"Does Newsom represent local workers or San Mateo politicians?" That’s the question being asked  at City Hall today. And it’s threatening to deliver an unwelcome kick to Mayor Gavin Newsom on his way out of City Hall’s revolving doors, as dozens of unemployed construction workers deliver 1,000 Christmas cards that residents of Bayview Hunters Point, Chinatown, the Mission, the Tenderloin and South of Market have signed. The cards urge Mayor Gavin Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year” and sign local hire law that the Board passed a week ago.

This special holiday season delivery has been in the works since Dec. 14, when Bayview-based job advocates Aboriginal Blackmen United (ABU) tried to meet with Newsom and get his signature on legislation that a super-majority on the Board support.

But after Newsom was a no-show and his chief of staff Steve Kawa refused to give ABU any assurances, community advocates Brightline Defense Project printed up a thousand of the cards urging Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas”. And Brightline, ABU, Chinese for Affirmative Action, PODER, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute then asked unemployed workers, activists, and concerned citizens to sign this unusual set of greeting cards.

The move comes a day after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to urge Newsom to veto Avalos local hire policy. Local hire advocates suspect this counter-move was orchestrated to give Newsom political cover, should he choose to make the seemingly Scrooge-like move of vetoing, just before the holiday season, legislation that would help San Francisco residents secure work on billions of dollars worth of local tax-payer funded construction projects .

But the San Mateo supervisors claim that San Francisco’s plan, which would mandate that 50 percent of workers on city-funded projects are local residents, threatens to hurt an already sluggish regional economy.

“This is not the time to put isolation around a community,” San Mateo Sup. Carole Groom reportedly said at a hastily convened Dec. 21 special session.
 “If this is rejected, it would be time for all of us to sit down and talk about this,” fellow San Mateo County Sup. Adrienne Tissier reportedly said.

Newsom has until Christmas Eve to either sign or veto the law, though the Board can still override his veto, provided Avalos still has eight votes in the New Year. And if Newsom doesn’t sign or veto the law by week’s end, it will go into effect in 60 days.

San Mateo officials are arguing that the local hire legislation particularly impacts their county, because the law contains a “70-mile” clause that includes the San Francisco Airport, the Hetch Hetchy water system and the San Bruno jail.

Sup. John Avalos previously told the Guardian that project labor agreements protect workers at the airport and working on projects that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission funds. But Tissier reportedly claimed that San Francisco’s local hire policy would kick in, once new contracts are negotiated.

Reached by phone, Avalos said it’s not clear if the San Mateo supervisors have actually read his legislation
‘If they had, they’d see a lot of ways that is supports San Mateo workers,” Avalos said.

San Francisco’s local hire legislation, which is the nation’s strongest, requires that 20 percent of workers within each construction trade be local residents starting in 2011. That number increases 5 percent annually for seven years, as local workers join trades where community representation is lacking, before reaching 50 percent. In other words, 80 percent of the workforce could be non-city residents in 2011, and even at 50 percent local hire, half of the jobs will still be available to workers who don’t live in San Francisco.
 
“That’s hardly an exclusion especially when you consider that San Francisco taxpayers are making the investments on these projects,” Avalos stated.
He believes that the San Mateo County Building Trades Council pressured the San Mateo Board to pass their Dec. 21 resolution urging a veto on his measure. Either way,  Victor Torreano, vice president of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council was quoted in media coverage of the Dec. 21 vote, saying, “the need for housing in San Francisco and the Peninsula make it impossible for many blue collar workers from sinking family roots in the area.”

Avalos acknowledges that San Francisco International Airport is in San Mateo County, and its workers understandably wants jobs there,
“San Mateo County has to put up with the sound of the airport, and its residents deserve to have jobs there, but this is much ado about nothing,” Avalos said. “But it's the Building Trades that are uncomfortable with changing slightly their practices.”

Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building Trades Council, acknowledged that his group has never been pleased with Avalos' legislation.

"But we are resigned to seeing how it plays out," Theriault told the Guardian. "We think there are better things they could have done to guarantee access of San Francisco residents to careers in our trades."

Theriault believes that Avalos may not understand the project labor agreement are of limited duration.
"So, they will require an extension of the existing labor agreement," Theriault said,  noting the legislation states that future extensions would have to comply with the new law.

But Theriault acknowledged that with or without Newsom, Avalos' legislation still has a chance to move forward.
"If he vetoes it, I understand that the Board will have another crack at it, Jan. 4," THeriault said, referring to the current Board's last meeting in January.
 
The Bay Area Council has also announced its opposition to Avalos’ legislation,
 “This troubling trend of intra-county battles being started by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors needs to stop,: Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman said in a Dec. 21 statement. “The Bay Area is one regional economy, not nine island states. We need to focus on nurturing the fragile economic recovery in our region, not setting bad policies that pit county against county.  The Bay Area Council urges Mayor Newsom to veto this foolhardy piece of legislation.  Right now, we do not need any more incentives for businesses to leave any county, the Bay Area, or California.”

But advocates for the legislation note that the San Francisco Controller recently estimated that the law will pump $270 million into the local economy over the next 10 years. They hope Newsom will emerge from his warren-like office today and sign the law, delivering a historic Christmas present to the city’s growing ranks of unemployed workers.

But even if he doesn’t, Avalos isn’t sweating it.

“Newsom probably won’t sign it, and he’ll write a letter saying he’s opposed to it,” Avalos predicted. “And even if the new mayor is [SFPUC director] Ed Harrington, he’s been supportive of the measure. So Newsom has to answer his own conscience and ask himself, if he’s going to represent local residents or San Mateo politicians.”

According to Brightline's Joshua Arce, ABU led about 30 to 40 workers from Bayview, Chinatown, and the Mission up to Room 200 today to drop off 1,000 signed  cards from residents in every neighborhood asking the Mayor to sign the community's local hiring law by Christmas.
 
"Room 200 was locked, but we kept knocking," Arce told the Guardian. "Eventually the doors opened and out came [Mayor Gavin Newsom's chief of staff] Steve Kawa. We showed him all of the Christmas cards that we had for his boss and he thanked us. Ashley Rhodes of ABU explained that since we heard how much the Mayor liked the ABU holiday card last week, we printed up 1,000 more and got them signed by people from every community in San Francisco."
 
"We asked where the Mayor was in terms of making his decision, he said that the Mayor was still studying all of the issues," Arce continued. "He brought up the opposition from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, so we asked him to tell the Mayor to support us, the thousands of unemployed and job-hungry San Franciscans, over four San Mateo politicians."
 
"Steve Kawa said that they will be working around the clock to make sure all concerns are addressed, and we showed Steve a card signed by Sup. Bevan Dufty just moments before we came upstairs," Arce addded. "Sups. John Avalos and Eric Mar also signed Christmas cards to the Mayor."

According to Arce, ABU left the two huge Santa bags full of cards with Kawa, who picked them up, commenting "These bags are awfully heavy." 

"I asked him to make sure to tell his boss that the cards were printed on 100% recycled paper," Arce concluded. "Let's hope that Mayor Newsom puts the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year!"

"Does Newsom represent local workers or San Mateo politicians?" That’s the question being asked  at City Hall today. And it’s threatening to deliver an unwelcome kick to Mayor Gavin Newsom on his way out of City Hall’s revolving doors, as dozens of unemployed construction workers deliver 1,000 Christmas cards that residents of Bayview Hunters Point, Chinatown, the Mission, the Tenderloin and South of Market have signed. The cards urge Mayor Gavin Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year” and sign local hire law that the Board passed a week ago.

This special holiday season delivery has been in the works since Dec. 14, when Bayview-based job advocates Aboriginal Blackmen United (ABU) tried to meet with Newsom and get his signature on legislation that a super-majority on the Board support.

But after Newsom was a no-show and his chief of staff Steve Kawa refused to give ABU any assurances, community advocates Brightline Defense Project printed up a thousand of the cards urging Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas”. And Brightline, ABU, Chinese for Affirmative Action, PODER, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute then asked unemployed workers, activists, and concerned citizens to sign this unusual set of greeting cards.

The move comes a day after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to urge Newsom to veto Avalos local hire policy. Local hire advocates suspect this counter-move was orchestrated to give Newsom political cover, should he choose to make the seemingly Scrooge-like move of vetoing, just before the holiday season, legislation that would help San Francisco residents secure work on billions of dollars worth of local tax-payer funded construction projects .

But the San Mateo supervisors claim that San Francisco’s plan, which would mandate that 50 percent of workers on city-funded projects are local residents, threatens to hurt an already sluggish regional economy.

“This is not the time to put isolation around a community,” San Mateo Sup. Carole Groom reportedly said at a hastily convened Dec. 21 special session.
 “If this is rejected, it would be time for all of us to sit down and talk about this,” fellow San Mateo County Sup. Adrienne Tissier reportedly said.

