columbus was in error, and an assumption he made plagues Native Americans to this day: that Judeo-Christian history as understood by Christians is also the history of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. Simply stated, the Christian nations of the world had to fit Native Americans into European notions of the history of the world, and that meant fitting them into biblical history. It was obvious to Columbus that the people he encountered had no knowledge of the Christian New Testament teachings of Jesus and therefore must be Old Testament people. Later writers would echo Columbus’s conclusion that Native Americans shared Christian history. However, they quickly dismissed the notion that Columbus’s ”Indians” were residents of the Garden of Eden and therefore were ”without sin,” as Adam and Eve were before the temptation and ”fall of man.” Instead, Indians were described as relatives of the east “Indians” (hence the name), the Chinese, the Jewish tribes, and, in the modern era, the “mongoloid” racial group. Each has been an attempt to place the “New World” inhabitants into “Old World” religious and scientific creation stories. Such an effort deprives Native Americans of their own history. It also deprives Native Americans of their own cosmologies, their own worldviews, and their own creation stories.

When the explorer Christopher Columbus-eternal hero, famous admiral, courageous discoverer, or fortunate fool-”lost” his way and rediscovered the Western Hemisphere, legends and history books inaccurately claimed that he had achieved a great feat. In actuality, the initial meeting of two very different worlds had transpired. Life had developed differently in the opposite hemispheres of the world, reflecting different values, cultures, and evolutionary progress. Since the sixteenth century, historians, scholars, and writers have made the romantic claim that the encounter of East and West was a historical miracle-the arrival of the European savior bringing ”civilization” to the so-called New World. This bias provokes rather interesting questions to ponder. What did Columbus and the first Taino Indians he met think of each other? What were their impressions? Did they think and react in economic or political terms? Did the Indians really believe that a “white” stranger had been sent to bring them a better way of life, i.e., Christianity and civilization, as written history (the non-Indian perspective) has claimed? Some prophecies of certain tribes tell of “white” looking strangers coming to their lands-the Hopi, Wintu, Acoma Pueblo, and Oglala Sioux. The tribes did not anticipate Christianity, but spiritual advisors suggested that the ”white man” had different ways and different ideas: Most likely, both Columbus and the Taino Indians were awed by the sight of each other. During the initial encounter, each saw a very different looking person, and each responded instinctively from his or her own cultural experience and knowledge. How they viewed each other is very important.

INTRODUCTION Freedom of worship is a protected liberty that most Americans commonly take for granted. However, for Native Americans today, there is a growing crisis in religious liberty created by two recent Supreme Court decisions. These cases deny First Amendment protection for ancient tribal religious practices that predate the founding of the United States and the writing of its Constitution. This loophole in religious liberty has created a human rights crisis in Indian Country and a call to Congress for a new law to protect the First Amendment rights of the First Americans. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and seven co-sponsors introduced the “Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act of 1993” (NAFERA) (S. 1021) on 25 May 1993. As Indian tribes gather for this legislative battle, it is useful to find a framework for understanding why such legislation is necessary in a nation that prides itself in protecting individual freedom. For most citizens, it is puzzling how any religious faith-much less the native religions of the land-can be excluded from the ambit of the First Amendment and placed in an unprotected class. Is it a simple legal anomaly? Failure of American jurisprudence to incorporate basic indigenous values? Or something darker?

Five hundred years after the discovery of Columbus, the sunset of 1993 will probably be followed by another sad day of natural resources being unceremoniously manipulated without regard to their critical role in our survival. To American Indian and Alaska Native peoples determined to maintain their traditional cultures, all natural resources are essential living entities. Here the authors first share with the reader why our tribe, the Skokomish of Washington State, have a concern for the Cedar’s fate. The next section of this article describes, in a traditional voice, the importance of Cedar and why a sacred bond exists between the Skokomish and the Cedar. The third section addresses some of the legal issues surrounding efforts to protect Cedar and concludes with strategies on how to continue approaching this issue in the court system. The fourth section describes how the disappearance of Cedar is adversely affecting the survival of our traditional culture. In closing, the discussion turns to how Cedar’s quiet disappearance affects traditional education practices among the current generation of Skokomish and what the tribe is doing to maintain their culture.

In the early winter of 1980, an elderly medicine man of mixed Palouse and NezPerce blood shared many stories. He was a small, thin man with long, white hair pulled back into a ponytail. He spoke of many things and told of his own unique powers. "You come from that university where you have men and women who spend their lives studying plants and animals." The medicine man continued, saying that the scientists could see only a part of the world of living things. "I see things that they have never seen, heard things they have never heard." The medicine man was in deep earnest. He had talked to plants and animals and heard their stories and songs. Through his oral presentation about the plants and animals, he offered insights into the history and worldview of Indians living on the Great Columbia Plateau of present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The discussion of plants and animals, mountains, and rivers is an integral part of American Indian history, but often these are elements of the past that are little understood by historians. As part of the legacy of the Columbian invasion of America, Europeans have debased native beliefs in the sanctity of the natural world and have downplayed the significance of cultural forces within Native American communities as important factors influencing the course of history. The result has been historical writings based on uncritical evaluations of biased documents by scholars who have little understanding of Native American cultures.

