Celebrate Native Americans Day on September 28

Each year the Native American is celebrated on the fourth Friday of September. This year Native American Day will take place on September 28, 2007. The day is not an official governmental holiday, but many people believe it should replace the celebration of Columbus "discovery of America." In fact the state of South Dakota Legislature passed a bill creating Native American Day. The Native American tribes of South Dakota and non-Indians set aside this day of tribute to the rich history and culture of the Plains Native Americans and their contribution to North America.

The Native Americans are the first people of North America. There presence is pervasive from the outer most regions of Canada and Alaska to the Yucatan region of Mexico. Native Americans were the first people of the United States which includes Alaska and Hawaii. Had it not been for the aid and comfort provided by the Native Americans to the early settlers of Jamestown, Plymouth Rock and subsequently the Lewis & Clark explorers the United States as we know it today would not have occurred.

The Native American herbs, planting methods, knowledge of the terrain and awareness of nature saved the early immigrants of the United States from total disaster. The assistance and knowledge of Sacajawea to Lewis and Clark about the death defying route through the Bitterroot and survival techniques in the the last leg of their journey on the cold and dismal coast of Washington and Oregon saved the expedition.

There are various education web sites produced by Native Americans that provide information geared to various ages. There are school plans and curriculum suggestions at Native American dot com. There are numerous links on this web site to newspapers, associations and tribes in the United States and Canada. The original treaties and proclamations of the "white man's government," are set forth on this web site along with exquisite slides and photos.

Another source of information is the publication Indian Country. This publication is up to date on various legal, social and cultural issues facing Native Americans in North America. Native Americans face various challenges in the United States. The promises of yesteryear have become the tangled mess of bureaucratic snafus that has resulted in lack of funds for some reservations to maintain basic needs of tribal members.

A significant triumph by Native Americans was brought about by one courageous and brilliant Native American in recent years. Elouise Cobell a Native American educated as a banker brought a law suit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and their trust fund accounting in 1996. The case is Cobell v Kempthorne, you may access the case at the U.S. Department of Interior web site at www.doi.gov/ost/cobell/index.html.

For the past eleven years she has requested and was finally allowed an accounting of Native American trust fund money that was "managed" by Interior Department officials. The case is presently before the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. In a case that puts a whole new meaning to, "white man speaks with fork tongue." Descent judges have been removed and the Interior officials finally had to admit the facts and figures they were supposed to have were either lost or never existed. What figures they did discover were woefully inadequate.

In an attempt to resolve the accounting problems and means to settle the disaster at Interior and provide immediate aid to the Native Americans a rough figure of 27.5 billion dollars was offered by Mrs. Cobell and her fellow Native Americans. Instead, recently the Interior Department through Attorney General Gonzales and Secretary of Interior Kempthorne offered a convoluted future pay out of 7 billion dollars. Adding insult to injury, Interior whose accounting mess created the problem would trickle back pennies on the dollar with another Interior accounting team.

If anyone is truly interested in providing some Native Americans with a well deserved Native Americans Day perhaps the best tribute would be to pay them what is owed to them immediately. I met Senator Dirk Kempthorne in Washington D.C. in 1995. He was a senator from Idaho. His work was above board and his understanding of federal mandates creating unfunded liability to the states was keen.

You may contact Interior Secretary Kempthorne by mail at: 1849 C Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20240 or by phone at 202 208-3100. His e-mail is, webteam@ios.doi.gov. Secretary Kempthorne is a reasonable man and can easily comprehend the effect abject poverty has on the reservations in Northwest states. This gross injustice can be remedied and should be remedied for the good of Native Americans and the credibility of the United States. This could be a glorious Native Americans Day.