Thursday, March 31, 1994
CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
Rights denied to Native Americans, panel says
By Denise Nell
insan staff writer
Native Americans still are experiencing religious persecution, a fourmember panel of Native Americans who are fighting for spiritual rights said yesterday.
About 30 people attended the panel discussion at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The panelists' discussion about Native-American spirituality was the first in a series of events planned by the Native American Student Association in observance of Native American Heritage Month, which will be observed this month.
Len Foster, a Native-American spiritual adviser and director of the Navajo Corrections Department from Window Rock, Ariz., discussed his fight to support the Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act, which is being discussed now in a U.S. Senate committee.
The bill, if made law, would allow Native Americans to obtain certain herbs and eagle feathers needed for religious ceremonies, Foster said.
In addition, it would require prisons to allow Native-American inmates to participate in religious practices, such as sweat lodges and pipe-smoking ceremonies.
"We find that Judeo-Christians and Muslims have people who provide fellowship, but when it comes to Native Americans, they give us a hard time when we go into prisons," he said. "We are asking the legislature to empower us so we can be a nation again."
Gary Holy Bull, a traditional medicine man and a spiritual adviser from Sisseton, S.D., told a story that he said illustrated the Native-American struggle for spirituality.
A young boy he knew was suffering from juvenile diabetes, he said. When the insulin provided by physicians at the local hospital failed to help the
boy, his mother took him to a Native-American healer, or medicine man. With the help of medicinal roots, the boy began to improve. Holy Bull said.
But a child protection agency, which said that the mother had endangered the child's life, took the boy away from her and placed him in a foster home.
"It is very important for us to try to get our religion protected," he said.
Other panelists were Ellen Papineau, regional director for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and representative for the American Indian Task Force in Kansas City, Mo., and Chemo Candelaria, a Native American spiritual adviser. The panel will conduct the same discussion at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Frontier Room in the Burge Union.
"I was very impressed with the panel," said Jay Jackson, Flandreau, S.D., senior and president of the Native American Student Association.
Special events
Native American Heritage Month
Today
Panel on Spirituality
Navarre Hall Conference Room Haskell Indian Nations University 10 a.m.
Open Discussion on Indian Beliefs. Haskell Auditorium Haskell Indian Nations University 7 p.m.
Panel on Native American Spirituality, Frontier Room in Burge Union, 10 a.m.
Talking Circle
Ecumenical Christian Ministries
1204 Oread Ave
Fourth Annual Pow Wow
Fourth Annual Pow Wow Kansas Union Ballroom. Kansas Union. 2 p.m.-12 a.m.
KANSAN
Heather Lofflin/KANSAN
Chemo Candelaria, Native-American spiritual adviser, speaks to about 20 people about spirituality and environmental issues. Candelaria was one of four speakers on a panel on Native-American spirituality.
Seeing glitter in Haiti's grime
Country's charm keeps professor's fascination alive
By Angelina Lopez
Kansan staff writer
Bryant Freeman, director of KU's institute of Haitian studies, just returned from Haiti. During his travels there, he has amassed a large collection of Haitian art.
The garbage was piled above the roof of Bryant Freeman's car, and the swarms of mosquitoes were thick.
But Freeman said the poverty and decay he had encountered in Haiti during the last year had not changed his love for the country.
In 1958, when he was a young instructor at Yale University and visited this small Third-World nation for the first time, he found it fascinating, he said. Freeman, director of KU's Haitian Studies Institute, said he still was fascinated by the small country.
Freeman, professor of African and African-American studies, returned to KU on March 12 after serving an eight-month assignment as a U.N. observer in Haiti. He and 240 other observers were responsible for assuring that the rights of Haitians were not being violated by the military. Freeman was one of three people assigned to teach incoming observers Haitian language and culture and U.N. human rights standards.
Freeman described an environment of fear in which Blacks, who made up half of the 240 observers, had to wear T-shirts announcing that they were affiliated with the United Nations to protect themselves from random attacks.
"My badge of safety was my white face," Free-
man said.
