Second Wind!

We are at the point which seems to go on endlessly, the goal just in sight. We are forty four signatures away from the 1000 signature goal petitioning Senator Barbara Boxer to encourage the Forest Service to honor the Winnemem Wintu Tribe's right to Freedom of Religion. The tribe seeks to carry on a Coming of Age Ceremony for two young women, one of whom is the future Chief of the Winnemem in less than two weeks.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-winnemem-wintu-tribe-puberty-ceremony

Here's the site.

So if it matters to you that the original historical traditional tribes carry on their way of life and do not become extinct

If you believe that their prayers, ceremonies and advocacy for the water, earth, for the whole circle of life is relevant and important to have at the table in these times of ecological disaster

If you want the tribes to go on for seven more generations and seven beyond that with young people learning the old ways and continuing on

If you believe tribes still deserve basic human rights of freedom of religion under the Native American Religious Freedom Act even if they are tribes who will choose responsibility to take care of sacred lands over getting on the faster path of economic development or the casino road and who will not change their original form of government for tribal council and government which mimics the US just to be federally recognized

If you care that 90 percent of California Indians, in the 1980's, were dropped from the federal recognition list, a list which exists because of machinations of a Reagan Supreme Court, a list the Federal Government unjustly relies upon as the only Native people who shall enjoy human rights, the ear of government, and the right to exist as a tribe. The huge majority of Indian people, tens of thousands, in the State of California has been disenfranchised and their language, culture are endangered!

Please, if these things concern you, take a few seconds to go to this link
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-winnemem-wintu-tribe-puberty-ceremony
and sign the petition. You don't need to write anything. But we need 43 of you good people to join the 957 who have already signed so the petition can be sent to Senator Boxer. It's urgent because we have 10 days only until we go down to the ceremonial grounds for the Coming of Age Ceremony.,

Your help is needed for that second wind for a strong finish. Thank you!!