And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 07:53:27 -0600 (CST)
>From: "Progressive Resource/Action Coop." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Chief foundation to go on despite rejection of $1,000
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Chief foundation to go on despite rejection of $1,000
>
>By J. PHILIP BLOOMER
>News-Gazette
>Tuesday, February 16, 1999
>
>URBANA P The Chief Illiniwek Educational Foundation won't give up, even
>after being rebuffed by a social service agency it wanted to help.
>
>CHIEF spokesman Pat Hoffman said Monday that his organization was
>disappointed that Chief Illiniwek opponents had undercut their efforts to
>provide a $1,000 contribution to a South Dakota charity for American Indians.
>
>"They want us to give up and go away. That won't happen," Hoffman said.
>"It's as though unless we share their political philosophies, we can't
>participate in the solutions."
>
>Hoffman was reacting to news Monday that the Native American Women's
>Health Education Resource Center, an agency on the Yankton Sioux
>reservation in South Dakota, was rejecting the Chief foundation's offer
>of $1,000.
>
>Charon Asetoyer, director of the resource center, said Monday that she
>had felt deceived by the Chief foundation's overture.
>
>"They never said they were a pro-Chief organization. It was devious,
>being used as a last-ditch effort to add credibility to an organization
>that favors the exploitation of Native Americans."
>
>Hoffman said there was never any intent to deceive. The Chief foundation
>is a humanitarian endeavor separate from the controversy over whether
>Chief Illiniwek should represent the University of Illinois, he said.
>
>"We weren't trying to get them to publicly support the Chief," said
>Hoffman, a recent UI graduate now based in Iowa. "It's the work they're
>doing that we wanted to support. Their stance on Chief Illiniwek has
>nothing to do with it."
>
>Hoffman said American Indian activists are behind the effort to scuttle
>the donation. He said he talked again to Asetoyer Monday afternoon after
>the offer of the contribution had been rejected. The Chief foundation
>still hopes to be able to support the resource center, he said, but if
>not, there are plenty of other candidates.
>
>The $1,000 was to be prize money for an essay contest, the prize being
>donated on the winner's behalf. The organization is seeking entries for
>the contest with the theme, "How does Chief Illiniwek best exemplify the
>spirit of the University of Illinois?"
>
>Asetoyer said her office was deluged with calls and e-mail from across
>the country after news of the essay contest was made public.
>
>Likewise, Imani Bazzell of a local group, Women Against Racism, said
>their phones were active after the Chief foundation's announcement.
>
>"It was refreshing. I didn't know we had so much support," she said.
>
>The foundation's contest was announced a day after Women Against Racism
>held a fund-raising event at the University YWCA to, in part, inform
>people about a contest for an alternative symbol to Chief Illiniwek.
>
>Bazzell said she called the reservation last Friday to inquire about the
>resource center's involvement with CHIEF.
>
>"I was not calling to ask her to reject the money because we know how
>much they could use that thousand dollars," Bazzell said. "That was their
>decision not to accept it. They aren't willing to sell their souls for it."
>
>Hoffman said he was disappointed opponents to Chief Illiniwek had turned
>the contest into a controversy.
>
>"This can either be a perennial source of conflict in the community, or
>we can turn it into a positive by supporting educational and humanitarian
>efforts," he said. "It's the opponents who seem to be dragging this back
>into the gutter."
>
>CHIEF has purposefully avoided debate on the subject, concentrating on
>service projects since forming last year, he said. They have sponsored a
>seminar by members of the Hopi tribe and participated in a toy drive for
>Lakota children.
>
>Both Bazzell and Hoffman said that whatever the outcome, they hoped the
>publicity would engender more support for Asetoyer's agency.
>
>Asetoyer said her community has an unemployment rate of 57 percent.
>
>"But I cannot accept that money," she said.
--------------------+++++++
There has been some conversation that it might be good to send the resource
center in SD funding by individual donations...it can sure be used.
If any would like to contribute, Robert Eurich has supplied the following
address (will let you know if it needs to be changed..:)
DONATIONS MAY BE SENT TO:
Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center
809 High Street
PO Box 572
Lake Andes, SD 57356-0572
Phone (605) 487-7097 / 72
Fax (605) 487-7964
Thanks..
Ish
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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