The buffalo once roamed the plains of North America, in vast herds which provided not only an essential source of food, clothing and medecine, but also a profoundly sacred Totem or Icon for the nations of the region, symbolising the universal unity of all Life.
Nature was not seen as an abstraction to be studied, dominated and used, for it was known that Humanity is part of Nature and Nature is part of Humanity.
Then, European settlers arrived and brought with them their theories of domination. Gradually, the settlers joined together into a mighty nation and took the land from those who had lived in Harmony with Nature for millennia.
In the westward expansion of the United States, the buffalo was seen not only as an uncontrollable Natural force, but also as the foundation of the economy of the Plains nations. To secure the expansion, the vast herds were decimated and the Indian Wars ended in 1890 with the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
The U.S. Government is not content with its past record. Now, the last remaining Free Buffalo are being slaughtered, but there are those who hope to stop this. (Details below.)
There is still Hope, however, for the Spirit of the Buffalo long ago promised the People of the Plains that when “bad times’ come, she will appear in the form of the White Buffalo, to remind everyone that that Spiritual Power is far greater that the power of those who seek to oppress Life.
Many White Buffalo have now been born. They are not “albinoes”, for they all manifest the Four Sacred Colors – Red, Yellow, Black and White, plus their blending, Brown. (Details below.)
Those who seek to Live in Harmony with Nature can take Hope and Encouragement, during this White Buffalo Time.
On the Summer Solstice, June 21, Peoples of all Faiths and Traditions will join together in Prayer. The World Peace and Prayer Day mission was founded in 1996 by Chief (Dr.) Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation, Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Bundle, Spiritual Leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations (collectively known as the Great Sioux Nation. This year, people with gather together in Australia, under the banner: “All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer.” (Details below.)
Please read the following report and visit the recommended websites for more information.
Paul V. Rafferty
Word of Yellowstone Buffalo Slaughter Reaches Congress
This is a story similar to the history of the Churro sheep, the only domesticated breed of sheep indigenous to the Americas, developed by and sacred to the Dine. The Diné of northeastern Arizona were crucial in saving the breed from successive waves of slaughter and near-extinction. In the 1860s, Diné who escaped the Long Walk and imprisonment at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, hid remnant flocks in remote canyons of Black Mesa, Navajo Mountain, and Monument Valley. It is from these cherished small herds that the Churro survived through forced stock reductions of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1970s, and confiscations and impoundments of the past three decades, to persist as the remarkable animals central to Diné culture and economy. While there are now about 2,000 Navajo-Churro registered to mainly Anglo breeders nationwide, there are only about 550 Churro on Black Mesa, and their future is still not secure. Yet, as they have in the past, "the real sheep," "the old ones," continue to hold the hope and future of self-reliance for the Black Mesa Diné.
The story of the wild buffalo is very much the same.
Carol Snyder Halberstadt, coordinator & cofounder
Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land:
http://www.migrations.com/blackmesa/blackmesa.html carol@migrations.com
Word of Yellowstone Buffalo Slaughter Reaches Congress: Groups Gather to
Protect an American Icon
Washington, DC: A two-story buffalo will graze on the west lawn of the Capitol today as a chorus of voices demands protection for the Yellowstone bison. A noon press conference with indigenous activists Winona LaDuke and Rosalie Little Thunder will be followed by a rally and stampede across the National Mall to the Department of Interior. Bison supporters are in town to submit thousands of citizen letters and to file a formal request to list the Yellowstone herd as a Distinct Population Segment under the Endangered Species Act. The effort is being organized by The Fund for Animals, the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, and the Ecology Center--groups with collective membership of more than 7.5 million.
The bison of Yellowstone National Park are America's only continuously wild herd. When buffalo were nearly eradicated at the end of the 19th century, Yellowstone's remote valleys sheltered just 23 individuals, the only wild survivors.
Today their descendants are being killed at a rate unprecedented since the 1880s under a management regime that has resulted in the shooting or slaughter of more than 3,500 bison since 1985. The 21st century killing is based on an unsubstantiated fear of disease transmission from bison to cattle and intolerance for free-ranging bison by the state of Montana. The imposition of a politically-based population cap of 3,000 has led to bison being shot and slaughtered without ever being tested for brucellosis in the field. In the first week of March, the National Park Service slaughtered 231 bison. "It is obscene that the National Park Service is capturing a slaughtering America's last wild bison in the world's oldest national park, using our tax dollars," said Dan Brister of the Buffalo Field Campaign.
Anishinaabe activist Winona LaDuke calls it "an irony, that in a new millennium America is still killing buffalo. It is a new time, time to end the killing. Time to think and act for the future. The buffalo deserve it. So do we."
"The Yellowstone herd is unique," according to Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign, "They are the only genetically pure herd in America to continuously inhabit its native range. The current slaughter threatens the long-term viability of this irreplaceable herd. If we don't list them today, the Yellowstone bison may well be gone tomorrow."
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/press02/050903.html
Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue.
For more information, please visit World Peace and Prayer Day, in our Links section or: http://www.worldpeaceday.com and click the image of Planet Earth to enter.
For information on this year’s World Peace and Prayer Day, June 21, 2003:
http://www.homestead.com/arvollookinghorse/WPPD_2003_Flyer.html
Miracle, the first White Buffalo Calf, since 1933. Born August 7, 2001
Vanderbilt, Michigan:
http://www.homestead.com/whitebuffalomiracle/index.html
The 9th Sacred White Buffalo Calf.... Wahos'i, "Messenger"
http://www.doubleebuffaloranch.com/
Mitakuye oyasin.... We Are All Related.
