THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008
NEWS
3A
POLITICS
Event addresses American Indian issues
Speakers, including faculty from KU and Haskell, will discuss historical often controversial, relationship between tribes and U.S. government
BY JESSE TRIMBLE
jtrimble@kansan.com
Historical controversies within the American Indian community
The Dole Institute of Politics will play host to the free symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The University will be one of the stops on the Native American Diplomacy Symposium's 11-state tour across the country.
Fuller
Mott
The event will focus on relations between American Indian tribes and the U.S. government since the Lewis and Clark expedition. The main speakers during the symposium will include actor Wes Studi
Studi
Wildcat
from "Dances
Miller
with Wolves" and "Last of the Mohicans," Kevin Willmott, filmmaker and associate professor of theater and film, and Dan
Wildcat, director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center and the American Indian Studies program at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute, said the Kansas Arts Commission brought the idea to the Dole Institute.
"We're also trying to find different opportunities to bring groups in that focus more on history," Lacy said. "We understand that this is an exciting and eventful election year, but we also want to broaden our scope."
Chris Howell, vice chair of the
Kansas Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission and coordinator of the symposium, said the symposium would cover many topics, but would focus on the history of boarding schools within the Native American culture. Howell said issues dealing
1950s and "60s." Willmott said, "I think most people in general are totally unaware of this historical fact. One of the hopes that we have for the film is that it will allow the public to be aware of these boarding schools and forced assimilation."
"We're also trying to find different opportunities to bring groups in that focus more on history."
The majority of the filming took place in the summer of 2007 in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Some of the film was also shot in Lawrence, as it revolves around Haskell Indian Nations University when it was a boarding school.
with boarding schools and what American Indian education is like today would be discussed.
"From the opening presentation to the closing, the speakers will focus on Indian education in a way that many people may have been unaware even took place," Howell said.
Howell said the symposium was a good opportunity for the
During the closing presentation, Willmott and Studi will talk about the film "The Only Good Indian," Willmott's film which starred Studi as Sam, a bounty hunter.
BILL LACY Director, Dole Institute of Politics
Willmott said the focus of his film was on boarding schools that Native Americans were forced to attend after the Plains Indian wars.
"This went on well into the
audience learn a b o u t w h a t it didn't learn from history books.
" We will have people from tribes come for we
There will be a flag presentation presented by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Color Guard at the beginning of the ceremony. The flags will include the American flag, Kansas state flag and American Indian tribal flags.
unencumbered and uncensored." Howell said. "We're not going to censor anyone's story. Everyone has their own stories, passions and they have a right to share whatever they want to share."
"We're hoping to have the look of an embassy or United Nations feel when people arrive," Howell said.
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
syposium details
Kansas is the 11th and final state for the Native American Symposium. The only states to hold this symposium are those that Lewis and Clark traveled through during their expedition from 1804 to 1806. Other states and locations of the Native American Symposium:
Missouri — March 13,2004 at the Missouri Historical Society
Illinois — May 13, 2004 at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
South Dakota — Oct. 1,
2004 with the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe
lowa — April 9, 2005 at the Western Historic Trails Center
Nebraska — Oct. 19,2005 at the Metro Community College, Fort Omaha Campus
North Dakota Aug.10 2005 in New Town, N.D.
Montana — Nov.4, 2006 in Great Falls, Mont.
Idaho — May 12, 2007 in
Cottonwood, Idaho, Monas-
tery of St. Gertrude
Washington/Oregon — Aug.11, 15-18, 2008 in Ellensburg, Wash.
Kansas — Sept. 12, 2008 in Lawrence
WILDLIFE
Zoologists take first photos of wild okapi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The first photos of the okapi in the wild were taken recently by zoologists. The Okapi, which are believed to have been mistaken for unicorn, have been found in the Congo.
BY NANCY ZUCKERBROD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Zoologists have captured the first photos of the okapi in the wild, saying Thursday they offered evidence that the animal once mistaken for a unicorn has managed to survive war and poaching in a park in a lawless swath of Congo.
The male has two horns on its forehead, but they can look like one horn if glimpsed from the side. "Stories came back of this mythical creature and the fact that it might be a unicorn," Kumpel said.
The doe-eyed animal, which can be found in zoos worldwide, is a relative of the giraffe but has zebra-like stripes on its legs and rear.
The species was unknown to European scientists until a century ago. It is thought to have inspired claims of unicorn sightings by Victorian-era explorers, said Noelle Kumpel, a conservationist with the Zoological Society of London, which released the photos.
The photos were taken by cameras set up in the Virunga National Park by the zoological society and
conservationists in Congo after okapi tracks were spotted there a few years ago.
The animal's stripes are sometimes called "come follow me stripes," because their bold pattern is believed to help young ones follow their mothers through the forest. Each animal's stripes are unique, like fingerprints.
The okapi is only known to exist in Congo, primarily further north in ituri provinces's Okapi Wildlife Reserve. There, they are difficult to spot because they are shy and usually only move around in couples. Virunga officials say before the okapi was captured on camera, it was not known whether it still roamed the park.
"We are encouraged by the evidence that okapi has survived in Virunga, despite the years of conflict," Virunga National Park Director Emmanuel de Merode said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press. "Park rangers have only recently regained control of this area that was formerly occupied by armed militias. But while it is positive that the okapi population remains, we are aware of their vulnerability to intense levels of poaching."