
2022 NATIVE AMERICAN RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF NATIVE SYMBOLS & NAMES - NOT MASCOTS - AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES


A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATING ALL OF AMERICA TO THE VALUE OF NATIVE THEMED PUBLIC SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY NAMES
Spotlight on Sandusky Mi. Redskins Eradication
WHEREAS, we, the members of the Native American Guardians Association of
the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts
and purposes, in order to preserve for this nation and our descendants the
legacy history and proud traditions of native nations and our goal to educate
minds and enlighten hearts in fostering a better and more thorough
understanding of native people, our icons, our imagery and to preserve our
cultural values by turning back the movement to eradicate our symbols in public
and instead utilize them as a bridge to understanding do hereby establish and
submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) was established in
the wake of a wave of cultural damages and losses to Native American public
imagery to become the most dedicated organization of American Indians whose
goal it is to “Educate not Eradicate”; and
WHEREAS, many long-established and well respected logos, icons and symbols of
our history, our tribes and our nations have been targets of unwarranted
negativity, political “correctness” through legal and media campaigns designed
to misinform which has resulted in extremely harmful cultural effects which, in
a accumulative fashion, have negatively affected every area of our
collective American and Native American life; and
WHEREAS, school boards, activist students looking to bolster their liberal
college applications and for-profit corporations such as Adidas are all
profiting off of these attacks and
WHEREAS, the political 'get out the vote' party leaders such as John Podesta and Stacy Abrhams of the Center for American Progress are (CAP) are dishonestly funding these campaigns with conjecture, debunked studies and outright lies as part of their goal of gaining an extra "14%" in the native vote to 'tip close elections' their way through 'empowering' name change campaigns which ultimately ruin communities and cause children anxiety, and
WHEREAS, these
aforementioned groups are taking advantage of and even profiting
handsomely off of the removal of native names and images through New
York's native gaming industry leader Ray Halbritter who, together with
non-native politicians and corporations, had previously simply paid off
High Schools for changing their by championing a negative and
dishonest history and then demanding legislation demanding the removal of other
High School logos and names depicting our sacred names and symbols from public
view and school use, and
WHEREAS, Ninety one percent of Native Americans polled via the Annenberg
Public Policy Center in 2004 and again at 91% in 2016 via the Washington
Post said that the name Redskins is not problematic while the more
immediate surveys in these small towns and communities demonstrates a
similar numerical strength of positive conviction; and
WHEREAS, Any name change defiles the honorable Lenape language itself where long-held self-describes variations of Redskin such as: òlàmàni - “Red Paint”; mèxkeòhkësit - “Red Skinned Person” or mèxkeòhkësichik as "Red Skinned People" or even the 1969 Sioux Sacred Pipe Ceremony which provided North Dakota it's Fighting Sioux name to last forever and
WHEREAS,
The majority of honorable and well respected warrior and headdress logo
use closely parallels the same honorable and well respected head dresses
used with pride at many majority Native American schools as well as the symbol
for the National Congress of the American Indian (NCAI); and
WHEREAS, that a substantial portion of activist school
board members failed to attend to key educational and fact based
messages, surveys, studies and findings in favor of keeping these
names before voting to change the school’s names and monikers in line
with the Center for American Progress, Adidas and NCAI's toxic talking points
only; and
WHEREAS, the coveted Native American democratic debate and integrity principles of Gayanashagowa, known as the Great Law of Peace, dictate that any name change decision should be honestly vetted and debated with those it would impact as it will greatly diminish Native American’s public standing in removing the historic bridge to our unique and historically significant native founding fathers and their Red Painted and non-painted Warriors whose presence in the public sphere promotes educational engagement opportunities future for our tribal citizens and for all Americans at large.
NOW
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAGA and the undersigned hereby
declares its continuing support for all citizens of America - whom have
been identified by Harvard researchers in 2018 as collectively
having more than half of its 330 million population carrying
some native heritage & DNA - and the vast majority of 'rank
and file' tribal persons who understand and are willing to fight against this
corrupt yet well funded 'get out the vote' political movement in
attempting to obliterate the cause of respectful and sensitive use of
Native American logos and symbols in public - but only on non-reservation
schools; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, we as a hybrid native nation are committed to
promoting the principle of realistic yet positive Native American engagement
with the public to include requiring any Native American themed school to
require both local and national Native American history lessons so as to imbue
into all students both pride in having the opportunity to represent this
continent’s first citizens but a deep and pragmatic understanding of our
culture, our philosophies and our legacy positive contributions in making the
United States a better place for all peoples; and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that maintaining tribal nations’ legacies and robust
public education via symbols, names and icons are inextricably linked, one
cannot be truly achieved without the other; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NAGA and its affiliate groups will support the
voting citizens and students and non-activist tribal members in not only
turning back the insensitive, damaging and irresponsible assumption that native
symbols are simply "mascots", and that most public native symbol and name displays
at schools, at universities are being used objectively and
specifically our honor our nation's historic native founding fathers
and not the contemporary politically minded tribal activists. These
names include the painted Redskins & Redmen & Red Raiders who are
suddenly being re-defined and then attacked as subjectively
"offensive", and
BE
IT RESOLVED, that this national coalition will seek to enhance and
bolster the status, legacy and cultural sensitivity of all schools in the
United States lucky enough to feature positive public Native American symbol
and name while seeking to develop new schools with similar names; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NAGA until
it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
Mark Yellowhorse Beasley, Navajo
President, Native American Guardians Association
Eunice Davidson, Dakota Sioux
Immediate Past President, NAGA / Author: “Aren’t We Sioux Enough”
Chief Walt "Red Hawk" Brown
Chief of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe
Shelby Benallie, Navajo
505 Redskins Organization, Phoenix
Pretty Deer, Spirit Lake, Assinbonie & Standing Rock Sioux
Native American Guardian
Mark OneWolf, Chiricahua Apache
Native American Redskins Nation
Jacob Bouvette, Blackfoot
Host, The Beating Drum Radio Program
Bill Dieckman, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Native American Guardian
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