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Louis Cook (2nd row, center) with NCPR staff in the late 1980s.
Louis Cook (2nd row, center) with NCPR staff in the late 1980s.

NCPR jazz host and producer Louis Cook dies

A prominent voice from the early days of North Country Public Radio has died. Louis T.K. Cook, of Akwesasne, was the late night host of "Jazz Waves" in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Cook also educated listeners - and producers at this radio station - about native political and cultural issues with his series, "You Are On Indian Land". Cook is remembered here at the station as full of life and was known as a wild guy.

His cousin, Ray Cook, who is now Op/Ed editor at Indian Country Today Media Network, says he owes his career in media to Louie Cook. He describes Cook as a natural teacher. "He was an artist in the traditional form," says Ray Cook. "He believed in the power of music and how it can soothe the soul and he always treasured the stories that he recorded and the people he talked to when he was in the production mode."

Louis T.K. Cook died Monday from injuries he suffered in a car crash last week on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He had been working with a not-for-profit there that helps families on the reservation build and maintain gardens.  Go to full article
St. Regis Mohawk tribal government building in Akwesasne. Photo: David Sommerstein.
St. Regis Mohawk tribal government building in Akwesasne. Photo: David Sommerstein.

How the sequester could affect Mohawk health care

The effects of across the board federal spending cuts - known as the sequester - are still being sorted out. Mohawks in Akwesasne are bracing for cuts to health care and law enforcement.  Go to full article
Then Chief Jim Ransom introducing CITGO officials in 2006. Photo: David Sommerstein.
Then Chief Jim Ransom introducing CITGO officials in 2006. Photo: David Sommerstein.

Story 2.0: Mohawks give thanks to Venezuela's Chavez

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is stirring up as much controversy after his death as he did during his life.

Chavez was a strident opponent of the United States. But he also helped many poor people, even in the U.S.

Republicans slammed New York Democrat Jose Serrano yesterday for praising Chavez on this point. Under Chavez, Venezuela's national oil company, CITGO, donated 200 million gallons of home heating oil to low income Americans, including to Mohawks in Akwesasne.

David Sommerstein reported on the program in 2006. He checks back in for our Story 2.0 series, where we revisit stories from the NCPR archive.  Go to full article
A family at last Saturday's Idle No More march over the Cornwall bridge.  Photo by David Sommerstein.
A family at last Saturday's Idle No More march over the Cornwall bridge. Photo by David Sommerstein.

Big expectations for "Idle No More" meeting in Canada

First Nations chiefs are meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa today. The meeting is a response to months of protests by a grassroots aboriginal group called Idle No More.

The group is demanding the government address issues such as poverty, land claims, and profits from natural resources.

As Karen Kelly reports from Ottawa, it may be difficult for today's meeting to soothe decades of discontent.  Go to full article
A protestor at the Idle No More round dance at the Canadian Embassy, Washington DC. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathonreed/"> Jonathon Reed</a> CC <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en">some rights reserved</a>
A protestor at the Idle No More round dance at the Canadian Embassy, Washington DC. Photo: Jonathon Reed CC some rights reserved

Mohawks plan march on international bridge

A group of Mohawks is planning to march on the bridge to Canada near Massena, NY, and shut down traffic Saturday. The demonstration is a part of an indigenous rights movement that's spread across Canada.  Go to full article

U.S. defends Mohawk land claim

The U.S. Attorney General's office is defending the St. Regis Mohawks' land claim in its entirety. That's after a judge recommended throwing out most of it last fall.

In a brief filed earlier in November, Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno made two important points about the decades old Mohawk claim to 12,000 acres in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties.  Go to full article
[courtesy A Tribe Called Red - copyright www.patbolduc.com]
[courtesy A Tribe Called Red - copyright www.patbolduc.com]

Beats & politics at A Tribe Called Red's 'Electric Pow Wow'

In Ottawa, a Native American DJ collective is transforming traditional music to challenge stereotypes. In the process, they've built one of the hottest club nights in the city.

A Tribe Called Red mixes electronic dubstep beats with pow wow singing and drumming, and a big dose of politics. David Sommerstein reports on the 'Electric Pow Wow'.  Go to full article
Kateri Tekakwitha shrine in Fonda, NY. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcordell/">Diane Cordell</a>, CC <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">some rights reserved</a>
Kateri Tekakwitha shrine in Fonda, NY. Photo: Diane Cordell, CC some rights reserved

First Native saint "beacon of empowerment"

Catholics across Upstate New York and Canada are celebrating the canonization of a 17th century Mohawk woman. She'll become the first Native American saint in a ceremony this Sunday at the Vatican.

Kateri Tekakwitha (pronounced "gah-deh-LEE de-gah-GWEE-tah") was born in the Mohawk Valley, near what is today Albany. Smallpox killed her parents and partially blinded her when she was six. She fled her village and devoted her life to the Catholic Church at the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve near Montreal. She died when she was just 24 years old.

That church, St. Francis Xavier in Kahnawake, is holding vigils, masses, and other special events throughout the weekend.

Hundreds of faithful are travelling to Rome to witness the canonization in person. Among them is the mother of Darren Bonaparte, a Mohawk historian and author of a book called A Lily Among Thorns: the Mohawk Repatriation of Takeri Tekakwitha.

Bonaparte told David Sommerstein Kateri Tekakwitha's story needs to be seen in its historical context. He says the Dutch and the French were vying for Mohawk lands in the 17th century, spreading smallpox to the native people as they went.  Go to full article
Part of the 7.2 mi. contaminated stretch of the Grasse.  Photo by David Sommerstein.
Part of the 7.2 mi. contaminated stretch of the Grasse. Photo by David Sommerstein.

Mohawks seek better Grasse cleanup

The St. Regis Mohawks say the federal government's plan to clean up toxic chemicals from the Grasse River has improved, but it's still not good enough. The Alcoa aluminum plant in Massena dumped cancer-causing PCBs into the river before they were banned in the 1970s.  Go to full article
The Hogansburg Triangle is in pink on this map.
The Hogansburg Triangle is in pink on this map.

Judge sustains part of Mohawk land claim

Native tribes' claims to ancestral lands in New York haven't fared so well recently. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially dismissed the Oneida Nation's land claim, saying too much time had passed since the 18th century treaties the claims are based on. Other courts have followed that ruling with other tribes' land claims.

So this week, when a judge recommended throwing out 85% of the Mohawk land claim in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe focused on the 15% that has a chance to survive. David Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

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