From Los Angeles to The Great Plains-- Latest News: "Your Power, Your Decision: VOTE"

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by Amelia Montes (ameliamontes.com)

Last week Iwrote about poet and fiction writer, Xánath Caraza, a transnational U.S. Midwest IndigenaMexicana.  

Xánath Caraza

There is more to saythis week about Xánath—especially if you are in Los Angeles! On Saturday,November 10 (yes--in Los Angeles) you have the opportunity to learn fromXánath.  She will be giving apoetry workshop from 12:30-3:30p.m. at Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural bookstore.  Here is her description of the workshop: 
Taller de poesíaen español con Xánath CarazaEn este tallerde poesía examinaremos y discutiremos trabajos seleccionados de Sor Juana Inésde la Cruz, Macuilxochitzin y Yanga. Escribiremos nuestros propios poemas y finalizaremos la session con unalectura informal de poesía donde compartiremos lo que hayamos creado.

Poetry Workshopin Spanish with Xánath CarazaIn this poetryworkshop, we will examine and discuss selected works of Sor Juana Inés de laCruz, Macuilxochitzin, and Yanga. We will write our own poems and we will end the session with an informalpoetry reading where we will share what we have created. 
After the poetryworkshop, take a break, a tomar un cafecito—and then come back to Tia  Chucha’s Centro Cultural bookstore at5:00p.m. to hear Xánath read from CONJURO.
What a great wayto spend next Saturday at Tia Chucha’s. 
When:  Saturday, November 10, 2012What:  Writing Workshop led by Xánath CarazaWhere:  Tia Chuca's Centro Cultural BookstoreTime:  12:30-3:30p.m.
What:  Xánath Caraza reading from her book, ConjuroWhen: (same day)Time:  5p.m.Where:  Tia Chuca's Centro Cultural Bookstore
This past week,Xánath was at The Writer’s Place in Kansas City, Missouri (where Xánathlives).  It was a Dia de losMuertos celebration and reading. One of Xánath’s poems, “Luz de Octubre,” became art on the wall (seebelow).  Orale Xánath.

"Luz de Octubre"

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Switching now toLincoln, Nebraska where the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Lincoln chapter had its annual banquet yesterday (Saturday,November 3^rd) and the theme was “Your Power, Your Decision--Vote.”  
Lakota Tribe member, Myron Longsoldiergave the Invocation. Frank LaMere, from the Winnebago Tribe, gave thekeynote.  LaMere is a human rightsactivist who has had extensive involvement with empowerment efforts of nativepeople throughout the United States. He was named Peacemaker of the Year by the Nebraskans for Peaceorganization for his work to end the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay.  He chaired the Native American Caucusat the 2000 and 2004 Democratic Conventions. In 2008, the documentary, “The Battle for Whiteclay” followed LaMere, Russell Means, and Duane Martin Sr. intheir efforts to curtail alcohol consumption on the Pine RidgeReservation.  If you haven’t seen“The Battle for Whiteclay" I encourage you to see it! And since it is still near the time of Diade los Muertos—see it in honor of Russell Means who recently passed away onOctober 22^nd. 
Last night FrankLaMere spoke with emotion and directed his comments to all of us:  “Indian, Brown, Black, White”—that itis important to see the devastation happening at Pine Ridge as a problem thataffects every one of us.  In anopinion piece for the New York Times, LaMere wrote:  “Any action short of shutting down Whiteclay and cripplingthe enterprise that peddles alcohol among the Lakota people is unacceptable.  The death toll exacted on the Lakotapeople by Anheuser-Busch and its partners continues to rise . . .Lakota children are orphaned and struggle through life with the effects offetal alcohol syndrome.” 

Frank LaMere in "The Battle for White Clay"

In the book, Daysof Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco (published this past June), they write:  “Whiteclay is an extension of the longnight of ethnic cleansing, degradation, and murder stretching back more than acentury and a half, to the U.S. Cavalry charges on Indian encampments, wherescreaming women and children were shot down as they fled, and the systematiceradication of food sources by the white colonizers, who soon reduced bands ofragged Indians to destitution.  Fights,brawls, and shootings eventually shut down the bars and saloons ofWhiteclay.  All sales are nowcarryout.  But Whiteclay stillprovides the liquid fuel for car wrecks, diabetes, heart attacks, domestic abuse,divorces, joblessness, violence, early deaths, and suicides: one in five Indiangirls and one in eight boys attempts suicide by the end of high school.  The averale male life expectancy onPine Ridge is forty-eight, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere outside ofHaiti” (4). 

Frank LaMere giving the keynote at the NAACP Banquet

LaMere’spowerful words at the NAACP in Lincoln, Nebraska last night prompted me towrite you about it, dear La Bloga reader, especially as we near election daythis coming Tuesday.  “Your Power,Your Decision:  VOTE” was the timelytheme.  There is much at stake—andyou are a part of the circle just as much as I am and Frank LaMere is.Participate!  VOTE!