Newsom has until Christmas Eve to either sign or veto the law, though the Board can still override his veto, provided Avalos still has eight votes in the New Year. And if Newsom doesn’t sign or veto the law by week’s end, it will go into effect in 60 days.

San Mateo officials are arguing that the local hire legislation particularly impacts their county, because the law contains a “70-mile” clause that includes the San Francisco Airport, the Hetch Hetchy water system and the San Bruno jail.

Sup. John Avalos previously told the Guardian that project labor agreements protect workers at the airport and working on projects that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission funds. But Tissier reportedly claimed that San Francisco’s local hire policy would kick in, once new contracts are negotiated.

Reached by phone, Avalos said it’s not clear if the San Mateo supervisors have actually read his legislation
‘If they had, they’d see a lot of ways that is supports San Mateo workers,” Avalos said.

San Francisco’s local hire legislation, which is the nation’s strongest, requires that 20 percent of workers within each construction trade be local residents starting in 2011. That number increases 5 percent annually for seven years, as local workers join trades where community representation is lacking, before reaching 50 percent. In other words, 80 percent of the workforce could be non-city residents in 2011, and even at 50 percent local hire, half of the jobs will still be available to workers who don’t live in San Francisco.
 
“That’s hardly an exclusion especially when you consider that San Francisco taxpayers are making the investments on these projects,” Avalos stated.
He believes that the San Mateo County Building Trades Council pressured the San Mateo Board to pass their Dec. 21 resolution urging a veto on his measure. Either way,  Victor Torreano, vice president of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council was quoted in media coverage of the Dec. 21 vote, saying, “the need for housing in San Francisco and the Peninsula make it impossible for many blue collar workers from sinking family roots in the area.”

Avalos acknowledges that San Francisco International Airport is in San Mateo County, and its workers understandably wants jobs there,
“San Mateo County has to put up with the sound of the airport, and its residents deserve to have jobs there, but this is much ado about nothing,” Avalos said. “But it's the Building Trades that are uncomfortable with changing slightly their practices.”

Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building Trades Council, acknowledged that his group has never been pleased with Avalos' legislation.

"But we are resigned to seeing how it plays out," Theriault told the Guardian. "We think there are better things they could have done to guarantee access of San Francisco residents to careers in our trades."

Theriault believes that Avalos may not understand the project labor agreement are of limited duration.
"So, they will require an extension of the existing labor agreement," Theriault said,  noting the legislation states that future extensions would have to comply with the new law.

But Theriault acknowledged that with or without Newsom, Avalos' legislation still has a chance to move forward.
"If he vetoes it, I understand that the Board will have another crack at it, Jan. 4," THeriault said, referring to the current Board's last meeting in January.
 
The Bay Area Council has also announced its opposition to Avalos’ legislation,
 “This troubling trend of intra-county battles being started by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors needs to stop,: Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman said in a Dec. 21 statement. “The Bay Area is one regional economy, not nine island states. We need to focus on nurturing the fragile economic recovery in our region, not setting bad policies that pit county against county.  The Bay Area Council urges Mayor Newsom to veto this foolhardy piece of legislation.  Right now, we do not need any more incentives for businesses to leave any county, the Bay Area, or California.”

But advocates for the legislation note that the San Francisco Controller recently estimated that the law will pump $270 million into the local economy over the next 10 years. They hope Newsom will emerge from his warren-like office today and sign the law, delivering a historic Christmas present to the city’s growing ranks of unemployed workers.

But even if he doesn’t, Avalos isn’t sweating it.

“Newsom probably won’t sign it, and he’ll write a letter saying he’s opposed to it,” Avalos predicted. “And even if the new mayor is [SFPUC director] Ed Harrington, he’s been supportive of the measure. So Newsom has to answer his own conscience and ask himself, if he’s going to represent local residents or San Mateo politicians.”

According to Brightline's Joshua Arce, ABU led about 30 to 40 workers from Bayview, Chinatown, and the Mission up to Room 200 today to drop off 1,000 signed  cards from residents in every neighborhood asking the Mayor to sign the community's local hiring law by Christmas.
 
"Room 200 was locked, but we kept knocking," Arce told the Guardian. "Eventually the doors opened and out came [Mayor Gavin Newsom's chief of staff] Steve Kawa. We showed him all of the Christmas cards that we had for his boss and he thanked us. Ashley Rhodes of ABU explained that since we heard how much the Mayor liked the ABU holiday card last week, we printed up 1,000 more and got them signed by people from every community in San Francisco."
 
"We asked where the Mayor was in terms of making his decision, he said that the Mayor was still studying all of the issues," Arce continued. "He brought up the opposition from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, so we asked him to tell the Mayor to support us, the thousands of unemployed and job-hungry San Franciscans, over four San Mateo politicians."
 
"Steve Kawa said that they will be working around the clock to make sure all concerns are addressed, and we showed Steve a card signed by Sup. Bevan Dufty just moments before we came upstairs," Arce addded. "Sups. John Avalos and Eric Mar also signed Christmas cards to the Mayor."

According to Arce, ABU left the two huge Santa bags full of cards with Kawa, who picked them up, commenting "These bags are awfully heavy." 

"I asked him to make sure to tell his boss that the cards were printed on 100% recycled paper," Arce concluded. "Let's hope that Mayor Newsom puts the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year!"

"Does Newsom represent local workers or San Mateo politicians?" That’s the question being asked  at City Hall today. And it’s threatening to deliver an unwelcome kick to Mayor Gavin Newsom on his way out of City Hall’s revolving doors, as dozens of unemployed construction workers deliver 1,000 Christmas cards that residents of Bayview Hunters Point, Chinatown, the Mission, the Tenderloin and South of Market have signed. The cards urge Mayor Gavin Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year” and sign local hire law that the Board passed a week ago.

This special holiday season delivery has been in the works since Dec. 14, when Bayview-based job advocates Aboriginal Blackmen United (ABU) tried to meet with Newsom and get his signature on legislation that a super-majority on the Board support.

But after Newsom was a no-show and his chief of staff Steve Kawa refused to give ABU any assurances, community advocates Brightline Defense Project printed up a thousand of the cards urging Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas”. And Brightline, ABU, Chinese for Affirmative Action, PODER, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute then asked unemployed workers, activists, and concerned citizens to sign this unusual set of greeting cards.

The move comes a day after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to urge Newsom to veto Avalos local hire policy. Local hire advocates suspect this counter-move was orchestrated to give Newsom political cover, should he choose to make the seemingly Scrooge-like move of vetoing, just before the holiday season, legislation that would help San Francisco residents secure work on billions of dollars worth of local tax-payer funded construction projects .

But the San Mateo supervisors claim that San Francisco’s plan, which would mandate that 50 percent of workers on city-funded projects are local residents, threatens to hurt an already sluggish regional economy.

“This is not the time to put isolation around a community,” San Mateo Sup. Carole Groom reportedly said at a hastily convened Dec. 21 special session.
 “If this is rejected, it would be time for all of us to sit down and talk about this,” fellow San Mateo County Sup. Adrienne Tissier reportedly said.

Newsom has until Christmas Eve to either sign or veto the law, though the Board can still override his veto, provided Avalos still has eight votes in the New Year. And if Newsom doesn’t sign or veto the law by week’s end, it will go into effect in 60 days.

San Mateo officials are arguing that the local hire legislation particularly impacts their county, because the law contains a “70-mile” clause that includes the San Francisco Airport, the Hetch Hetchy water system and the San Bruno jail.

Sup. John Avalos previously told the Guardian that project labor agreements protect workers at the airport and working on projects that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission funds. But Tissier reportedly claimed that San Francisco’s local hire policy would kick in, once new contracts are negotiated.

Reached by phone, Avalos said it’s not clear if the San Mateo supervisors have actually read his legislation
‘If they had, they’d see a lot of ways that is supports San Mateo workers,” Avalos said.

San Francisco’s local hire legislation, which is the nation’s strongest, requires that 20 percent of workers within each construction trade be local residents starting in 2011. That number increases 5 percent annually for seven years, as local workers join trades where community representation is lacking, before reaching 50 percent. In other words, 80 percent of the workforce could be non-city residents in 2011, and even at 50 percent local hire, half of the jobs will still be available to workers who don’t live in San Francisco.
 
“That’s hardly an exclusion especially when you consider that San Francisco taxpayers are making the investments on these projects,” Avalos stated.
He believes that the San Mateo County Building Trades Council pressured the San Mateo Board to pass their Dec. 21 resolution urging a veto on his measure. Either way,  Victor Torreano, vice president of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council was quoted in media coverage of the Dec. 21 vote, saying, “the need for housing in San Francisco and the Peninsula make it impossible for many blue collar workers from sinking family roots in the area.”

