Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : From: "CATHERINE DAVIDS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: The University of Michigan - Flint Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 10:45:28 EDT Subject: American Indian Students in Macy's Parade American Indian College Fund students participated in Macy's 73rd Annual Thanksgiving Parade. To remember: Thanksgiving was not a legal holiday in the United States until Abraham Lincoln "made it so" in order to create patriotism, nationalism and support for the Civil War. The entire "thanksgiving" myth is just that....a myth. Lincoln and his cronies made up the entire story. Lincoln was no "savior" to people of color because on the day he signed the Emancipation Proclamation he also approved the largest mass-hanging in US history: that of 13 Santee Sioux. Let us also please remember that people who live in Central and South America are also "Americans" but they do not celebrate this holiday...this holiday is uniquely "United Statesian" not American. What we knew about the Macy's Parade: 23 American Indian students (Arapaho, Arikara, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Chippewa, Cree Choctaw, Crow, Gros Ventre, Haida, Hidatsa, Klamath, Lakota, Sioux, Lummi, Mandan, Menominee, Modoc, Mohawk, Navajo, Nez Perce, Omaha, Pueblo and Tlingit) representing the American Indian College Fund, traveled to New York City to participate in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. They were on the "Soaring Spirit Canoe" float...behind a huge marching band. The Macy's people had the idea to showcase American Indian culture. This was the first time that anybody invited American Indian people to participate in the parade and so American Indian people all over the United States were excited and many of us sat in front of our television sets to see the students and the float...which basically led the entire parade. Monroe Weso, a student at the College of the Menominee Nation said, "for all Indian people of this country, it will be a wonderful way to help celebrate Thanksgiving in a sacred way. Richard Williams (American Indian College Fund) noted that, "Indian culture is not a thing of the past...our students will show parade viewers that Indians today are making a contribution to America, while using education and modern skills to advance our culture into the next millennium." Hugh Big Knife is the top student at Stone Child College in Montana. He speaks the Cree language and is working on two degrees. Big Knife states, "not only will we be proudly representing our own traditional dance styles, but we'll also celebrate Thanksgiving, a uniquely American tradition that we all share." Irony The Macy's parade began in 1924, the same year that Congress granted "voting rights" to American Indian people. What happened Thursday morning: I turned on the television set to watch the parade. The entire first hour of the parade was a commercial featuring entertainment from Broadway shows. Once in awhile Matt and Katie would break away so that Al-The-Weatherman could give a report on the parade's progress. Finally...the big-marching-band reached the Macy's store which is located at Herald Square (34th & 7th) which also serves as the official broadcasting site for NBC (which broadcasts the parade)...this is where the NBC honchos (Matt and Katie) sit. I'm ready, though. I've got a tape in the VCR, the remote is in my hand, and I'm excited because I can sort of see what looks like a big turkey behind the marching band and I'm pretty sure this is probably the float that the American Indian students are on. Katie and Matt give about 30-40 seconds to the marching band...telling where they are from, how many members in the band, how they raised the money to come to New York, etc. And...now here is the float with the American Indian college students...it comes and it goes in the blink of an eye. I thought it looked beautiful and I could see a few students in traditional regalia, but by the time I hit the "record" button on the remote...it was all over. Matt and Katie then went onto the next attraction...Millennium Snoopy...who got nearly a minute of exposure. I learned how big Snoopy is, how many people were holding Snoopy's guy- wires, how many years Snoopy has been appearing in the parade, etc. I learned that Charles Schultz has liver cancer and may not live into the year 2000. I learned all about the Peanuts cartoon strip. I learned more about Snoopy & Peanuts than I ever really wanted to know. And...I sat there, with my chin on the floor, because I learned nothing about the American Indian students...hell, I didn't even see any of them except for one close up of a young woman and a couple of the guys on the drum. TELEVISION COVERAGE WAS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT for those of us at home anxiously waiting to see the students in this historic moment. The people along the parade route probably had a great time seeing the students...lucky them. The students deserve our attention and respect. A friend sent me the names of the students and so I hope I have typed the information correctly. Here they are: Vonnie Jo Alberts; Fort Berthold Community College New Town, NorthDakota David Bigby; Fort Belknap College, Harlem, Montana Hugh Big Knife, Stone Child College, Rocky Boy's Agency, Montana Robyn French; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico Patricia Jackson, Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, Washington Vanessa Kee, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Albuquerque, New Mexico Lisa Lopez, College of the Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin Roger Other Medicine, Little Big Horn College Crow Agency, Montana Thomas Parker; Little Priest Tribal College, Winnebago, Nebraska Juan Perez, Salish Kootenai College; Pablo, Montana Pete Plenty Wounds, Jr., Si Tanka College Eagle Butte, South Dakota Tamara Red Tomahawk, Sitting Bull College Fort Yates, North Dakota Nonabah Sam; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico Melanie Two Eagle, Oglala Lakota College, Porcupine, South Dakota Sunny Walker; Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates, North Dakota Monroe Weso, College of the Menominee Nation Keshena, Wisconsin Clarissa Young, Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, Washington Drum Group Singers - Stone Child College Charles Gopher, Jonathan Gopher; Josh Lamere, Marlon Roasting Stick, John Roasting Stick, Jr. [NOTE: The five seconds or so of coverage I saw, it looked like a very large full Plains headress, easily mistaken as the camera focused on the next float behind it and it disappeared around the corner and off screen. The announcers did not mention it as part of the parade.] Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>