Tomorrow, July 15, is the deadline for public comment on the U.S. State Department's review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP]. Only two nations - Canada and the U.S. - have openly opposed the Declaration, and Canada is now getting ready to add its endorsement. This leaves, as usual, the U.S. as the lone holdout. It's long past time for the U.S. to come to grips with its past, and to begin doing the right thing for the future. Below are two e-mail templates: one to the State Department; the other to President Obama. Feel free to use them, in whole or in part, to lend your voice to ours as we call on the federal government to do the right thing in this initial step to help protect the rights of indigenous peoples the world over. Note: When using the White House's Web contact from, be sure to check the box at the bottom asking for a response.
THE STATE DEPARTMENT
July 14, 2010
Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary, U.S. Department of State
C/O S/SR Global Intergovernmental Affairs
2201 C Street, N.W., Suite 1317
Washington, D.C. 20520
Via e-mail
Dear Secretary Clinton:
I write to ask you to expedite the State Department's review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and to recommend to President Obama that the U.S. become a signatory to the Declaration.
Canada has now expressed its intent to "'endorse" the Declaration, leaving the U.S. as the only country to oppose it. This does not reflect well on the U.S., either with regard to our international standing as a good citizen, or with regard to our country's desperate need to come to terms with the sins of its own past, which continue today to inflict a disparate negative impact upon our own indigenous peoples.
As a wisaakodewikwe, a woman of mixed-blood ancestry, I know all too well the dire straits in which too many of our Native peoples find themselves today, including the continuing loss of land, resources, culture, language, spiritual traditions, and even identity. UNDRIP is necessary to ensure the very survival of our peoples, both in the U.S. and around the globe. It is long past time for the United States to do the right thing: Become a signatory to UNDRIP, work to enforce it, and remove the taint that comes with being the only nation in the world actively to deny indigenous peoples this first step to ensuring their fundamental rights.
Please: Complete the review and recommend signing UNDRIP now.
Very truly yours,
Ajijaakwe ("Echo Maker Woman")
THE WHITE HOUSE
July 14, 2010
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
202.456.1414
CC: Kimberly Teehee, Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs
Via e-mail
Dear President Obama:
I write to ask you to expedite your Administration's review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and, on behalf of the United States, to become a signatory to the Declaration.
Canada has now expressed its intent to "endorse" the Declaration, leaving the U.S. as the only country to oppose it. This does not reflect well on the U.S., either with regard to our international standing as a good citizen, or with regard to our country's desperate need to come to terms with the sins of its own past, which continue today to inflict a disparate negative impact upon our own indigenous peoples.
As a wisaakodewikwe, a woman of mixed-blood ancestry, I know all too well the dire straits in which too many of our Native peoples find themselves today, including the continuing loss of land, resources, culture, language, spiritual traditions, and even identity. UNDRIP is necessary to ensure the very survival of our peoples, both in the U.S. and around the globe. It is long past time for the United States to do the right thing: Become a signatory to UNDRIP, work to enforce it, and remove the taint that comes with being the only nation in the world actively to deny indigenous peoples this first step to ensuring their fundamental rights.
Please: Sign - and enforce - UNDRIP now.
Very truly yours,
Ajijaakwe ("Echo Maker Woman")
Image copyright Wings, 2010; all rights reserved.
Today is the 6-month anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake. Very little has changed since January 12th: A quarter of a million people are dead; hundreds of thousands more are suffering from terrible injuries; and more yet are homeless and living under plastic tarps in makeshift camps where disease is rampant. It's now hurricane season, and conditions are going to get much worse very rapidly.
Over at DK, we're holding a fundraiser for some of the organizations that are working to make a difference on the ground in Haiti. We have $700 in matching funds, but we're hoping to far exceed that: Our last such fundraiser, three months ago, raised $3200.
Wings has designed and crafted a pendant exclusively for the fundraiser, and we're auctioning it off in the DK diary. So if you're a DK member, come and bid - current bid is for $200, from one of my dear friends, but let's take this much higher, and help provide food, shelter, and medical care for some folks who are battling to survive conditions that, Spirit willing, none of us will ever know.
Chi miigwech and ta'a.
Image copyright Wings, 2010; all rights reserved..
Tomorrow, July 15, is the deadline for public comment on the U.S. State Department's review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP]. Only two nations - Canada and the U.S. - have openly opposed the Declaration, and Canada is now getting ready to add its endorsement. This leaves, as usual, the U.S. as the lone holdout. It's long past time for the U.S. to come to grips with its past, and to begin doing the right thing for the future. Below are two e-mail templates: one to the State Department; the other to President Obama. Feel free to use them, in whole or in part, to lend your voice to ours as we call on the federal government to do the right thing in this initial step to help protect the rights of indigenous peoples the world over. 