Avalos acknowledges that San Francisco International Airport is in San Mateo County, and its workers understandably wants jobs there,
“San Mateo County has to put up with the sound of the airport, and its residents deserve to have jobs there, but this is much ado about nothing,” Avalos said. “But it's the Building Trades that are uncomfortable with changing slightly their practices.”

Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building Trades Council, acknowledged that his group has never been pleased with Avalos' legislation.

"But we are resigned to seeing how it plays out," Theriault told the Guardian. "We think there are better things they could have done to guarantee access of San Francisco residents to careers in our trades."

Theriault believes that Avalos may not understand the project labor agreement are of limited duration.
"So, they will require an extension of the existing labor agreement," Theriault said,  noting the legislation states that future extensions would have to comply with the new law.

But Theriault acknowledged that with or without Newsom, Avalos' legislation still has a chance to move forward.
"If he vetoes it, I understand that the Board will have another crack at it, Jan. 4," THeriault said, referring to the current Board's last meeting in January.
 
The Bay Area Council has also announced its opposition to Avalos’ legislation,
 “This troubling trend of intra-county battles being started by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors needs to stop,: Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman said in a Dec. 21 statement. “The Bay Area is one regional economy, not nine island states. We need to focus on nurturing the fragile economic recovery in our region, not setting bad policies that pit county against county.  The Bay Area Council urges Mayor Newsom to veto this foolhardy piece of legislation.  Right now, we do not need any more incentives for businesses to leave any county, the Bay Area, or California.”

But advocates for the legislation note that the San Francisco Controller recently estimated that the law will pump $270 million into the local economy over the next 10 years. They hope Newsom will emerge from his warren-like office today and sign the law, delivering a historic Christmas present to the city’s growing ranks of unemployed workers.

But even if he doesn’t, Avalos isn’t sweating it.

“Newsom probably won’t sign it, and he’ll write a letter saying he’s opposed to it,” Avalos predicted. “And even if the new mayor is [SFPUC director] Ed Harrington, he’s been supportive of the measure. So Newsom has to answer his own conscience and ask himself, if he’s going to represent local residents or San Mateo politicians.”

According to Brightline's Joshua Arce, ABU led about 30 to 40 workers from Bayview, Chinatown, and the Mission up to Room 200 today to drop off 1,000 signed  cards from residents in every neighborhood asking the Mayor to sign the community's local hiring law by Christmas.
 
"Room 200 was locked, but we kept knocking," Arce told the Guardian. "Eventually the doors opened and out came [Mayor Gavin Newsom's chief of staff] Steve Kawa. We showed him all of the Christmas cards that we had for his boss and he thanked us. Ashley Rhodes of ABU explained that since we heard how much the Mayor liked the ABU holiday card last week, we printed up 1,000 more and got them signed by people from every community in San Francisco."
 
"We asked where the Mayor was in terms of making his decision, he said that the Mayor was still studying all of the issues," Arce continued. "He brought up the opposition from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, so we asked him to tell the Mayor to support us, the thousands of unemployed and job-hungry San Franciscans, over four San Mateo politicians."
 
"Steve Kawa said that they will be working around the clock to make sure all concerns are addressed, and we showed Steve a card signed by Sup. Bevan Dufty just moments before we came upstairs," Arce addded. "Sups. John Avalos and Eric Mar also signed Christmas cards to the Mayor."

According to Arce, ABU left the two huge Santa bags full of cards with Kawa, who picked them up, commenting "These bags are awfully heavy." 

"I asked him to make sure to tell his boss that the cards were printed on 100% recycled paper," Arce concluded. "Let's hope that Mayor Newsom puts the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year!"

sarah@sfbg.com

The lame duck Board of Supervisors made history Dec. 7 when it voted 8-3 to approve mandatory local hire legislation for city-funded construction projects. The measure ends a decade-long effort to reach 50 percent local hiring goals through good-faith efforts.

"That's a sea change in our local hiring discussion," said Sup. John Avalos, who launched the legislation in October as part of the LOCAL-SF (Local Opportunities for Communities and Labor) campaign, which seeks to strengthen local hiring, address high unemployment rates, and boost the local economy.

The veto-proof passage of Avalos' measure comes in the wake of a city-commissioned study indicating that San Francisco has failed to meet good-faith local hiring goals for public works projects even as unemployment levels rise in the local construction industry and several local neighborhoods face concentrated poverty.

Although Cleveland also has a local-hire law, the Avalos measure will be the strongest in the nation. Avalos' legislative aide Raquel Redondiez told the Guardian that Cleveland's 2003 legislation requires 20 percent local hire.

"This legislation doesn't just have a mandated 50 percent goal," Avalos explained, noting that San Francisco will require that each trade achieve a mandated rate and that 50 percent of apprentices be residents.

"This will ensure that our tax dollars get recycled back into the local economy, and that San Franciscans who are ready to work are provided the opportunity to do so," Avalos said.

Avalos' groundbreaking legislation phases in mandatory requirements that a portion of San Francisco public works jobs go to city residents and includes additional targets for hiring disadvantaged workers.

 

WHO GETS $25 BILLION?

The legislation replaces the city's First Source program, under which contractors were required only to make good faith efforts to hire 50 percent local residents on publicly-funded projects. But the measure begins slowly by mandating levels some contractors are already reaching. According to a study commissioned by the city's Office of Employment and Workforce Development and released in October, 20 percent of work hours on publicly-funded construction projects are going to San Francisco residents.

Avalos' legislation, which is supported by a broad coalition of labor and community groups including PODER, the Filipino Community Center, Southeast Jobs Coalition, Kwan Wo Ironworks Inc., Rubecon, and Chinese for Affirmative Action, comes at a critical moment for the recession-battered construction industry.

Under the city's capital plan, more than $25 billion will be spent on public works and other construction projects in the next decade — and two-thirds of this money will be spent over the next five years.

The measure has environmental benefits too. Transportation still accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions generated in the Bay Area than any other source, and San Francisco residents are more likely to take transit, walk, or bike to work than residents of other Bay Area counties. "When local citizens are able to work locally, there are fewer cars on the road and less air pollution," Avalos said.

Sup. Ross Mirkarimi said that Avalos' legislation is "just a start."

"People have talked a good game about local hiring," observed Mirkarimi, whose district includes the high unemployment-affected Western Addition.

"We are going to have to go beyond construction and start thinking about delving into the private sector," Mirkarimi continued, pointing to the need to build 100,000 housing units over the next 25 years if the city is to keep up with a projected population increase. "Who is going to build that housing?" he asked.

Sup. Eric Mar noted that "the Sierra Club endorsed the measure early on because of the environmental benefits of having people work close to where they live."

Sup. David Campos, whose district includes the Mission, said the measure was one of the most significant pieces of legislation to emerge from the board in recent years. "In the past, a lot of obstacles got in the way, including some legal challenges," said Campos, who credited Avalos for navigating a complicated legal structure. "At the end of the day, I think this is going to benefit everyone."

Mike Theriault, secretary-treasurer for the San Francisco Building Trades Council, told the Guardian he remains opposed to the legislation because the union presers to allocate jobs based on seniority, not residency. But he said the amendments make the measure "less harmful and more survivable in the short-term."

 

THE ECONOMIC GAP

Termed-out Sup. Sophie Maxwell, who represents the city's economically distressed southeast sector, has often noted that the construction industry provides a path to the middle class for people without advanced degrees or facing barriers to employment. She thanked Avalos for pushing legislation that promises to provides opportunities for "growing the middle class instead of importing it."

"This industry closes the economic gap," she said.

Board President David Chiu and termed-out Sups. Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty also supported Avalos legislation. But Dufty, who is running in the 2011 mayoral race, cast the eighth vote, which gave the measure a veto-proof majority.

The board's Dec. 7 vote came a few hours after Bayview-based Aboriginal Blacks United founder James Richards and a score of unemployed local residents rallied at City Hall in the hopes of securing Dufty's vote.

ABU has recently been protesting at UCSF's Mission Bay hospital buildings site on 16th and Third streets. Its members also triggered a shut down at the Sunset Reservoir last month after a court ruled that locals promised jobs installing solar panels at the plant be replaced by higher-skilled engineers,

"It's been too long that we have been protesting and fighting this good faith effort," Richards told the Guardian. "We need a mandatory policy."

Dufty is also hoping the Avalos measure could spread to other cities and benefit workers nationwide. "At a certain point I looked at labor and said, 'Yes, I'm going for this legislation. But not just for San Francisco — you want to take this concept to other cities,' " Dufty said, as he made good on his promise to Richards to vote to support Avalos' law.

