Hola All Humane Beings!
The original link to the news article is:
Indian inmates say religious rights are being denied
I believe the below Message Link is the first stitch that started this thread and it involved .
I am glad to see that the Humane-Rights-Agenda Yahoo Group has a live of its own and can carry on among its various members.
Naturally, our right to worship in whatever form peole want or not to worship is related to humane rights in general.
In fact, one of the major ideological and organizational errors of the liberation movement in general inside the United States is its utter failure to incorporate a strong religious-spiritual fervor in its mass mobilization. I do not mean to be fanatic about it, but true community organizers shold realize that often we can reach people through a basic spiritual approach better than with a cold scholastic ideoloigcal one.
Any attack against any of our humane rights, whether open or disguised, is an obvious or veiled attack against all of our humane rights and the inner spirit of the global struggle for humane rights in general, including immigrant rights.
If anyone sincere humane rights advocate and humane being is interested in being a contributor to the Humane-Rights-Agenda Blog let me know and we can discuss it!
Remember: I can call for free anywhere inside the continental United States. My Cell #916/ 968-1023
These times make my personal time extremely tight. I am trying to better focus my energies these days with lots of activities and tasks offline working with others out in the local community and elsewhere, but it is all interconnected in connected reality.
Blessings, Prayers and Sincere Appreciations~
Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
Sacramento, California, AmeriKKKa
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Carol L <carolleo864@yahoo.com> wrote:
Indian inmates say religious rights are being denied
February 15, 2007
Sacred Feather, Native American Circle and 10 inmates filed the lawsuit this month in U.S. District Court. Officials named as defendants include Warden Jeffrey Merrill and the Rev. Matt Kantrowitz, Protestant chaplain at the maximum security prison in Warren.
A similar lawsuit was filed in 2003 and ended in a settlement agreement that expired two years later and called for an outdoor shelter to be provided for religious ceremonies.
Indian inmates "are proud of who they are and what they believe in," the new lawsuit said, "(and) they are entitled to practice their religion with dignity and with accommodations equal to those afforded to Catholic and Protestant groups."
Denise Lord, associate corrections commissioner, said she was unaware of the latest lawsuit. But she said both sides had agreed that there was no need to renew the previous lawsuit because progress was being made.
"It's our intent," she added, "to continue to work with them to make sure whatever needs or concerns are brought to us are managed in a way that is appropriate in a corrections environment."
The issue of religious rights for incarcerated Indians also has surfaced in the Legislature, where a bill sponsored by Donald Soctomah, Passamaquoddy tribal representative from Indian Township, has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.
The measure states that failure of a prison or jail to provide "reasonable opportunity" to conduct or take part in Indian religious practices is unlawful discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act and subject to remedies under that statute.
The lawsuit said that while Catholic and Protestant inmates can worship privately in the prison chapel, Indians must conduct their smudging ceremonies outside, in between buildings in a heavily trafficked area.
Because of the lack of privacy, the suit said, participants have been subjected to derogatory comments and unwelcome stares.
The lawsuit asks that the prison be required to allow members of the group Sacred Feather, Native American Circle to conduct two smudging ceremonies per week and a pipe ceremony twice a month in a private location.
Other requirements sought by the plaintiffs include a place for religious ceremonies to be held during bad weather, a sweat lodge for monthly ceremonies and permission for members to buy prayer blankets, tribal attire and other religious items that can be kept in their cells.
The suit asks that a portion of funds set aside for religious activities be allocated to Sacred Feather.
The lead plaintiff in the case is Cote Choneska, 26, who was sentenced in 1998 in Penobscot County to 30 years in prison with all but 18 years suspended for shooting a Clifton store owner six times the previous year during a holdup.
A Passamaquoddy, Choneska grew up in Pleasant Point but spent much of his life in foster care and the Maine Youth Center.
Such lawsuits are not unprecedented. In 2005, a federal judge approved new rules to accommodate the religious and cultural needs of Nebraska's American Indian inmates.
Prison officials agreed to allow American Indian inmates to have two powwows a year and to give them time for religious education and worship ceremonies. They also agreed to allow access to medicine men and other spiritual leaders.http://www.timesarg
us.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20070215/ NEWS02/702150313 /1003/NEWS02
http://groups.Carol Leonard
yahoo.com/ group/usprisonre form/
Prison Reform is NOT soft on crime
michelle <shellyi2000@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
And work for lovely lives for us all - out of The Rich's hands!!
Amen to that !
Yes we should not argue over the little things that will stop us doing the greater good.
shell
--- In Humane-Rights-Agenda@yahoogrou , "Norma J F Harrison" <normaha@...ps.com > wrote: Humane-Rights-
>
> I didn't mean to irritate or argue - just to console. Believe indeed. I certainly do. Albeit in the communist socialist hope. And work for lovely lives for us all - out of The Rich's hands!!
> Ease, joy, good work real play -
> Best of all to us all.
> Thanks for your notes!!!
> Norma
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Angela Smith
> To:Agenda@yahoogrou ps.com
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 6:10 PM
> Subject: RE: HumaneRightsAgenda American's religious rights are being denied !!!!
>
> One more thing... Whether your ideal is Socialist Utopianism, God, Enlightenment, or something else... All of these are abstract ideas... My point overall is that we shouldn't argue over our abstract ideals while ignoring or undermining the absolute immediate necessity of real time, real life action to fight for and protect human dignity, freedom, free-will, and human rights. Arguments over theory and abstract ideas is a luxury we can't afford when faced with immediate danger. And, we are.
>
> Angela
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Angela Smith [mailto:enlitened@...] Humane-Rights-
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 5:32 PM
> To:Agenda@yahoogrou ps.com
> Subject: RE: HumaneRightsAgenda American's religious rights are being denied !!!!
>
Dear Fellow Human/Humane Rights Advocates/Activists:
>
> What Jud has brought to light is true. If you look at the High Security Unit practices in......._,_.___<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>~+~<>
LIBERATE BROTHER LEONARD PELTIER!
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