Kitschinipen - Summer
Time to tend the gardens!
Several articles below.
Siquon - Spring Kitschinipen - Summer Greetings!
We hope this Summer 2012 newsletter finds you
well. If you are interested in submitting information, please send
it to palenape@enter.net.
Please cite where it is from or if it is your original work.
Good luck in your gardens!
If the links below do not work, please cut & paste them into your browser.
President’s Native Community page copied
from
the original site.
Addressing Violence Against Native Women in the Violence Against Women
Act Reauthorization
Note: This blog post was originally posted on
WhiteHouse.gov
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee considered legislation to
reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). However, the bill
that came out of the House Judiciary Committee failed to include a key
provision which has already been accepted by the Senate on a bipartisan
basis and is essential to protecting Native American women.
Since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been an essential
tool in helping to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Since the passage of the Act, annual incidents of domestic violence have
dropped by more than 60 percent. Over the years, Congress has continued
its commitment to addressing violence against women by working with
advocates, law enforcement officials, court systems, and victims in
order to build on what we have learned and make improvements to the Act
in each subsequent reauthorization. This was recently demonstrated by
the
Senate's VAWA reauthorization bill
(S. 1925), introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo
(R-ID) which passed last month with strong bipartisan support.
The Leahy-Crapo VAWA reauthorization bill addresses many pressing issues
facing all victims of domestic violence, including those in Indian
Country. Rates of domestic violence against Native women in Indian
Country are now among the highest in the United States and the
Leahy-Crapo bill directly confronts this epidemic.
Tribal police, prosecutors, and courts have had significant success in
combating crimes of domestic violence committed by Indians in Indian
Country, but tribes cannot prosecute a non-Indian, even if he lives on
the reservation and is married to a tribal member. As a result, all too
often, non-Indian men who batter their wives or girlfriends go
unpunished. One provision of the Leahy-Crapo bill addresses this legal
gap by providing tribes with concurrent authority to hold domestic
violence perpetrators accountable for their crimes against Native women
– regardless of the perpetrator’s race.
Under the bill’s tribal-jurisdiction provisions:
-
Tribes could prosecute non-Indians only for domestic violence,
dating violence, and violations of protection orders. Crimes between
two strangers, or between two non-Indians, or committed by a person
with no ties to the tribe, would not be covered.
-
Federal- and state-court jurisdiction over domestic violence would
be unaffected.
-
Defendants would effectively have the same rights in tribal court as
in state court, including due-process rights, an indigent
defendant’s right to free appointed counsel meeting Federal
constitutional standards, and the right to an impartial jury with
the jury pool reflecting a fair cross-section of the entire
community, including non-Indians.
-
Defendants could protect their rights by appealing their convictions
to a tribal court and filing habeas petitions in Federal court.
Unfortunately, Republican leaders in the House have taken a different
approach, with the introduction of a VAWA reauthorization bill (H.R.
4970) authored by Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) which excludes these
common-sense provisions that would improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of tribal justice systems in combatting violence against
Native women. On Tuesday, on a narrow vote of 17-15, House
Republicans passed this measure out of the House Judiciary Committee,
with one Republican voting with Democrats to oppose this because of the
exclusion of these tribal protections.
The Adams bill adds burdensome, counter-productive requirements that
compromise the ability of service providers to reach victims, lacks
important protection and services for LGBT victims, weakens resources
for victims living in subsidized housing, and eliminates important
improvements to address the response to dating violence and sexual
assault on college campuses. Additionally, among the most troubling
components of this bill are those that jettison and drastically undercut
existing and important protections that remain vital to the safety and
protection of battered immigrant victims.
The long-standing bipartisan commitment to ending domestic violence must
continue to be supported and strengthened to better protect all victims
from violence, abuse, and exploitation. We urge the House of
Representatives to join with the Senate in passing a bipartisan VAWA
reauthorization bill that protects all victims.
Jodi Gillette is Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs
and Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.
A Summer Wonder & A Fall Delight!
Do you grow gourds?
Allan grew a
plant from just 1 seed, which gave him 50 bottle gourds! (I warned
him, but he did not listen!!) It grew from the house to the back
gate, up onto the clothes line to the house, then back to the gate!
If the gate to the back alley was not there, it would still be growing.
:-) Happy Gourding!!!
Have a safe & happy Summer!
Stop back in early October for information on
November -
Native American Indian Heritage Month!
WULAMOCAN - Gourd
Most
people today see gourds as pretty, decorative items that fill a bowl in
the fall and help brighten up the atmosphere.
They rot and you throw them in the trash.
Some folks remember grandma using a dried gourd as a "sock
darning kit"! Just the right
size gourd was shoved in an empty sock and the hole was sewn shut.
After that you walked around with a blister on your toe until you
were used to the patch job.
Today you can buy socks at a clearance sale for $.50 each, and the way
kids wear the socks out, we are lucky!
But
to the Lenape people both way back then and now, not to mention other
folks too, gourds fill utilitarian needs! The Lenape people called them
WULAMOCAN which also means "bottle".
Gourds were also used as dippers, bowls, rattles and, in more
recent times, birdhouses and dried plant holders.
ATTENTION "GOURD-MET" COOKS
The common gourd, Lagenaria Siceraria, is really ONLY edible when
the fruits are VERY young and can be used as a zucchini squash.
However, we ask you NOT to try, better safe than sorry!
They later become bitter, inedible, the pulp starts to
"disappear" and when eaten can cause stomach aches, diarrhea, and
related troubles. Stay away
from the seeds too, as some contain a very strong, bitter tasting heart
stimulant.
There are other gourds that are a part of the regular diet of
people in Africa, India and the South Sea Islands, to name a few.
However, gourds can "grow on you", they are great for climbing and filling space and you can turn them into something beautiful and useful. You can start a family project by growing your own "tupperware", just like the Lenape! The variety of shapes and sizes are amazing! How about a musical instrument, a doll or a modern art sculpture?
If you are interested in growing gourds in your garden or even in
a pot, contact the AMERICAN GOURD SOCIETY INC., P.O. BOX 274, MT.
GILEAD, OHIO 43338. They can
connect you with overseas gourd growers, tell you about their annual
Gourd Festival and much more.
The theme for 1989 was "The Gourd & the American Indian".