Dufty seemed hopeful that Mayor Gavin Newsom would get behind the legislation. "But I respect that there may be a little bit of coming together between now and the second reading."

Newsom spokesman Tony Winniker told the Guardian that the mayor has 10 days to review Avalos' legislation after its Dec. 14 second reading. "He supports stronger local hire requirements but does want to review the many amendments that were added before deciding," Winnicker said.

But will Newsom, who is scheduled to be sworn in as California's next lieutenant governor Jan. 3, issue a veto on or before Christmas Eve on legislation that has been amended to address the stated concerns of the building trades?

That would be ironic since the amended legislation appears to match recommendations that the Mayor's Taskforce on African American Outmigration published in 2009. The California Department of Finance projected that San Francisco's black population would continue to decline from 6.5 percent (according to 2005 census data) to 4.6 percent of the city's total population by 2050 — in part because of a lack of good jobs.

 

WILL NEWSOM VETO?

Avalos originally proposed to start at 30 percent and reach 50 percent over three years. But after the building trades complained that these levels were unworkable, Avalos amended the legislation to require an initial mandatory participation level of 20 percent of all project work-hours within each trade performed by local residents, with no less than 10 percent of all project work-hours within each trade to be performed by disadvantaged workers.

He also amended his legislation to require that this mandatory level be increased annually over seven years in 5 percent increments up to 50 percent, with no less than 25 percent within each trade to be performed by disadvantaged workers in the legislation's sixth year.

A Dec. 1 report from city economist Ted Egan estimated that the local hire legislation would create 350 jobs and cost the city $9 million annually. But Egan clarified for the Guardian that this cost equals only 1 percent of the city's spending on public works in any given year.

Vincent Pan of Chinese Affirmative Action, which supports Avalos' local hiring policy, suggested that the mayor "check the temperature."

"It would be leadership on the part of the mayor not to veto legislation that's about San Francisco," Pan said.

And Mindy Kener, an organizing member of the Southeast Jobs Coalition breathed a deep sigh of relief when Dufty's vote made the law veto-proof. "It's gonna go across the country," Kener said. "We just made history."

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard [official website] on Monday announced a national referendum [press release] that seeks to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Australian Constitution [materials]. Currently, although Aborigines make up almost three percent of the Australian population, they are not mentioned in the Constitution. The referendum will be among Australia's first steps in efforts to build strong relationships of trust and mutual respect among the natives and the rest of Australia. In the statement, made jointly with Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin [official profile], the two officials stressed the need to incorporate native peoples into Australia's founding document:Recognition will demonstrate that we are a country that is united in acknowledging the unique and special place of our first peoples. The Government is pursuing an ambitious agenda to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage, including undertaking major reform and delivering unprecedented investment in early education, health, jobs, housing and services, and infrastructure. Formal recognition in our foundation document will build on this work by publicly acknowledging our history and the significant contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to make to this nation. As part of the process, Gillard and Macklin announced the formation of an expert panel to pose amendment changes that will appeal to the majority of Australians. The Australian Human Rights Commission [official website] voiced support [press release] for such a panel, calling it a "sensible approach" to ensuring that there is a broad pool of views needed to get a consensus on the proposed constitutional changes. The panel is expected to report back to the government [AFP report] with proposed options by the end of 2011 in time for voting to occur in line with the 2013 election. In recent years, the Australian government has recognized the long history of discrimination and disadvantage among its native citizens, although its efforts have not always resulted in better conditions. In August, Amnesty International Australia (AIA) criticized the racial discrimination [JURIST report] that exists in Australia, which, according to AIA, violates the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [texts]. In June, the Australian government reinstated its previously suspended Racial Discrimination Act [JURIST report] in the Northern Territory, which allows governmental authorities to regulate how welfare money is spent by the indigenous people of the country. In March, UN special rapporteur James Anaya condemned the law [press release], calling it problematic from a human rights point of view. Last year, Australia endorsed [JURIST report] the aforementioned Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which reversed the position held by previous Australian governments. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd championed the cause of improved living conditions for and relations with Australia's indigenous population during his term in office, and offered and official apology on behalf of the federal government in February 2008 for past mistreatment to the nation's indigenous population.

The quote above is from Maxime Bernier, as part of an eloquent defense of the long form Census.

But before we get there, it's fun to follow the bouncing ball and see how that old quote found the light of day.

We start with this morning's Toronto Star article with the headline "Even one dissenting Canadian enough to kill long-form census, says Clement". Yes, that headline makes Tony sound a tad silly, but it's not really less sensical than any of his other Census Greatest Hits, which include:

"Insisting you follow the law is state coercion"
"Large sample sizes make up for biased samples"
And who can forget this golden oldie - "StatsCan totally supports this move" (followed by the resignation of the Chief Statistician the next day)

Anyways, Tony took offense to this headline, calling it a "Star Torque" on Twitter.

Luckily, Rosemary Barton recorded Clement's comments:

Barton: "Mr Clement, there were never a 1,000 emails about the census..."

Clement: "Well, I can't speak for Maxime Bernier, but I can tell you that if you have a complaint about the census the last place you're going to complain about is to the census people. You're going to complain to your MP."

Barton: "I know, but if you're the industry minister and you were getting 1,000 complaints a day of whatever nature about the census, you would have told Statistics Canada, 'Hey, there's something going on here, people aren't happy'?"

Clement: "I can't speak for past industry ministers. They have to speak for themselves. But all I can tell you is, that it stands to reason that if you have a complaint about the coercive tactics of a government agency the last place you're going to complain about that is to the government agency. You're going to complain to your duly elected local MP."

Barton: "But then why aren't people tabling all those complaints? because we don't have them."

Clement: "I got a letter in my question period book from a Liberal MP from Richmond Hill who complained to the minister about that very topic. So to say they don't exist is not true."

Barton: "But they're not in the hundreds, they're not in the thousands..."

Clement: "I can't quantify. Even if there's one complaint, if it's a legitimate complaint, even if there's one complaint from a Canadian about the coercive tactics used by a government agency we have to consider that complaint a valid question about public policy."

Barton: "Sure, but we don't change public policy for one person do we?"

Clement: "Why not? If they're right."

Barton: "We change public policy for one person?"

Clement: "If they're right."

Like I said, this isn't really sillier than anything else Clement has said before, so I was ready to let this one pass without a blog comment. But notice this toss-away line from Clement: "I got a letter in my question period book from a Liberal MP from Richmond Hill who complained to the minister about that very topic".

Now, presumably this letter was given to Tony by a staffer in either his or Bernier's office. I guess it didn't occur to them to see what Bernier wrote in response.

Well, it looks like that thought occurred to a few Liberal researchers and, lo and behold, the next day, we get this:



To summarize, Bryon Wilfert wrote Bernier back in 2006 to pass along a constituent's complaint about the Census. Bernier wrote back, giving the best defense of the census we've heard during this 4 month crisis:

"I can assure you that all of the information collected by the census is needed and is used only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada takes very seriously its legal obligation to protect the privacy and confidentiality of every census respondent. In fact, all census databases, facilities, and networks containing confidential data are physically isolated from any networks outside Statistics Canada. In addition, names, addresses, and telephone numbers are not included in the census dissemination database to protect the privacy of census respondents.

[...]

All of the questions are designed to meet important information requirements that would be extremely difficult to satisfy efficiently from other sources."

[...]

These questions continue to be essential for providing the information needed by governments, businesses, researchers and individual Canadians to shed light on issues of concern to all of us - employment, education, training, transportation, housing, immigration, income support, pensions for seniors, transfer payments, aboriginal issues and many more."

Yes, that's the very same Maxime Bernier who claims he got "thousands of complaints each day" about the Census back in 2006. Then backtracked. Well, at least now we finally have proof of at least one complaint.

This is just another example of how badly managed this issue has been from the start. Just when the story should be dying down, Clement and Bernier do their best to breathe new life into it.

Now, I'm sure some of the friendly anonymous commentators who frequent this blog will point out that Wilfert is just as hypocritical on this as Bernier. But at least Wilfert has a defence - the Liberal position has never been that there are no complaints.

After all, only Tony Clement seems to believe that one complaint justifies a reckless change in public policy.

 

Cross Posted at Daily Kos

Welcome to News from Native American Netroots, a Sunday evening series focused on indigenous tribes primarily in the United States and Canada but inclusive of international peoples also.

A special thanks to our team for contributing the links that have been compiled here. Please provide your news links in the comments below.

Hi. My name is Brook Spotted Eagle. I belong to a women's society on my reservation in South Dakota. The Brave Heart Women's Society. My mother is one of the founding grandmother's who has brought it back to life. Over the last 100 years we've lost a lot of our ceremonies. I'll have to check with the elders, but when I saw the Hidden World of Girls I thought it would be amazing to share with other Native women the Isnati coming of age ceremony for our girls. Give me a call if you're interested. Thanks Bye.

