http://www.scc.losrios.edu/express/fa07/071129/071129reverance.html

In the light of reverence

Keeping Native American sites sacred

Students heard the importance of preserving sacred Native American sites in
the Cultural Awareness Center Monday during a student-led video and
discussion of the film In The Light Of Reverence.

The event was facilitated by student Susan Reece as part of a final
presentation for her social science class: Native-American Culture and the
Impact of Federal Policy.

Students of Native American and non-Native American backgrounds came
together to learn about and discuss controversial issues surrounding sacred
worship.

The topic of discussion was “sacred sites”, which was aided by the PBS
documentary In The Light Of Reverence, chronicling some of the struggles of
the Lakota tribe in the Black Hills, the Hopi in Arizona, and the Wintu
Indians in Mount Shasta, Calif.

Many of these Native American tribes are battling the government and
National Park Services to maintain their sacred ground upon which they
pray, and carry out tribal ceremonies.

Reece summed up the struggle with a quote from one of her textbooks:
“Spirituality is the linchpin of all Native American culture.”

Reece says their sacred culture is being threatened by the government’s
plans to turn various Native American ceremonial sites into recreational
sites for the public to enjoy. The film acknowledged that the holy grounds
had three enemies.

“They are on public land and private property, in use as mining sites and
recreational facilities, and competing religions.”

The U.S. Forest Service has plans to add ski resorts, shopping malls, and
large housing communities to areas that many Native Americans call their
“church”.

“Everything is alive—water, the earth…everything. The mountains are alive,”
Reece says.

Caleen Sisk-Franco is studying to be the next medicine woman of her Wintu
tribe, located at the base of Mount Shasta. The Wintu have no official
reservation, and are not recognized by the United States as a tribe.

“With so many religions out there, it’s like going through the cereal aisle
at the supermarket. Which one do you choose? There’s only one box of
Wintu,” Franco says.

Jim Brown, NAGPRA (the federal Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act) coordinator and chairman of the Clear Lake Basin Pomo
Indians, was guest speaker of the discussion.

He explained the goals of the Graves Protection Program, and what it means
for the many tribes that are not recognized as tribal communities.

“There are many tribes that are considered to be ‘colonized’ tribal
governments.
Very few still exist to stand on their own,” Brown says.

With all the struggles that surround many Native American tribes and their
quest to stay connected with the sacred earth around them, Brown remains
lighthearted in his fight to stay true to his beliefs, and his tribe.

“I call myself a B.C. Indian,” Brown says. “Before Casinos.”