FREEDOM AND LIBERTY NOW

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits governmental intrusion into the FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION. It also forbids governments from the ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION . This excludes favoritism, and treating and religious faith differently. A State must remain neutral to all religion.

In 1978 I came to TDC with a TRO (Temporary Restraining order) signed by the Honorable Wm. Ralph Elliot of Grayson Co, TX restraining TDC from cutting my hair due to religious reasons. AIRFA (American Indian Religious Freedom Act) had just been enacted in September of that year.

When I arrived at the TDC Diagnostic Unit, however, the TRO was torn up, I was beaten with axe-handles and bats and subdued by building tenders per ORDERS of Asst. Warden Billy Ware. My head was shaved bald. I was placed in lock-up. I tried to APPEAL but Major Lannie Steele of Ellis I Unit intercepted all my outgoing legal mail and destroyed them. I kept carbon copies and later when I left on a bench-warrant I contacted outside lawyers.

Thus began a war between myself and Texas prison officials that continues to this day. In the past 30 years I have participated in several legal actions (two of which were assigned to the ACLU of Texas) based on religious freedom. As a result, TDC entered into three out-of-court agreements with me (1985, 1989, 1995) which resulted in a number of accommodations to my religious faith.

I was the first person in TDC to be allowed to have a recognized Native American Spiritual Circle, to wear my hair long and in braids, and to have my own medicine bag and my own personal ceremonial pipe. Jolene Yellow Quill was also the only female prisoner in TDC recognized to have similar access.

Even during the periods when I was assigned to administrative segregation a volunteer chaplain would bring a box full of items with my sacred pipe to me every Friday so I could conduct my spiritual obligations to my Clan and my nation.

In the past five years TDJC has initiated the finalization of the RUIZ litigations and immediately reversed itself on these religious accommodations. They now only allow a sacred pope in group worship and only after a person passes a written test. No other faith in prison has this requirement nor is it part of any requirement for any faith outside in the free world. If the test is passed then a person is eligible to go to one of the TDC’s 13 designated units that allow Native American Worship.

The TDC policy for the Native American Religion says that powwows are not an event that can be accommodated in person, and that we have no dietary requirements and other misrepresentations of our religious traditions. So, on 10-25-2004 I filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division. It is styled: IRON THUNDERHORSE VS. BILL PIERCE, et. al., Cause No. 9:04-CV-222. Judith K. Guthrie, U.S. Magistrate Judge was assigned to the case.

The COMPLAINT was brought under the religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person Act (RLUIPA) 42 U.S.C. § 200cc-3. It alleges that a number of substantial burdens had been placed against my religious free exercise by pressuring and coercing me into abandoning my faith as a substitute Christianized and sanitized version created by TDC of our religion. I also challenged TDC’s antiquated Grooming Policies by failing to provide an adequate religious exemption and for arbitrary enforcement of the standards against long hair and neglecting sanitation, health, etc.

My wife and I conducted an On-Line survey of all state prisons. Thirty-eight prisons from across America and the Federal BOP responded. Only four states in addition to TDC have grooming codes that do not allow either freedom in grooming or a religious exemption. We wrote a report and attached these email responses and each policy statement with the BOP policy. We also gathered financial data showing that TDC receives federal funding. It is a violation of federal Law for a state to accept federal funds and discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, handicap, etc. We gathered letters and program guides from South Dakota and other state prisons who allow powwows, and BOP policy allowing seasonal powwows, colored headbands, personal pipes for pipeholders etc. We had many published documents showing our way is to celebrate based on the lunar cycle and feast for the four seasons. We had over a dozen affidavits from the spiritual leaders, other prisons, etc.

My lawsuit also covers official retaliation against me for the filing this suit and grievances related to it. We had evidence of the past retaliation against me, evidence of a long continuous history by TDC to be hostile against Pro Se litigants, and recent Internet accounts from inmates in TDC especially at the Polansky Unit where I am located now sharing religious discrimination against Native Americans and a wave of brutality.