Photo of Miracle, courtesy of World Peace and Prayer Day: http://www.worldpeaceday.com
Please also see:
Mass Murder; Memories of Wounded Knee, by Brenda Norrell;
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=881&blz=1
Nature was not seen as an abstraction to be studied, dominated and used, for it was known that Humanity is part of Nature and Nature is part of Humanity.
Then, European settlers arrived and brought with them their theories of domination. Gradually, the settlers joined together into a mighty nation and took the land from those who had lived in Harmony with Nature for millennia.
In the westward expansion of the United States, the buffalo was seen not only as an uncontrollable Natural force, but also as the foundation of the economy of the Plains nations. To secure the expansion, the vast herds were decimated and the Indian Wars ended in 1890 with the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
The U.S. Government is not content with its past record. Now, the last remaining Free Buffalo are being slaughtered, but there are those who hope to stop this. (Details below.)
There is still Hope, however, for the Spirit of the Buffalo long ago promised the People of the Plains that when “bad times’ come, she will appear in the form of the White Buffalo, to remind everyone that that Spiritual Power is far greater that the power of those who seek to oppress Life.
Many White Buffalo have now been born. They are not “albinoes”, for they all manifest the Four Sacred Colors – Red, Yellow, Black and White, plus their blending, Brown. (Details below.)
Those who seek to Live in Harmony with Nature can take Hope and Encouragement, during this White Buffalo Time.
On the Summer Solstice, June 21, Peoples of all Faiths and Traditions will join together in Prayer. The World Peace and Prayer Day mission was founded in 1996 by Chief (Dr.) Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation, Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Bundle, Spiritual Leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations (collectively known as the Great Sioux Nation. This year, people with gather together in Australia, under the banner: “All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer.” (Details below.)
Please read the following report and visit the recommended websites for more information.
Paul V. Rafferty
Word of Yellowstone Buffalo Slaughter Reaches Congress
This is a story similar to the history of the Churro sheep, the only domesticated breed of sheep indigenous to the Americas, developed by and sacred to the Dine. The Diné of northeastern Arizona were crucial in saving the breed from successive waves of slaughter and near-extinction. In the 1860s, Diné who escaped the Long Walk and imprisonment at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, hid remnant flocks in remote canyons of Black Mesa, Navajo Mountain, and Monument Valley. It is from these cherished small herds that the Churro survived through forced stock reductions of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1970s, and confiscations and impoundments of the past three decades, to persist as the remarkable animals central to Diné culture and economy. While there are now about 2,000 Navajo-Churro registered to mainly Anglo breeders nationwide, there are only about 550 Churro on Black Mesa, and their future is still not secure. Yet, as they have in the past, "the real sheep," "the old ones," continue to hold the hope and future of self-reliance for the Black Mesa Diné.
The story of the wild buffalo is very much the same.
Carol Snyder Halberstadt, coordinator & cofounder
Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land:
http://www.migrations.com/blackmesa/blackmesa.html carol@migrations.com
Word of Yellowstone Buffalo Slaughter Reaches Congress: Groups Gather to
Protect an American Icon
Washington, DC: A two-story buffalo will graze on the west lawn of the Capitol today as a chorus of voices demands protection for the Yellowstone bison. A noon press conference with indigenous activists Winona LaDuke and Rosalie Little Thunder will be followed by a rally and stampede across the National Mall to the Department of Interior. Bison supporters are in town to submit thousands of citizen letters and to file a formal request to list the Yellowstone herd as a Distinct Population Segment under the Endangered Species Act. The effort is being organized by The Fund for Animals, the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, and the Ecology Center--groups with collective membership of more than 7.5 million.
The bison of Yellowstone National Park are America's only continuously wild herd. When buffalo were nearly eradicated at the end of the 19th century, Yellowstone's remote valleys sheltered just 23 individuals, the only wild survivors.
Today their descendants are being killed at a rate unprecedented since the 1880s under a management regime that has resulted in the shooting or slaughter of more than 3,500 bison since 1985. The 21st century killing is based on an unsubstantiated fear of disease transmission from bison to cattle and intolerance for free-ranging bison by the state of Montana. The imposition of a politically-based population cap of 3,000 has led to bison being shot and slaughtered without ever being tested for brucellosis in the field. In the first week of March, the National Park Service slaughtered 231 bison. "It is obscene that the National Park Service is capturing a slaughtering America's last wild bison in the world's oldest national park, using our tax dollars," said Dan Brister of the Buffalo Field Campaign.
Anishinaabe activist Winona LaDuke calls it "an irony, that in a new millennium America is still killing buffalo. It is a new time, time to end the killing. Time to think and act for the future. The buffalo deserve it. So do we."
"The Yellowstone herd is unique," according to Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign, "They are the only genetically pure herd in America to continuously inhabit its native range. The current slaughter threatens the long-term viability of this irreplaceable herd. If we don't list them today, the Yellowstone bison may well be gone tomorrow."
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/press02/050903.html
Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue.
For more information, please visit World Peace and Prayer Day, in our Links section or: http://www.worldpeaceday.com and click the image of Planet Earth to enter.
For information on this year’s World Peace and Prayer Day, June 21, 2003:
http://www.homestead.com/arvollookinghorse/WPPD_2003_Flyer.html
Miracle, the first White Buffalo Calf, since 1933. Born August 7, 2001
Vanderbilt, Michigan:
http://www.homestead.com/whitebuffalomiracle/index.html
The 9th Sacred White Buffalo Calf.... Wahos'i, "Messenger"
http://www.doubleebuffaloranch.com/
Mitakuye oyasin.... We Are All Related.
Photo of Miracle, courtesy of World Peace and Prayer Day: http://www.worldpeaceday.com
Please also see:
Mass Murder; Memories of Wounded Knee, by Brenda Norrell;
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=881&blz=1