That phone call led to the "Brave Heart Women's Society" being interviewed by the Kitchen Sisters.

Video here.

Listen here

DOJ Needs a Medicine Man

If you're Native American medicine man, one with experience conducting Native American ceremonies and familiar with medicine wheels, sweat lodges, sacred pipes and eagle feathers, the U.S. Department of Justice may require your services.

According to a piece published by The Smoking Gun on Aug. 19, the DOJ posted an announcement on FedBizOpps.gov web site with that title, though it was later changed to "Native American Services/Spiritual Guide" (after Drudge Report published a link to the announcement).

Rosebud Sioux Tribe shows off new housing plant

ROSEBUD, S.D. (AP) The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is tackling its reservation housing shortage by becoming its own builder.

Tribal officials on Tuesday showcased the new 33,600-square-foot Ojinjintka Housing Development Corporation plant to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Sen. Tim.

Johnson, D-S.D., as part of a tour of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

Self-proclaimed civil rights leader Glenn Beck's history of racially charged rhetoric

Glenn Beck's attempts to "reclaim the civil rights movement" and "pick up Martin Luther King's dream" ring hollow when contrasted with the radio and TV host's long record of racially-charged, offensive rhetoric...
...Assistance to Native Americans. On November 11, 2009, Beck said: "When the president was sitting there, or standing there, and he was talking about Native American rights in the middle of a tragedy, Fort Hood, it didn't feel right. And it seemed, maybe to me, that he was even promising reparations." [The Glenn Beck Program, 11/9/09]

Swimming for their lives: Filmmaker with Waterloo ties captures Alcatraz swim

IOWA CITY, Iowa --- The statistics are staggering.

Unemployment on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation runs 85 to 95 percent. The median family income is $4,000 per year per capita, and life expectancy for the community's residents is a full 20 years less than the national average.

"Pine Ridge is sometimes referred to as the domestic Third World," said Nancy Iverson, a pediatrician whose debut film, "From the Badlands to Alcatraz," will be shown Friday and Saturday at the Landlocked Film Festival in Iowa City. "It struggles with Third World issues, even though it is right here in the U.S."

Such inequities --- and the inherent health disparities that accompany them --- require action, said the documentarian, who spent her childhood in Waterloo. So in 2003 Iverson recruited her first crew of reservation residents to join her in a swim from Alcatraz Island to the shores of San Francisco.

A sign of the times

WASHINGTON - New signs are popping up on reservations nationwide. Not with directions to the latest powwow - but, rather, noting that certain projects on tribal lands have been funded by the Obama administration stimulus plan.

The signs tend to be innocuous in appearance, but it's their cost, even the slightest amount, that has some tribal citizens concerned, especially in context of struggling Native American economies.

"I just wonder how much it all ends up costing if tribes have to pay to put a sign up every time they get some federal dollars," said Faye Lalonde, a tribal citizen who lives near the Bay Mills Community in Michigan. "Is this the way it's always going to be now? And how much will it cost over the long run?"

Teaching culture through comic books

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - HighWater Press has just published "Stone," the first comic book in the graphic novel series "7 Generations," by author David Robertson and artist Scott Henderson. The ongoing "7 Generations" is a four-part graphic novel series that spans three centuries of an aboriginal family.

It tells the story of Edwin, an aboriginal teenager who attempts suicide. His mother realizes he must learn his family's past if he is to have any future. She tells him about his ancestor Stone, a young Plains Cree man who came of age at the beginning of the 19th century. Following a vision quest, Stone aspires to be like his older brother, Bear, a member of the Warrior Society. But when Bear is killed, Stone must overcome his grief and avenge his brother's death; only then can he begin a new life. It is Stone's story that drives Edwin to embark on his own quest.

Indians rally in NYC against Bloomberg's racist blooper

NEW YORK - Some 100 members of New York state Indian nations rallied on the steps of the Big Apple's City Hall Aug. 23, to demand an apology from Mayor Michael Bloomberg over his invocation of Old West imagery in the dispute over taxation of cigarette sales on the state's reservations.

With red-and-white pre-printed placards reading "Respect our Culture" and "Respect our Treaties," the group demonstrated for an hour behind the police security checkpoint that guards pedestrian access to the historic building.

In a prepared statement, Chief Harry Wallace of Long Island's Unkechaug Nation charged Bloomberg with the "use of imagery derogatory to the first nations people of North America in his attempt to pressure Gov. David Paterson to use violence, if necessary, in order to impose an unlawful act on the territories of Indian nations."

Black Bolivians' voice in music

Bolivia's majority indigenous population is led by President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian. During recent decades the country's indigenous groups have made themselves increasingly heard, fighting for rights to land, political representation and their culture. But living in pockets alongside, and increasingly mixing with, the Aymara and Quechua Indians who make up the majority of the country's 10.5 million people is a small, often overlooked population. They are Afro-Bolivians, who have shared in many of the indigenous population's trials over hundreds of years.

Numbering about 35,000, Afro-Bolivians struggled for recognition in their country. In saya - traditional music born during slavery - they found the tool that gives their small community a big voice.

Tribe Hints at Legal Challenge to Proposed North Kitsap Land Deal

The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe is calling into question the legality of a proposal that would redevelop the historic mill town of Port Gamble and set aside thousands of acres of North Kitsap timberland.

The tribe argues that the proposed North Kitsap Legacy Partnership would permanently harm Port Gamble Bay and may not be legal under the state law that directs growth to urban areas. The tribe favors pursuing alternatives that would place the development elsewhere.

"We don't agree with the legality of some of the things they're proposing," Chairman Jeromy Sullivan said.

Kitsap County and the Pope Resources subsidiary that owns Port Gamble are nearing an agreement on a broad framework for a development plan for the legacy project.

Oneida Cigarettes

The Oneida Indian Nation is moving its cigarette manufacturing plant from Buffalo to Oneida, N.Y., according to a press release issued by the tribe on Aug. 25.

In addition to creating 15 jobs in central New York, the relocation will ensure that customers of the tribe's enterprises can still buy Oneida Indian Nation-manufactured cigarettes free of New York State taxes, the release said.

"By moving the plant to the Oneida homelands, the Nation is availing itself of a long-settled law that recognizes the right of Indian tribes to sell products they manufacture on their own reservations without interference from state tax laws. When an Indian nation manufactures its own products on its reservation, and sells those products on its reservation, federal law preempts state efforts to tax those products," the tribe stated in the release.

Turtle Creek Crossing Supermarket Granted Liquor License  

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe Liquor Commission and the Todd County Commission have both approved an off-sale liquor license application from the Turtle Creek Crossing Supermarket. Store employees have indicated alcohol sales will begin this week.

Subscription required to view full article

First wave of Cayugas moves to Seneca Falls, home of ancestors

Growing up in Western New York, Irene Jimerson would accompany her mother, a Cayuga Indian, to tribal meetings at local community halls.

Some 20 to 30 Cayugas, most of them adults, would gather to talk about old and new business. Often discussion would turn to their ancestral homeland that encompassed 64,000 acres around the north end of Cayuga Lake.

"It was always the wish - the dream - that all the people had to be able to come and settle on our own land," Jimerson recalled.

National call for inquiry into deaths of hundreds of Native women

The "Missing Women Investigation Review" released by the Vancouver Police Department Aug. 20 documented widespread deficiencies in investigations of missing and murdered women - no surprise to families who'd been filing reports for more than two decades.

"It's taken them 19 years to understand what we've been saying all along," said Angela MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women's Support Services. "We knew what was going on in the '90s - women were being plucked off the streets. We said there were serial killers, and that women were going missing, and the police did nothing.

"For them to now say 'sorry, we messed up' is not good enough. Thirteen more women died because of their bungling, infighting, racism, sexism and jurisdictional issues."

Guatemalan indigenous need rights protected, UN official says

Due to human rights violations affecting the indigenous peoples of the country, Guatemala risks becoming "ungovernable" according to the U.N. official in charge of indigenous rights after a visit in June.

These problems revolve around the lack of indigenous rights to prior consultation, as well as territorial and civil rights in Guatemala according to James Anaya, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. Anaya (along with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) also specifically mentioned that the Marlin Mine, owned by Goldcorp of Canada, was a source of many serious pollution allegations and was recently closed due to these problems.

Native-American leaders condemn police shooting

The Native-American community is throwing out some strong accusations against Seattle police after the fatal shooting of a wood carver by a Seattle officer.
In an emotional news conference on Friday morning, angry community leaders said the shooting of John T. Williams was unjustified and just the latest example of police abuse against Native Americans.