We compiled a PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO with seven pages and nine photos of me from 1992 to 2006 with short hair, long hair, front view, side views, full length, with and without glasses, and a beard, every conceivable way I could change my appearance…so TDC could not claim it would be unable to identify me when I grew my hair long.

I do not trust ACLU or any other lawyers because the have their own agenda so I represented myself. Nevertheless, I contacted the BECKET FUND FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, and asked for their help…to file an AMICUS Brief because they have handled more RLUIPA cases with success than any other agency. They refused to even respond or return an email. It appears that the Becket Fund assists only Judeo-Christian faiths or those who make sizable donations to their fund.

I am asking everyone to email or call the Becket Fund and make a complaint and urge them to assist me or explain why they will not (http://www.becket-fund.org , (202) 955-0095).

Thunderhorse vs. Pierce was scheduled for a BENCH TRIAL at the federal Courthouse in TYLER, TX on 2/28/06 at 10 A.M.. Little Owl and I gathered all our evidence (over 100 exhibits) and 25 witnesses, but ten days before trial Judge Guthrie cancelled the Trial and dismissed the case in the favor or te State. This was contrary to its own ORDER of 12/29/05.

I filed a NOTICE if APPEAL and the case is not in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. I submitted my Brief, and the State now has 30 days to respond and once they file I will have 10 days for a reply Brief. I filed a Motion to Expand The Record so the Court can see all the evidence I had ready. A dismissal for summary judgement is not proper if there is evidence that support the claims and in this case the evidence is overwhelming. So we are hopeful the Court will REVERSE and REMAND for the bench trial we had scheduled.

I also filed a Complaint for Judicial misconduct against Guthrie for her abuses of discretion and prejudice. If all ths legal redress fails we are not giving up. So stay with us for further details.

Kutchimmoke (Be of Good Cheer)
Biwabiko Paddaquahas (Iron Thunderhorse)

January 1st, 2006, marks my 20th consecutive year of complete sobriety. The first assumption to readers who have never had to spend a day behind bars, - “Well, that’s easy to do because prisoners can’t acquire alcohol behind bars.” Wrong!

The first decade in prison I remained an alcoholic. I began making connections so that I could make my own booze (called Hooch, Homebrew, Chalk, Raisin Jack, Pruno, etc., in prison jargon, - not “moonshine”). I did this because, at that time [circa: 1977-86}, I was still addicted (mentally and physically) to alcohol.

I depended on alcohol to hide my feelings and to make the ghosts disappear. I couldn’t talk about Vietnam, or the death of my first wife and son, etc. - so I stayed inebriated…. I literally drowned my sorrows into a drunken stupor.

On January 1st, 1986, I woke up in the Ellis Unit Infirmary after a New Year’s celebration and about 6 quarts of homebrew - I said to myself, “You’re getting way too old for this craziness….” So; I needed to find a way to STOP depending on alcohol.

Yes; I tried AA - but it didn’t work for me. Two important reasons. First, I am not a Christian, even though I was forced into Catholicism (as part of the policy of ethnocide in North America) and even though I hold no grudges and I continue to support others who are. I am a TRADITIONALIST, so I cannot relate to a circle that says: “Hello, my name is John Q. Barleycorn and I’m an alcoholic.” How could I break the habit by always acknowledging I was powerless against its addiction?

My success proves that one size does NOT fit everybody; one program is not the Magic Bullet. Millions of AAers have relapsed or fallen off the wagon. In some AA and NA groups, I’ve witnessed extreme humiliation (like fraternal hazing rituals) where people are forced to wear signs indicating, “I am a miserable drunk,” and a lot worse.

In the 1980s I co-founded The Thunderbird Alliance - a coalition of Native American Spiritual Circles, Medicine Societies, spiritual leaders, support networks, etc., who joined together to develop standards for our allied prison circles throughout the U.S.A.

Humanity & Society (Journal of Humanistic Sociology) put together a “Special Issue” devoted to Native American issues in Volume 13, No. 4, Nov. 1989, with a collection of studies.

