Source: Indian Country Today

http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1054215410

On June 10, 2003 Indian Country Today reported that "Aroniakeha Elijah, 17, a junior at Salmon River High School, returned to regular classes May 15 after being suspended for violating the school district's 'no bandana rule.' Elijah was completely segregated from his peers at the school for wearing a red headband as part of his traditional Haudenoshaunee rite of passage, but school officials...

Source: Lincoln Journal Star

http://www.journalstar.com/native.php?story_id=46671

On May 24, 2003 the Lincoln Journal Star reported that "crossing of boundaries has kindled a new sense of urgency among Native people seeking to regain control of their ceremonies. Spiritual leaders are meeting today at the sacred site of Bear Butte in South Dakota in an attempt to stem what they see as the exploitation of Native ceremonies... Reports abound of abuses that include...

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 20, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "a replica of an ancient Native American fishweir curved along the grass on the Boston Common Friday. The display will remain through Thursday... It's... central Boston's only historical marker devoted exclusively to the Native Americans who lived here for 12,000 years before the arrival of English pioneers... Earl Cash Jr., medicine man for the Mashpee tribe of the Wampanoags... helped dedicate [the monument] with a tribal ceremony."

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-relations16may16,0,739026.story

On May 16, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "Orange County authorities recorded a steep decline in reports of alleged ethnic harassment, reversing last year's post-9/11 surge in anti-Arab bigotry, according to a report by the Orange County Human Relations Commission released Thursday... In the last year, according to the report, 124 people said they were targeted by...

Source: The Becket Fund

http://www.becketfund.org/litigate/Aroniakeha.html

On May 16, 2003 The Becket Fund reported that "halfway into his junior year at Salmon River Central School near Plattsburgh in upstate New York, Aroniakeha (Iroquois for 'In the Sky') Elijah donned a red headband signifying a rite of passage within his traditional Iroquois religion. Elijah, whose grandfather is a tribal chief, regarded wearing the headband as a religious duty... School...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On May 11, 2003 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "about 150 adults and children of different faiths gathered in the basement of Trinity Episcopal Church yesterday afternoon to pray, enjoy music and affirm their commitment to peace... 'Peace is more than just an end to war,' said Joe Keehner of the Grassroots Congress, speaking during the Ohio Peace Rally... One of the most troubling issues, they said, is the continued U.S. presence in Iraq... Gilly Running, a Lakota-Sioux medicine man who led a native prayer yesterday...

Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2003/April/27/style/stories/01style.htm

On April 27, 2003 the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that "it’s Tuesday night in the E.A. Hall Middle School Cafeteria, regular rehearsal night for the Watsonville Danza Azteca group, White Hawk Dancers... But for [Ana] Esquivel, a Watsonville High sophomore, the biweekly rehearsals of Danza Azteca — indigenous Mexican dance — has...

Source: The Boston Globe

On April 27, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "Native American groups want to ban dogs from the park on Deer Island, the site of a concentration camp for Indians during King Philips War and later a prison... [Sam] Sapiel... a leader of New England's Muhheconnew Confederacy... and other tribal leaders suspect that the remains of thousands of Indians could be buried there, and they say that dogs relieving themselves and digging in the dirt are desecrating what could be sacred burial grounds."

Source: The Associated Press

Source: The Arizona Republic

Source: Indian Country Today

http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1050332327

On April 14, 2003 Indian Country Today reported that "California Gov. Gray Davis signed Senate Bill 22 into law, which is aimed to protect a Quechan tribal sacred area from a proposed nearby open pit gold mine... Tougher questions abound in other areas considered sacred to other California tribes. For example last year somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 salmon died on the Klamath River,...

Source: The Argus

On April 13, 2003 The Argus reported that "even though this is only its second year, today's Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade will have an old soul... The theme is 'Ancient Voices,' honoring nature-based traditions throughout history that have 'revered the Earth as a church itself, the divinity within and around,' said parade organizer Micha Dunston... 'In Interfaith dialogue, the word pagan represents people who follow indigenous, tribal, polytheistic, nature-based and Earth-based beliefs,' Dunston said. 'So you have anything from...

Source: Indian Country

http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1050072510

On April 11, 2003 the Indian Country reported that "the Pentagon identified Pfc. Lori Piestewa as one of the soldiers found dead during the rescue of an American POW in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle D-S.D. spoke of the Hopi warrior on the floor, April 7. 'Private Piestewa is the first Native American woman in the U.S. armed forces ever to die as a result of combat. She was 23 years old. She leaves behind two...

Source: Ethnic News

http://www.arc.org/C_Lines/ArcColorLines.html

On April 10, 2003 Ethnic News printed an editorial by Suzan Shown stating that "as the Interior Department is protecting the Delhi Sands fly from developers in its 1,200 acres of Southern California sand dune habitat, the same federal agency is letting water, mining, and farming development trump Indian religious freedom in the same state... Nationwide, federal agencies are giving a green light to private...

Source: Indian Country

http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1048869318

On March 28, 2003 the Indian Country issued a statement "from the office of the President Joe Shirley Jr. and Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. of the Navajo Nation." It stated, "Our great country is facing war with Iraq and their leader Saddam Hussein. As your Navajo Nation leaders, we encourage all our Dine' people to pray for our Navajo military service men and women and all U.S. soldiers, who are...