Williams died after he was shot several times Monday near Boren Avenue and Howell Street.

Mine opponents have the right to protest

In the past few years, an area on state land about 20 miles away from Marquette has caught the eye of a mining company called Kennecott. The area is called Eagle Rock in the Yellow Dog Plains, and is expected to yield 250 to 300 million pounds of nickel and about 200 million pounds of copper, as well as several other minerals. The project is expected to create many jobs in the Upper Peninsula, as well as encourage new mining operations here.

The site is also a sacred site to the Ojibwa Nation. The land was ceded to them in an 1842 treaty. This treaty gave Native Americans the right to hunt, gather, fish and conduct sacred ceremonies on Eagle Rock in the Yellow Dog Plains and all public lands in the central and western Upper Peninsula, stretching into Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Many against the mine have cited several reasons for their position, among them environmental concerns and the numerous controversies surrounding Kennecott's parent company, Rio Tinto. But of all the reasons to be against this mine, the mining of a sacred site of a Native American tribe is the most concerning.

Native people more likely to be foreclosed on

American Indians are 31 percent more likely to have had their homes foreclosed on than whites, and Native Hawaiians are 40 percent more likely, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham.

A total of 5.9 percent of American Indian homeowners who received loans on owner-occupied homes between 2005 and 2008 were foreclosed on between 2007 and 2009, according to the center, a research and policy group which also has offices in California and Washington, D.C. Even more, 6.3 percent, of Native Hawaiian homeowners were foreclosed on.

Extrapolating from a rough total of two million foreclosures done between 2007 and 2009, the Indian share of foreclosures (0.4 percent of the total) would come to about 8,000 Indian families foreclosed on.

ACLU Asks Supreme Court To Review Case Concerning South Dakota Elections System That Dilutes The American Indian Vote

The American Civil Liberties Union petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court late yesterday to review a case concerning an elections system that dilutes the American Indian vote in the city of Martin, South Dakota.

In the petition, the ACLU argues that a redistricting plan, adopted by the city in 2002, prevents American Indian voters from having an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

In May 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a divided 7-4 opinion issued by the full panel of judges, declined to block the city's elections system, prompting today's petition.

Group of Indians sues BIA for federal recognition

A group of American Indians in Minnesota is suing officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in an effort to restore its federal recognition as an Indian tribe.

In a lawsuit Wednesday, the Sandy Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa said treaties dating back to 1825 recognize the group as its own tribe. The treaties also set up a reservation in Aitkin County. The lawsuit states Congress never terminated the tribe's status, yet since 1980, the BIA hasn't included the group on its list of federally recognized tribes. So members can't get services.

Native America Calling for the week of September 6th

Monday, September 6, 2010-  Community Spirit Awards:
The First Peoples Fund, a national organization dedicated to supporting Native American artists, will honor Community Spirit Award winners with a ceremony. Each year First Peoples Fund recognizes outstanding artists for their unselfish work to bring spirit back to their communities through their artistic expression, commitment to sustaining cultural values and, ultimately, service to their people. Is there an artist in your community you'd like to recognize? Guests include Lori Pourier (Oglala/Mnicoujou Lakota) President/ First Peoples Fund, David Cournoyer (Sicangu Lakota) Board Member/First Peoples Fund and the Community Spirit Award recipients.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010- Current Events:
The beaches of O'ahu echo with the sounds of Native drums from around the Western Hemisphere as thousands of indigenous people converge on Waikiki for the "Healing Our Spirit" gathering. An American Indian Tourism Conference titled "Voices & Visions in Indian Country" is being held on the Tulalip reservation in Washington. The Native American Music Association has opened up their online voting to select the winners of the 12th Annual Native American Music Awards. Do you have an event you'd like to announce?

Wednesday, September 8, 2010- Reducing Back-to-School Stress:
Elementary, high school and college kids are flocking back to school and into new routines. They'll have new classmates, new teachers and maybe even a new school to navigate. New surroundings bring with them new expectations and more intense schoolwork. Experts say helping your student understand what changes they'll face can greatly reduce their back-to-school anxiety and can even help prevent high school and college students from dropping out. How do you alleviate yours and your child's anxiety? Guests are Mary Jane Oatman-Wak Wak, (Nez Perce), Director of Indian Education/Idaho State Department, and Patricia Whitefoot (Yakama) Indian Education Director/Toppenish School District.

Thursday, September 9, 2010-Tribal Languages & Rosetta Stone:
Rosetta Stone is the leading language-learning software in the world. The Virginia-based company launched its Endangered Language Program six years ago to help revitalize Native languages. Rosetta Stone teamed up with a group called Navajo Renaissance and produced a software program for the Navajo language. Is your tribal language on the endangered list? Do you think a software program - in this high-tech, digital age we live in - is the answer to teaching the iGeneration their tribal language? Invited guests include Marion Bittinger, Manager/Rosetta Stone's Endangered Language Program.

Friday, September 10, 2010- Healing From Abortion:
Abortion is one of those sensitive issues that impacts lives deeply, but is rarely talked about. For many mothers, after the abortion they experience disassociation with the event. The wound is so deep they are unable to feel it, and therefore they do not go through a proper mourning process. The fathers also feel the hurt and emptiness that comes along with an abortion, but they usually have no place to turn for comfort. Does abortion, addiction and mental disorders all go hand-in-hand? Our guest is licensed independent social worker Chenoa Seaboy (Sisseton-Wahpeton).

Native America Calling Airs Live
Monday - Friday, 1-2pm Eastern

To participate call
1-800-996-2848,
that's 1-800-99-NATIVE

News from INDN's List

First Indian and Steelworker Wins Statewide in Arizona

For the first time in Arizona history, an American Indian candidate has become a major party nominee for statewide office!  INDN's List endorsed candidate Chris Deschene, a Navajo and former member of the United Steelworkers, won the Democratic Party's nomination for Secretary of State in a hotly contested race where he was outspent by over $30,000.

Now Chris moves on to the November 2nd General Election where he faces Ken Bennett, who was appointed to the office in 2009.  If Chris wins in November, he will become the first Indian to serve statewide in Arizona.  Furthermore, in Arizona, the Secretary of State is the state's second highest executive officer.  Since 1977, Arizona's Secretary of State moved on to become Governor four times.  Thus, Chris Deschene will be perfectly poised to become the country's only sitting American Indian Governor!

Chris Deschene is living proof that the INDN's List system of recruiting, training, funding and providing strategic guidance to Indian candidates works!  He attended our "From the Table to the Ticket" training in 2006 where he impressed all of our staff as well as Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA), the Vice Chair of the DNC, who is also supporting Chris.  He won election to the State House in 2008 and is now the Arizona Democratic Party's first statewide American Indian nominee.

INDN Leaders Reaching the Top

Since 2005, INDN's List has helped elect 45 American Indian candidates to office. Today, we are proud to endorse four of these elected officials who are visionary leaders in their respective chambers and boards.

By becoming the Speaker Designate, Minority Leader, Board President, and serving on the powerful Finance Committee, these four INDN elected officials have shown what power Indian Country can wield in elected office.......

YOU Can Help Elect the First Indian and Union Member in Wisconsin

In 2006, INDN's List was proud to help elect the first Indian to serve in the Pennsylvania legislature. Now, we have a chance to do it again! Wisconsin has never elected an Indian to either their State Assembly or State Senate. In an open seat election in a district that is pivotal for control of the State Assembly, the Democratic nominee, Mert Summers, is a member of the Oneida Nation....

Source

The Forgotten People invite you to a press conference at the Veterans Park in Window Rock on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 11:00 AM (DST) to announce filing a major lawsuit to get answers about the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund monies to benefit the victims and survivors of the "Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute."

The Forgotten People have been cheated and are taking things into their own hands. We want to know what the stewards of our money did with our money and where it is. These are our funds, set aside by Congress for our benefit. The Freeze has been lifted. While we wait and nothing happens, our people are living in sub-standard, and overcrowded housing, without access to safe drinking water on land contaminated by uranium and coal mining.

Here is a repost of Still, Forced Navajo Relocation at Big Mountain Continues (Update) for those of you who don't understand what's behind this. Contact information at the end.

Vine Deloria Jr. in God Is Red uses the self explanatory phrases, "spiritual owners of the land" and "political owners of the land." Now, it is the "political owners of the land" who have taken tribal lands by conquest and yet distort the historical record.

Three members from the Hopi Tribe arrived to give their testimonies as show support for their neighbors, The Dine. Their presence dispelled the public relations myth that the traditional Hopi and the Dine are involved in a Range War."

Distorting the historical record is done by the executioners of history. Consequently, "it is the job of thinking people... to not be on the side of the executioners."