My personal contribution to that issue was entitled, “The Thunderbird Alliance: Reclaiming the Legacy of Tribal Democracy” [later re-printed in a special 25-year anniversary issue]. Little Rock Reed, National Director of The Thunderbird Alliance at the time, contributed a feature entitled: “The American Indian in the White Man’s Prisons: A story of Genocide” [later published as a full-length book, a work of non-fiction, in 1993]. Other features in this Special Edition focused on themes such as memories of Indian Boarding School Atrocities, Reservation Revelations, and a statistical study by Rutgers University relating to failures of Indians to succeed in AA due to a lack of culture, tradition, etc.

Gene Thin Elk of Canada began to develop a Native American equivalent to AA and NA and the Thunderbird Alliance began to develop our own variation.

As Editor-in-Chief for Thunderbird Free Press (High Bridge, NJ), I edited, co-authored, and compiled “Thunderbird Voices Speaking,” which contained our programs, allied circles, spiritual tenets, etc.

This work became my own therapy. I was writing features and columns in Indian Country Today: The Journal[Lac Courte Orielles Newspaper) and other forums with my “Iron House Reports,” as I shared ways to include indigenous arts & crafts, Native American music, cassettes from elders’ teachings at various Medicine Societies, prayers in our aboriginal dialects, and graphical writing systems, as well as writing and poetry as a vehicle for self-discovery.

As my own self-respect returned, I reclaimed more and more responsibility to my Nation as a culture-bearer. As I healed myself (this is what a shaman does, he/she heals him/herself, then shares the knowledge with his/her people), pride and recognition resulted in responsibility and acceptance, which filled a large gap in my soul (left by too much grief and sorrow too fast at a young age). I grew and became more and more connected to my roots, grounded in my culture, and this is what replaced my dependency on alcohol. Now, my thrills come from the satisfaction of knowing our language, religion, and history are being learned and will be preserved by future generations.

During this period of re-awakening, I had the support and guidance of some very wonderful spiritual leaders from the Dawnland. Next to my Duda, the most profound was Cjegktoonuppa/Slow Turtle, Wampanoag Nation’s Supreme Medicine Man and Thunderbird Alliance Advisor.

These elders were themselves shamans and culture-bearers who had been face to face with ethnocide and returned to lead our people back to the Good Red Road.

You’d assume that this kind of transformation for myself and other prisoners would be acknowledged by penologists as a good thing. Just the opposite occurred. Many saw it as a threat to the Christian’s power of controlling the “heathen” Indians. Fear, paranoia, ignorance, and, yes, even racism and hatred resulted in the inevitable whitewashing of our religion (as it was being allowed behind bars). [Issues relative to this subject will be pursued in this forum.]

I expect naysayers, self-appointed lackeys of the SYSTEM, to lash out because I speak the truth. These are not just my own speculations.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye [D. HAWAII], former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs - penned the following study entitled, “Discrimination and Native American Religious Rights” [UWLA Law Review, Vol. 23, 1992], where he chronicles federal and state governments have “historically suppressed” our indigenous religions “in ways unprecedented for other religions.”

During the 1990s, Senators HATCH and KENNEDY conducted hearings concerning the suppression of religion in American prisons, which led to the enactment of RLUIPA [Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act] (42 USC S,2000-cc et.seq.). [See: Statements of Senators HATCH and KENNEDY, July 13, 2000, on Hearings, Bills, Resolutions re RLUIPA.]

The Special Rapporteur of Religious Intolerance at the United Nations also issued a REPORT with overwhelming FINDINGS showing Native Americans in prison who practiced traditional faiths were at the mercy of our keepers (many of which have a long history of hostility and discrimination against us).

The RLUIPA has led to significant federal court rulings in recent years. [See: www.rluipa.com.] Yet a half dozen states in the deep south’s Bible Belt refuse to join the majority of states/feds who do accommodate religious liberty behind bars. Religion, experts say, is the most powerful rehabilitative factor in penology.

In sum, my quarter century of personal healing and self-introspection is viewed by my keepers as an affront to their SYSTEM of oppression against the poor people of Texas.

What outsiders fail to recognize, however, is a fact. The Catholic Tekwitha Conference, Guadalupana Association, El Grupos Dezantes de Azteca, etc., etc., and the Native American Church - Peyote Way - are all hybrid faiths.