Not all of Freeman's trips to Haiti have been trips of fear, however. He said he had visited Haiti at least three times a year for the last 36 years. He is drawn by the warm people and the blend of African and French cultures, he said.
"Haiti is like a raft turned loose with no outside influences for almost a century," he said.
Freeman said he and an associate had been
working on a Haitian Creole dictionary for 11 years. Under Freeman's direction, the University offers a Haitian Creole language course that is one of the only two offered in the nation.
Freeman also teaches a course on Haiti that focuses on the characteristics of a Third-World nation.
"Hati is the third poorest country in the world, and it has too many people for too little good land," he said. "It is an extreme example of a Third-World country."
Rob Christensen, Ottawa senior, took classes
from Freeman and worked as his research assistant, Christensen lived in Haiti for 18 months and said that Freeman represented Haitian life well in his class.
"When he visits Haiti, he goes as a professor," Christensen said. "He goes with an elevated status, but he understands what is happening."
Freeman said that in the Haitian Studies Institute, he and four assistants focus on teaching, researching and publishing books and papers concerning Haitian culture.
"I have the ideal situation," he said. "I get paid for doing something that I love to do."
By Heather Moore Kansan staff writer
Alack of information about Student Senate and general apathy may cause low voter turnout at the April 13-14 student elections.
Last year, 14 percent of students voted in the elections. About 21,000 students did not vote.
Angie Harder, Lenexa junior, said she did not plan to vote because she had not kept up with the candidates and what they stood for.
"It is important for students to vote because they have a voice and they should use it." she said.
She said that she knew that Senate did stuff but that she did not know how it affected her.
Part of the problem is lack of information. Harder said.
"If people were more aware, they would actually vote," she said. "It would help to have things in the Kansan, a type of presentation, a lecture or something to catch the student's eve."
Audra Widau, Topeka senior, said that she was unsure about whether she would vote but that she thought it was important for students to be involved.
"It depends on if I hear about the specific candidates," she said. "Senate is important because they control the budget for the University and where the money goes."
Matt Rubin, Minneapolis freshman, said more convenient voting locations would bring more voters.
"They should have voting where people walk by all the time," he said.
Mark Ozi, Arlington Heights, Ill., freshman, said more voters would come out if there were more articles in the Kansan and flyers about elections.
Matt Smith, Erie junior, said he would vote in the election if he knew what Senate did.
"I don't have any idea what the purpose of it is," he said.
Octavio Hinojosa, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said coalitions should do more to get students to vote.
Students should vote because Senate's actions affect them, Hinojosa said.
Eric Mersmann, architecture senator, said he was unsure how to get students to vote.
"It's already convenient to vote," he said. "I don't think students have an interest or understand what Senate does. They don't know why voting for one coalition or another would help them."
Rob Alfred, architecture senator, said he thought that candidates were doing all they could to get students to vote.
"People are annoyed with flyers in their face," he said. "If students don't vote, they have no ties with the people who spend money."
Alfred said the lack of voter turnout was due to apathy.
"Most students don't realize what they are voting for," he said.
CAMPUS BRIEF
Female circumcision debate
Panelists at 7 p.m. tonight will debate whether the traditional rite female circumcision, practiced mainly in Africa and the Middle
East, Manhattan The discussion will take place at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
PERFECT FOR INTERVIEWS
TWO-PIECE SUITS
$99.00
regular
$129.00
- Poly/Rayon Lined Suits
- Black, Red, Royal, Jade, Pink and 2-tone colors
- Sizes 4-16
- Over 10 different styles
East. is mutilation.
Prices Good thru April 10th while supplies last
Saffees
---
Jayhawk Bookstore "Your Book Professionals" "At the top of Nalsmith Hill" Hrs: 8-7 M-Th. 8-5 Fri. 9-5 Sat. 12-4 Sun. 843-3826
Graduation Announcements
& Caps and Gowns
WITH RICKY DEAN SINATRA
SATURDAY APRIL 2- GRANADATHEATER
COME CHECK IT OUT!
FINAL FOUR GAMES ON MOVIE SCREEN!
ULTIMATE TOURNAMENT DURING THE DAY AT 23RD & IOWA FIELDS