By Dan Katchongva, Sun Clan (Ca. 1865-1972) Translated by Danaqyumptewa

At the present time we face the danger that we might lose our land entirely. Through the influence of the United States Government, some people of Hopi ancestry have organized what they call the Hopi Tribal Council, patterned according to a plan devised by the Government, for the purpose of negotiating directly with the Government and with private businesses. They claim to act in the interests of the Hopi people, despite the fact that they ignore the existing traditional leaders, and represent only a small minority of the people of Hopi blood. Large areas of our land have been leased, and this group is now accepting compensation from the Indian Claims Commission for the use of 44,000,000 acres of Hopi land. This is in error, for we laid our aboriginal claim to all of this land long before the newcomers ever set foot upon it. We do not recognize man-made boundaries. We true Hopi are obligated to the Great Spirit never to cut up our land, nor to sell it. For this reason we have never signed any treaty or other document releasing this land. We have protested all these moves, but to no avail.

Now this Tribal Council was formed illegally, even according to whiteman's laws. We traditional leaders have disapproved and protested from the start. In spite of this they have been organized and recognized by the United States Government for the purpose of disguising its wrong-doings to the outside world. We do not have representatives in this organization, nor are we legally subject to their regulations and programs. We Hopi are an independent sovereign nation, by the law of the Great Spirit, but the United States Government does not want to recognize the aboriginal leaders of this land. Instead, he recognizes only what he himself has created out of today's children in order to carry out his scheme to claim all of our land.

Because of this, we now face the greatest threat of all, the actual loss of our cornfields and gardens, our animals and wild game, and our natural water supply, which would put an end to the Hopi way of life. At the urging of the Department of the Interior of the United States, the Tribal Council has signed several leases with an outside private enterprise, the Peabody Coal Company, allowing them to explore our land for coal deposits, and to strip-mine the sacred mesas, selling the coal to several large powerplants. This is part of a project intended to bring heavy industry into our area against our wishes. We know that this will pollute the fields and grazing lands and drive out the wildlife. Great quantities of water will be pumped from beneath our desert land and used to push coal through a pipe to a powerplant in another state (Nevada). The loss of this water will affect our farms as well as the grazing areas of the animals. It also threatens our sacred springs, our only natural source of water, which we have depended upon for centuries.

So, the "spiritual owners of the land," or "the side of the executioners -"

American Activism too Privileged & Bogged: Europeans Maintain Efforts for Big Mountain

"The BIA Indian police are intensifying their daily presence and intimidations. They have graded the main dirt roads that allows them to be on constant patrol.."I think that they will be rounding up Dineh-owned cattle and horses. It is pretty likely that there will be livestock impoundments or confiscation... Indian police operating out of the Hopi reservation do not have any real commanding-authority.."

I know what side I'm on,

Obama: Stop the Peabody Mine Expansion on Black Mesa

Dear Mr. President Barrack Obama, and
Madame Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
Copies to:
Mrs. Katherine Smith & Mrs. Pauline Whitesinger, Big Mountain Sovereign Dineh,
Selected Kimongwis of the Independent Pueblo of Hotevilla,
Mr. William Means & Ms. Andrea Carmen, International Indian Treaty Council,
President Joe Shirley, Jr., The Navajo Nation,
Mr. Roman Bitsuie, The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission,
Office of the Hopi Tribe's Office of Hopi Lands,
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Phoenix Area Agency
Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining

REPEAL "THE NAVAJO-HOPI LAND SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1974" (P.L. 93-531): IT ENFORCES THE METHODS OF GENOCIDE BY POPULATION REMOVAL AND COAL MINING EXPANSIONS

and what side I'm not.

John McCain in on the record as saying, "the reason why the office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation was created originally, was because of the belief that the BIA couldn't handle it." Interesting, because the beginning of this video shows the BIA impounding cattle.

What year was that? The "BIA couldn't handle" what McCain?

What's more interesting, is this.

There is hereby established as an independent entity in the
executive branch the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation which
shall be under the direction of the Commissioner on Navajo and Hopi
Relocation (hereinafter in this subchapter referred to as the
``Commissioner'').

- snip -

(1)(A) Except as otherwise provided by the Navajo and Hopi Indian
Relocation Amendments of 1988, the Commissioner shall have all the
powers and be responsible for all the duties that the Navajo and Hopi
Indian Relocation Commission had before November 16, 1988.

Oh look, "The Commissioner, no the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation office, no, the U.S. government with McCain at the helm in the relevant timeline, the U.S. Mining company security personnel, Peabody Coal's bulldozers, armed rangers, and the BIA shall have all the powers and be responsible for all the duties that the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission ??????? had before November 16, 1988."

Confused yet? That's what this "legislation" was supposed to do. It was supposed to hide McCain's involvement to steal land, and the violations of human rights remains hidden as well to the overall public. "In 1996, Congress passed a law endorsing a 75-year lease arrangement that would allow a few of the families to remain as tenants on the land. The law sanctions the relocation of families not eligible for these leases and forces the families who sign the leases to live without benefit of civil and religious rights exercised by other Americans" the UN told us. Also, PL 104-301 tells us that "the number of homesites available for lease is 112," yet adds, "additional homesites may be made available subject to agreement between the Hopi Tribe and homesite applicant." Quite generous in light of the forced relocation of at least (edited in) 10,000 Navajos. One forced relocation is a tragedy, but apparently 10,000 or more is just a statistic. The UN also told us about the loss of voting rights, the physical harassment of elders, intimidation tactics, that armed rangers visited elders at their homes and stole their property, and that their sacred sites were bulldozed - including their graveyards.

Update:

Here's another video exposing the Indian agent, John McCain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Source

Don Yellowman

President

Forgotten People

(928) 401-1777

Forgotten People

Dine' Be' Iina' na' hil naa (Dine' Rebuilding Communities)
P.O. Box 1661

Tuba City, AZ 86045

(928) 401-1777

forgottenpeoplecdc@gmail.com

http://www.forgottennavajopeop...

There's nothing more Australian than meat pies, Holden cars and 'Hey, Hey It's Saturday'. And maybe racism. And, as it turns out, ex-Prime Ministers having a bit of a cry.

Bob Hawke, of course, wept for his children. And Tiananmen Square. Rudd, by contrast wept for himself.

The former Prime Minister's concession speech yesterday was, I'll concede, emotional and heartfelt. It was hard to watch. It's even harder to condemn. But I'm going to anyway, primarily because everything he had to say about his achievements in Aboriginal affairs are complete rubbish.

"I'm proud of the fact that we are closing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians," Rudd told a packed parliamentary courtyard.

Right. Except that under Rudd the gap widened.

Some readers may recall it was Rudd who promised, with a flourish of his hand, that on the first parliamentary sitting day of the year he would personally deliver a report card about the government's progress in 'Closing the Gap'. Rudd announced this auspicious date precisely because, he said, it would put pressure on his government to perform.

And then on every single occasion, he missed his own self-imposed deadline. Indeed, the first year, Rudd missed it by almost a month, blaming the Victorian bushfire tragedy for the delay. Of course, the fire started a week AFTER Rudd's deadline. It takes great political courage - or maybe something else - to use the deaths of 173 Australians for political gain.

When Rudd finally did deliver his reports, they always showed the gap between black and white Australians widening across most major social indicators.

The fact is, the gap that always needed closing under Rudd was the rhetoric gap. Which brings me nicely back to his parting speech.

"[We did] little things and big things. Putting hundreds of Indigenous kids into our nation's leading boarding schools."

Boarding schools are not exactly a new concept for Aboriginal people. The process has occurred for decades under Labor and Liberal, although admittedly not at the same rate. But the point Rudd missed is that Aboriginal people want to educate their kids in their own communities. Surprise surprise. They want educational infrastructure in their towns like everyone else. And they thought Rudd would deliver.

A core part of the Rudd government's 2007 election manifesto was to promise that schools would spring up in Aboriginal communities all over the country. He even promised that by the end of his first term in office, all Aboriginal children would have access to a pre-school, no matter where they lived.

It's never happened.

Instead, under Rudd's economic stimulus plan, builders have been busy ripping off taxpayer funds for over-priced, half-arsed school infrastructure in white communities. Aboriginal towns would have killed for that sort of failure.

Rudd also referred to "backing such things as the Clontarf [Football] Academy". Clontarf is a great initiative, run by fabulous folk, who keep beautiful black kids engaged in school through AFL. It also happens to be someone else's idea, and was backed under Howard to boot.

Rudd said he was "proud of the fact we're behind a commitment to create 50,000 extra jobs for Indigenous Australians".