This is because traditionalists accept and incorporate everything that is good into our ethos. Christ was a savior and prophet, one of many acknowledged by us. At these traditionalist ceremonies and celebrations - you’ll find the holy Eucharist next to eagle feathers and sacred pipe. The priest is also a full medicine man. At a mass celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe hundreds of Matachines troupe dancers are there in colorful plumed headdresses and costumes. The women honor the Virgin Mary as the reincarnation of Tonatzin, the Aztec Earthmother.

My sobriety is a victory. I am not a recovering AA alcoholic. I am a Renapi Sachema, a human being who cured himself of the wapsu’s ability to enslave me and my people. Now, only my body is in chains. Without the wapsu firewater, my spirit once again is free to soar over the walls and razor wire and return to my beloved Dawnland.

Kutchimmoke (Be of Good Cheer)
Biwabiko Paddaquahas (Iron Thunderhorse)

FREEDOM AND LIBERTY NOW!
Commentaries by: Iron Thunderhorse

December 2005; Quinne-kesos/Long-moon
Discourse No. 1: “Welcome to My World”

Arramikowa neetompoag (Greetings my friends),
As the old country song lyrics go…”welcome to my world.” Each month I will be discoursing on a wide variety of topics, issues, and themes.

Let’s begin with the focus of this new forum: FREEDOM AND LIBERTY NOW (Blog-style commentaries by me) will be posted here each month - to be followed by: PUBLIC FREEDOM FORUM (Bulletin-board style discussions between my people and the public).

Remember the lyrics of Janice Joplin’s song … “Freedom’s just another word … for nothing left to lose…” Well, in the Algonquian language there is no word for freedom originally because we had nothing to free ourselves from. There were no jails or prisons, even captives from our tribute wars were treated well, many were even adopted into our clans in order to replace a fallen warrior/family member.

Prior to wapsu colonization - there existed principle towns (otan) known as white-towns (the color white denoting ‘peace”). Any person could travel to any of these safe havens and find sanctuary. Great earthen mounds with a temple at its summit were found there. These temples were the residence of a hereditary leader who served as Gechannawitank (land steward) with statues of Okkewis (Earth-maker). Serving as a regional guardian of sacred sites, these sanctuaries were there to respect and protect our aboriginal wejammokke (literally, “our homeland”).

When a person arrived or departed from a principle-town otan/sanctuary, he/she was made welcome with a single word, “kutchimmoke.” It has an English translation “Be of good cheer”; however its linguistic and cultural etymology go deeper. It is a marriage of two root words, “kutchi” with “okke” or “oke.”

My ancestral language did not refer to a parent as “He is my father.” Instead we said, “I am his/her offspring.” The root word “kutchi-” literally implies where something originates. So, kutchi-kinnean means “We are his/her offspring” because we originated from them. The root word “oke” denotes earth and the word “kutchimmoke” thus denotes that we (as a race, the aboriginal race of this land we call Turtle-Island/Tulipas-Munhum) originated here so we are the offspring of our homeland. The first-born culture-hero of my ancestors was Hobbomock, Quinnipiac Stone-Giant….whose body was shaped from a mountain. Hence, the connotation of “Be of good cheer” is an Algonquian euphemism… to be in balance/harmony with our homeland … to be respectful to Okkewis-Earthmaker. This was the epitome of our aboriginal FREEDOM. It was our ethos - our world-view, our way of life, our LEGACY.

There was a word for people (sketamb-; plural -awg) who were “others” not in harmony with the land and environment. For those who were “true” to this Algonquian ethos, the prefix ean- or een- was added. So eansketambawg denotes “We, the TRUE people” (of Turtle Island). Our words for becoming a true human being (the subject of a separate commentary) were Renapi/Lenape. To walk in balance/harmony was to respect all other races, as well as animals, trees, mountains, etc. because they too were people, just not HUMAN people.

People come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. I wrote a special study for The DAWNLANDER on Indigenous Identities, which come in all flavors. The ISL (International Support League) is composed of Renapi, Lenape, Wapsu, Hawks and Doves, even some Eagles and Owls. First Nations are rubbing elbows with many hyphenated-americans. Let me define what this implies.

