Tribal representation in the federal government has long been criticized for a lack of native consultation and a failure to take Native tribes seriously as true sovereign nations. Over the past few months, tensions between Native organizations and the Department of Interior (DOI) have grown to historically high levels as hopes for meaningful reform have turned sour.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill held a symposium on American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Care at its annual convention in Minneapolis last week. The symposium focused on the importance of family and the need to integrate native traditions with Western medicine. NAMI also released a manual calling for local, state, and federal action to promote American Indian and Native Alaskan mental health.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2003 Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership in Conservation, sponsored by Ecotrust. The $25,000 award will be presented to an individual whose leadership has improved the economic, environmental, political and social conditions in his or her region. The award may be used for one or more of the following activities: professional development, program improvement, research, or a traditional activity, or ceremonial participation. Additional information is available from Ecotrust. Who may be nominated?

The following are more excerpts from statements made during Week Two of the second session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

ON EDUCATION

Jiten Yumnam, Centre for Organization Research and Education, Manipur, India:

Over 1,500 delegates converged on the New York headquarters of the United Nations this week for the second session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Indigenous representatives, representatives of member states, and officials from international institutions such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization met daily in Conference Room Two for six hours each day to wrestle with the issues of economic and social development, the environment and the methods of work of the Forum itself.

On May 6, program director Paula Palmer met Sea Turtle Restoration Project's Doug Israel and Global Response members Crystal Law, Philip Paul and Bill Bernthal at United Nations headquarters in New York City, where they delivered over 1,100 letters addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In June 2001, a crucial meeting was held on Big Mountain, Black Mesa, Arizona. Grassroots Diné (also known as Navajo) and Hopi organizations, national environmental groups, ordinary people and politicians came together and shared the message “Water Is Life” (see article in Cultural Survival Voices, Fall 2001).

The Senate has voted against opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling by a 52-48 vote, largely along party lines. California Democrat Barbara Boxer celebrated the vote, calling it a “a huge setback” for the Republicans’ agenda. Just before the vote began, Alaska senator Ted Stevens bluntly warned the Senate: “People who vote against this today are voting against me and I will not forget it.” As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Stevens holds significant power, yet senators were apparently not swayed by this threat.

Dr. Ronald Michael is a surgeon in Chicago, Illinois. He was born in Lebanon, grew up in Iraq and Lebanon, and moved to Chicago in 1967. All four of his grandparents are from what is now southeastern Turkey, along the border of northern Iraq. They fled there during the Assyrian Holocaust by Ottoman troops and Kurds during the waning years of Ottoman rule.

As complex and ancient as the Assyrian history is, can you give us some brief background?