'Behind' is a stretch, because again, it was someone else's idea. Ironically, that turned out to be a good thing for the government, because it was a bad idea. The Aboriginal Employment Covenant - which has so far soaked up unknown millions of taxpayer dollars - has, at last count, put less than a few hundred people into real jobs.

Inevitably, Rudd's concession speech turned to the National Apology, arguably his finest hour as PM. Sort of.

"I'm most proud of the fact that... we greeted the Stolen Generations. The apology was unfinished business for our nation. It is the beginning of new business for our nation."

Except that it's not. The apology is still part of the unfinished business of Australia. Most Aboriginal people today no longer accept Rudd's apology. While it was moving, it came without reparations. The overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people now believe that the whole exercise was a stunt, a populist pitch to a cynical nation.

Rudd's concession speech is also notable for the things left unsaid. There's the Northern Territory intervention, a disastrous policy labelled as racist by the United Nations, and which has cost taxpayers more than $1 billion while causing demonstrable harm to Aboriginal people.

Under Rudd's stewardship, school attendance figures in the NT are down and anaemia rates in kids are up. And despite the ridiculous claims of Indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin, nutrition has declined.

There's a $670 million housing program which has failed to deliver housing, while suicides and self-harm incidents are through the roof - 97 prior to the intervention, double that number by 2009.

While Macklin, admittedly, is the goose who cooked this golden egg, the buck must stop with Rudd.

And who could forget Rudd's election promise to move Australia Day to a more inclusive date, only to find himself in office delivering a "respectful no" when asked. It was anything but respectful. It was disgraceful. Another Labor betrayal.

Kevin Rudd's mantra in Indigenous affairs was to 'reset the relationship' with Aboriginal people. He had perhaps the greatest opportunity of any modern leader to do so. After more than a decade of John Howard - a conviction politician who wore his racism on his sleeve - Aboriginal people were ready for a Bran Nue Dae.

The Apology was supposed to be the first step in the reconciliation process. Under Rudd, it became the destination. Every time he jumped on a plane to fly overseas, he donned the 'Sorry' pants his environment minister wore at the 2000 Olympics closing ceremony (metaphorically speaking), and shouted his act to the world.

Rudd even had the hide to present the Pope a bound copy of his apology, knowing full well that Aboriginal people back home were suffering under populist policies developed solely to appeal to the redneck elements of our nation.

I loved Rudd's National Apology. I genuinely believe it to be the finest speech ever delivered on Australian soil. It's better than the Redfern speech by Keating, which were the words of a (brilliant) speechwriter.

Rudd wrote the National Apology himself. It came from a Prime Ministerial heart and mind, and at the time, he won mine. I'll never forget how it felt, albeit briefly, to feel proud to be Australian again.

I particularly loved this line: "Symbolism is important but, unless the great symbolism of reconciliation is accompanied by an even greater substance, it is little more than a clanging gong."

Which is why I'm glad, for Rudd's sake, that Red Symons was nowhere to be seen at Rudd's final press conference as Prime Minister.



Chris Graham is the former editor and founder of the National Indigenous Times newspaper.

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Reconciliation Week has become a buzz of activity of the type that the reconciliation movement was supposed to foster. Community-based events, including flag raisings, truly symbolise the ambitions of improving understanding between black and white Australians understand each other better and of increasing the awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, history, presence and perspectives.

This local activity around Reconciliation Week is hardly surprising. It was the grass roots reconciliation movements - particularly, local reconciliation groups and community organisations like Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) - that kept the fire of the reconciliation movement alive during the years under the Howard government who rejected symbolic acts (including an apology to stolen generations), did nothing to improve the socio-economic disadvantage of Aboriginal people (despite rhetoric of being focused on "practical reconciliation", basic Aboriginal health needs were underfunded by $450million at the end of the Howard era) and re-embraced the paternalistic ideologies of mainstreaming and assimilation to shape their policy agenda.

The juxtaposition of the grass roots support for reconciliation and the government's refusal to even issue an apology was best symbolised in the bridge walks that took place ten years ago.

Reconciliation Week begins with National Sorry Day. With an apology being delivered to the stolen generations by Kevin Rudd on the first sitting day of Parliament in 2008, there was a sense that an important historic milestone had been achieved and there was no doubt expectation that the policy agenda of the Howard government would come to an end.

This expectation was fuelled by Rudd's own words. As part of his historic apology speech, he acknowledged that government's had to learn from the mistakes of the past and that symbolic acts without any substantial follow up action would be like a clanging gong.

Expectations of change were focused on the policies that developed in the twilight of the Howard government as part of the Northern Territory intervention. This included the top-down approach that excluded involving Aboriginal communities and their organisations as part of the roll out of programs around education and health, the compulsory leasing of land in order to access housing money freely available to all other Australians, the compulsory acquisition of community-owned (and bought) assets and the compulsory management of welfare payments to people in prescribed areas (whether they neglected their children or not, even if they had been managing their own money their whole lives).

The suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act was also part of the package and a key focus of critics of the intervention. Those supporting the intervention dismissed the relevance of such human rights protections but this overlooked the fact that the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act did not only take away the principle of non-discrimination, it took away rights to appeal to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The intervention legislation also suspended rights to make claims under the Northern Territory anti-discrimination legislation and to appeal to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. A person who was subject to income quarantining who wanted to complain about discriminatory or unfair effects of the policy on their lives had no forum in Australia to take their complaints.

This was an extraordinary breach of rights to due process before the law and equality before the law.

Of course, for those cynics not caught up in the euphoria of the delivery of the apology speech by Rudd there was already evidence of the limitations of the deferral government's willingness to deliver practical change. On the evening before the speech was delivered, a press release from the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, office stated that there would be no compensation payments to accompany the apology about to be delivered.

Subsequently, there has been money put into the establishment of a Healing Foundation, but the federal government has remained determined not to establish a compensation scheme for people removed from their families and who became victims of physical, emotional, sexual and psychological abuse while under state care.

Victims of this abuse in these circumstances are legally entitled to compensation and the Bringing them Home report recommended establishment of compensation schemes that would make claims easier to make process, especially given the age, low levels of education, high incidences of mental illness and other disabilities and poverty of many of the people entitled to compensation.

The federal government has hidden behind a technical legal argument to justify its refusal to look at the compensation issue. It says that, since it is state and territory governments, and the churches, who are liable for the money, it is not a federal government responsibility. This is a dereliction of their duty to show political leadership on this issue of justice for people removed under a policy and who were abused while under the care of the state.

Even if the money is to be paid by other parties, there is nothing to stop a federal government establishing a national scheme to facilitate payments and coordinating financial support from those parties who have a duty to pay the compensation claims.

Given that the policy of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people occurred nationally, the racially motivated aspect of the policy was a national shame and the stolen generations have become an important symbol of the cruelty of past government policies, there is every reason to support a national compensation scheme. This would also ensure equity of process and payments across the country.

With such lack of political will in relation to the payment of compensation, it is not surprising that we see it elsewhere as well. The Rudd government's own figures show that the Northern Territory intervention is not working. There has been an increase in violence, no improvement in school attendance rates, an increase in incidences of malnutrition (contrary to Macklin's unsubstantiated or discredited claims that that more fresh food is being consumed) and an alarming rise in the rates of childhood anaemia.

Within these statistics there is every a compelling evidence-based case for rethinking the policy approaches designed by the Howard government as part of the intervention.

The Rudd government undertook a review of the intervention one year after taking office. The main criticisms of that report centred on the problems encountered with the compulsory income management scheme and recommended that the scheme be made voluntary and that the Racial Discrimination Act be reinstated.

After damning criticism from experts on the ground - including the Australian Indigenous Doctor's Association - and from international human rights monitors such as the Human Rights Commission, Minister Macklin announced that she was going to make the Northern Territory intervention compliant with the Racial Discrimination Act. This rhetoric mischievously implied that the protections of the act were being reinstated.

In fact, her proposed changes attempt to label discriminatory aspects of the policy - such as compulsory leasing - as special measures and are therefore exempt from the Act (these claims will no doubt be tested in court) or expands discriminatory measures such as compulsory income management to other Australians, allowing the government to say that it is no longer racist and therefore no longer a breach of the Act.

This kind of disingenuous approach of implying that the protections of the Act are being reinstated while really the proposed government legislation merely attempts to allow the government to keep exactly the same policies in place that are hurting and failing Aboriginal people while side-stepping protections that Australia has an obligation to provide, show a deep disrespect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, especially those living with the clear problems that have been identified with compulsory income management but for which there is no avenue of redress.

While governments act so cynically in the delivery of policy that negatively affects the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and continue to trample on the fundamental rights of Aboriginal people including due process before the law, equality before the law and the right to be free from racial discrimination, true reconciliation is a long way off.

Larissa Behrendt is Professor of Law and and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney.

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