Native Americans do not have a hyphen between these two words. However, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Afrikan-Americans, Asian-Americans do have hyphens between their nation(s) of origin and the land they migrated to.

The ISL is composed of soldiers, vets, and warriors, law enforcement and correctional officers, lawyers and retired judges, writers and playwrights, editors and publishers, actors and entertainers, sociologists and counselors, clergy and assemblymen, husbands and housewives, white-collar and blue-collar workers (oops - there’s that hyphen again). ISL IS A MICROCOSM.

Yet, we all have something in common. We are of ONE mind, ONE heart, and ONE spirit; because we recognize that OUR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY - the legacy of our FIRST NATION BIRTHRIGHT IS IN VERY SERIOUS JEOPARDY.

We each struggle to protect these precious RIGHTS in our own way(s). UNITED WE STAND has its roots in the Dawnland. As the Newcomers came to this land they had never before known DEMOCRACY. The Dawnland Confederacy taught it to them and its symbolism as well. A simple arrow (Council/state) could be easily broken. But, if you combine a dozen or more arrows together (councils/states) and bind them together with a solemn covenant (quosetammin werrawauwunk) this united bundle of arrows is virtually unbreakable. The symbol of our Algonquian Confederacy is a bundle of arrows bound at the center with a snakeskin. This symbol was later adopted as the USA’s UNION.

The problem is that “Absolute power … corrupts absolutely” and the Union of the USA failed to heed ALL of our advice on establishing a confederation. Special interests took control and perverted our basic principles of liberty, justice and freedom. If you believe this is inaccurate - then I suggest you reconsider the implications of ENRON, WORLDCOM, and GULF WAR II, as well as the MEGA-MERGERS in Corporate America that in recent years were approved. Influence-peddlers and Power-mongers control the governments of our land and their technospeak has no words for liberty, justice, and freedom.

The Founding Fathers of this land in the Original Thirteen Colonies adopted principles in The Order of Saint Tammany (a Lenape Sakema) and developed a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

Then why have our governments turned their backs on me, on prison abuse, on the handicapped, (the Ferres Doctrine) on Vets? GONE are the once strong farmers, GONE are our US steel mills, GONE are our Mom & Pop businesses on Main Street, USA.

In the Algonquian culture social standing is achieved in ONE WAY:
If a person has something to share, he/she is obligated by culture to do so, especially with those of us who are less fortunate or oppressed. The richest among us are those who give their all for the good of the People. So, when I say that “YOU ARE OUT THERE FOR ME BECAUSE I AM IN HERE FOR YOU,” it should be obvious why this is so. WHAT HAPPENED TO ME CAN HAPPEN TO YOU AT ANY TIME!

One of our Wampanoag Nation allies recently supported me and said he did so because he knows my history and it is becoming clear that even he, a Grandfather, might have to stand up for what is right and so lose his freedom. When our liberty erodes to such a degree, my friends, - then “freedom” truly is “just another word for nothing left to lose.” Janice gave us a piece of her heart when she sang those words. Her message during the Vietnam era is true again. History repeating itself.

There’s a thin blue line between our Freedome and Liberty today. It’s called JUSTICE. With laws such as The Patriot Act, AEDPA, PLRA, etc., it becomes clear that the U.S. Constitution has been re-interpreted. The Influence-Peddlers, Power-Mongers, Corporate-Raiders, Media-Moguls pour $billions into passing laws that keep true Americans in check.

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This monthly commentary is my Give-Away, to return back to this land that has nurtured me and a thousand generations of Renapi before me.

HISHT! Hear this, my ancestors, and my friends and family! My old scarred body may be imprisoned - but my heart, mind, and soul are always FREE! My voice shall always ring true! My voice will always speak out against injustice, corruption, greed, cowardice, and abuse against the People of this Land! EHHOH - IT IS SO!

KUTCHIMMOKE (Be of Good Cheer),
Biwabiko Paddaquahas (Iron Thunderhorse)