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https://apnews.com/article/chief-standing-bear-ponca-stamp-dc8db19c212f014805e10db4de85af81>
"A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native
American is a person under the law was honored Friday with the unveiling of a
U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.
The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army
forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their
homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the
Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned
in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a
lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a
Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
“For so long people didn’t know his story or the Ponca story — our own trail of
tears,” Candace Schmidt, chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska said. “We
are finally able to tell his story of perseverance and how we as a tribe are
resilient.”
Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian
Affairs, called the issuing of a Chief Standing Bear stamp a milestone that she
hopes “provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in
the United States.”
“It’s remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights
leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a
non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the
Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon,” gaiashkibos
said."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