When every effort was made to wipe out our culture and religion, we made adjustments to insure that there was an outward showing of compliance. Wemanaged to keep our religion and culture going (underground, as it were) so we were able to survive the Spaniards. So too are we able to survive the tourists and culture they represent. -Taos Pueblo member INTRODUCTION American Indian nations have experienced various forms of internal colonialism and forced assimilation since the arrival of the Europeans. Although tourism is not necessarily perceived as a means of forced assimilation, it has assimilative effects and has been studied in terms of its acculturative impact on the host society. American Indian nations/tribes across the country are beginning to recognize the tremendous economic benefits of tourism and are in the process of developing this area further. Within the social sciences, there is a growing body of literature on American Indian tourism. However, the research does little to reflect the social and economic impact of tourism from the perspective of the American Indian.

Many immigrant groups in the United States celebrated a quincentennial of the "discovery" of a New World in 1992. However, most of the 1.5 million native peoples in the United States who live in isolated reservation areas or the 50 percent of the native population who live in urban areas are rejoicing in their survival. Their cultural survival against centuries of genocide, legal restrictions on religion and language, and superimposed systems of law that were meant to completely obliterate native law-ways and customary systems of marriage and kinship, and, more devastatingly, demolish belief systems that were considered "pagan" is indeed remarkable. This pattern of conquest and domination exists in many areas of colonization by European powers. At present, it is agreed that there are approximately 325 distinct tribal groups in the United States. Their viability in cultural lifestyles and linguistic persistence lends credence to adaptiveness and tenacity. This contradicts the common view of policy-makers and religious practitioners that American Indians would inevitability join a mythical "melting pot." American Indians of all tribes have been the focus of administered human relations since the beginning of contact with a dominant and domineering governmental system that prevails to the present day. American Indians and Alaska Natives (not Native Americans!) have a comprehensive system of laws, federal statutes, and rules stipulated by Congress that distinguishes them from other so-called minority peoples. Thus they have a constant need for lobbyists and self help associations to carefully monitor every session of Congress to apprise them of and, in some cases, circumvent legal actions that would erode the special status of tribes as ”domestic nations” and abrogate treaties on which tribal sovereignty is based. The need for eternal vigilance as each session of Congress convenes has established watchdog groups such as the National Congress of American Indians (founded in 1944) and the politically astute Native American Rights Fund, which is composed of indigenous lawyers of both genders. Besides these pan-tribal organizations, many tribal governments maintain offices in Washington, D.C. to monitor legislation and inform their tribal constituencies.

Since contact, non-Indians have been fascinated with American Indians, and they continue to explore almost every aspect of Indians’ cultures and physiologies. Library shelves contain vast collections of books with American Indian themes. The majority of books and articles, in addition to movies, television shows, and documentaries, have been written and produced by non-Indians (some of whom attempt to pass themselves off as Indians) who have been educated and trained to conduct research by other non-Indians. Although most non-Indian scholars respect the peoples and cultures they study, many do not. Intrusive research of American Indians and publication of information that tribes do not wish disseminated to the general public constitute a major source of interracial conflict. Dissension between those who desire to keep their cultures sheltered from curious interlopers and those who cry academic freedom undermines the credibility of all scholarly studies. University tenure and promotion processes exacerbate the problem. Most university faculty members are encouraged to pursue a wide range of research and scholarly creative interests, many of which focus on American Indian topics. Some researchers are intrusive in their quest for information, others are not. Some writers are genuinely concerned about their subjects’ wellbeing, and they research for the Indians’ welfare. Indeed, many Indians are grateful that scholars have documented certain aspects of their culture, and some tribes hire outsiders to conduct research for them. Most researchers, however, use the information for their own gain, that is, for tenure, promotion, grants, marketability, and prestige. Others operate under the assumption that they are the caretakers of tribal histories and cultural knowledge. These paternalistic encroachers claim that Indians are too witless to chronicle their own histories or to manage their own affairs, and they assume that it is in the Indians’ best interest to publish sensitive details of tribal life. This posturing appalls tribal historians and religious leaders who maintain that certain aspects of tribal information should not be shared with outsiders. The problem is that some people believe they should be exempt from any restrictions.

INTRODUCTION The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico have been the subjects of a specific kind of mythologizing since the Spanish colonists arrived in the sixteenth century, but particularly so since the 1920s. There have been two distinct and often parallel aspects of this image-making. One is promulgated by social scientists in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and history. The other is touted by entrepreneurs of tourism and popular culture. Among social scientists, New Mexico early became a ”living laboratory.” Among entrepreneurs and state boosters, New Mexico became a “living backdrop.” In both instances, however, the interpretations were and are dominated by outsiders (non-Pueblo) who seek, for their own affirmation, a primitive and exotic humanscape. In their imagining about the exotic and the primitive, these outside observers draw on their own preconceptions and experiences to selectively appropriate elements of the mystical and mythical "Indian." The consequent image is a subjective interpretation, the purpose of which is to corroborate the outsider's viewpoint, and not least to gain money and prestige.