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Petition Tag - native american
1. Stop Fracking the Blackfeet 
(**IMPORTANT NOTE** This petition is for NON-Blackfeet people who wish to support tribal members opposed to fracking within the Blackfeet Nation. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE BLACKFEET TRIBE, GO HERE.)
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with members of Blackfeet Nation who are opposed to hydro-fracturing on the Blackfeet Reservation until a referendum is held. We are testifying that we hold in common the following two positions:
(**IMPORTANT NOTE** This petition is for MEMBERS of the Blackfeet tribe. Please be 18 or older and enrolled if you sign here. If you are NOT a Blackfeet tribal member, but would like to support our efforts to ban fracking on the reservation, please go to the petition for non-members.)
We the undersigned members of Blackfeet Nation are testifying that we hold in common the following four positions, which implicate the addressees in what we consider to be reckless activities:
3. Deaf People Denounce Seattle Police for Killing
On August 30, 2010, a partly Deaf Native American man, John T. Williams, was shot and killed by Officer Ian Birk of the Seattle police, after Williams was seen crossing Boren Avenue at Howell Street with a folding 3-inch carving knife and wooden board.
John T. Williams, courtesey of Chief Seattle Club
Williams was standing 9 to 10 feet away when Officer Birk, a rookie officer with just two years of experience, stopped his cruiser, got out, and shouted orders at him to drop the knife three times before he fatally shot Williams in the chest four times. The confrontation lasted less than 1 minute.
Williams was of the Ditidaht First Nation, a member nation of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and came from a long line of Indigenous American artists in the First Nations who carved wood. It is legal in Seattle to carry a 3 inch knife or shorter. Williams sold his small totem carvings at the Pike Place Market. It was widely known in the local community that Williams was deaf in one ear and had great difficulty in communicating with people. He was known to wear headphones or ear buds.
After initial reports that Williams advanced on Officer Birk, the Seattle Police Department said they could no longer be sure that had occurred and Williams had not moved threateningly towards Officer Birk.
The Seattle Police Department is now investigating but has released no information. The Seattle Police Department has been facing controversy in the aftermath of some recent brutality cases (cops abused a Hispanic suspect & called him “Mexican piss”, another incident where Seattle cops punched a 17 years old girl for jaywalking, not to mention 5 deaths in 1 week caused by Seattle cops).
Here are some important facts:
1. Williams was shot four times in the chest, which is brutal, excessive force.
2. The confrontation lasted less than 1 minute.
3. Officer Birks reacted too quickly.
4. Williams was killed in the afternoon in broad daylight at 4.30 pm.
5. Williams was partly deaf and unable to understand Officer Birk’s orders from 9 to 10 feet away.
6. It has been a long-lasting established tradition for Native Americans to be carving wood on the streets of Seattle, which has a large Indigenous population. It’s not unusual for Native Americans to carry knives around in Seattle.
William’s sudden, tragic death at the hands of the Seattle Police Department is a serious reminder that any Deaf person’s life could be in danger should a situation with the police ever arise.
4. Support The Heritage Of Pine Ridge Reservation
Dear Mr. President
We ask for the right of honor, freedom and respect for the entire Lakota People;
This recommendation is no disrespect the law, only one request of undersigned individuals from around the world.
5. Save Ft. Ancient Historical Site, OHS
Fort Ancient features 18,000 feet of earthen walls built 2,000 years ago by American Indians, the Hopewell. The Hopewell used the shoulder blades of deer, split elk antlers, clam shell hoes and digging sticks to dig the dirt. Then, carried the soil in baskets holding up to 40 pounds. In conjunction with the sun and the moon portions of the earthen wall provide a calendar system for the Hopewell.
Because of its significance, Fort Ancient was purchased by the state of Ohio in 1891 and became Ohio's first state park. n addition, this is part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, one of 14 sites nominated in January 2008 by the Department of Interior for potential submission by the United States to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
6. Stop Native Eviction In Arizona!
As we speak, there exist a life-threatening state of fear and anxiety in a traditional Native American community in Arizona. Big Mountain on Black Mesa is the only place in the United States where two Indian nations can still define cultural coexistence and shared territories, and now have become endangered aboriginal peoples.
The U.S. courts have ordered eviction on the remaining traditional Dineh People and keep the areas sealed and isolated. Peabody Coal Company has taken the last aquifer of clean drinking water that is sacred to the Dineh' and uses it to slurry coal for American citizens.
This leaves the people without access to or maintenance of water wells and subject to other government actions like: limitation or complete denial of crop cultivation and livestock husbandry, community and religious activities, disregard for elder residents’ safety needs to attain wood fuels for heating and cooking, deliberate breaking up of family and clan structures, controlled national media that portray the Big Mountain story as a result of legitimate and humane court decisions, Peabody mines that create daily detonation that causes micro-quakes, and massive emissions of coal dust and engine exhaust.
The United States is allowing this tragedy and genocide to be sustained under the guise that relocation is on a voluntary basis. These traditional resisters hold great knowledge and wisdom of ancient information and natural existence that are culturally irreplaceable, and it is our responsibility to stop the United States and its largest coal-producer, Peabody Energy, from executing this crime against humanity and mega-environmental destruction. It is 2009, will we let the Trail of Tears happen all over again and stand witness to it?
On December 22, 2008, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) issued a record of decision approving Peabody Western Coal Company’s mine permit revision application for the Black Mesa Complex. Through policies such as PL93-531, the U.S. has already forcibly relocated more than 14,000 Dine’ people from their ancestral homelands.
At this moment, the decision makers in Washington D.C. and Peabody Energy are planning ways to expand their occupation of sacred tribal lands to extract mineral & other resources.
7. Make National Native American Day a holiday
In recognition of the Suffering of and the contributions by Native American people, I wish to see National Native American Day become a federal holiday.
The US recognizes other holidays in honor of great men and groups of people so why not Natives?
