Award-winning Oglala Lakota artist, Genevieve Bluebird poses with her work entitled A Sacredness, a study in the symbolism of the sacred feminine. Bluebird depicts Native women in a positive light, as a model for others to follow. Photo by Aly Duncan Neely
Keith Secola headlines at Unity Concert 2016
By Aly Duncan Neely
Native Sun News Today Correspondent
nsweekly.com PIEDMONT –– The 2016 Black Hills Unity Concert at Elk Creek Resort in Piedmont celebrated its third year with a call to Honor the Sacred, the Earth and All Her People. Visitors came together in peace and unity to be educated and inspired by speakers and performers from many indigenous communities and walks of life. Highlights included performances by Bethany and Rufus, The Cody Blackbird Band, Dallas Arcand, Darren Thompson, Earth Guardians, Goodshield Aguilar, Innastata, Keith Greeninger, Keith Secola, Kontiwennenhawi – The Akwesasne Women Singers, Lyla-June, Mignon Geli, Savage Family, Nahko, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary), Thana Redhawk, Tracy Bone, and many other musicians, activists, poets, and performers. Unity Concert Workshops were free and open to the public to promote empowerment and give voice to those who support peace, unity, and cultural and environmental sustainability. Goodshield Aguilar of the non-profit grass roots organization Pte Oyate and the nephew of the late Rosalee Little Thunder who co-founded the Buffalo Field Campaign in 1997, spoke on behalf of the last genetically pure wild buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.
Paul Stover Soderman, a Harney descendant speaks with humility in support of the name change of Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak. At left is Phil Little Thunder. Photo by Aly Duncan Neely
Yvette Collins of Sacred Way Sanctuary in Florence, Alaska, spoke of the Medicine Horse Way and the relationship of pre-colonized indigenous peoples with their horses, the role of Spirit Horse Medicine in indigenous cultures and the role of the horse in medicine and spirituality today. Lisa Heth of Wiconi Wawokiya Inc. conducted a workshop on how to find the purpose and direction that Creator has for each of us. Heth advocates for women and children who are victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Lisa is the founder of Children’s Safe Place advocacy centers on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations and in Sioux Falls. Ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk (Catawba Nation) author of the book Watoto Unyutapi: The Field Guide to Edible Plants, conducted a walk by Elk Creek and the surrounding prairie to demonstrate how to identify some of the edible and medicinal plants that grow there. Black Elk shared that developing knowledge about native plants species and their uses promotes food sovereignty. Lillias Jones Jarding, PhD, of the clean Water Alliance of the Black Hills, described the techniques used to extract uranium ore. Jarding discussed plans for uranium mining near sacred sites in the Black Hills region, and presented examples of how
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Keith Secola headlines at Unity Concert 2016 (Contact Aly Duncun Neely at kestraldancing@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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