Bałas Chonas Letter

(Below is a template letter of support for a full closure of the McCloud River required for the Winnemem’s Bałas Chonas ceremony this July. Please copy and paste from here, and fax us a copy of the letter you send to (530) 275-4193.)

July 11, 2011

The Honorable Diane Feinstein

U.S. Senate

331 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Fax: 202-228-3954

Dear Senator Feinstein:

I’m writing on behalf of [Insert your org name] to urge you to intervene and assist the Winnemem Wintu Tribe in holding their Bałas Chonas, Coming of Age Ceremony, in the peace and dignity they deserve. The Winnemem Wintu Tribe originates from the McCloud River watershed, and the ceremony ties together the fabric of their society by bringing young girls into womanhood and into their place in the Tribe.

The ceremony is held at the site of the ancestral Winnemem village, Kaibai, and is home to many sacred places through which the celebrants receive their instructions from the physical and spiritual world. This is the only place on the McCloud River where the ceremony can be held.

Today, Kaibai is now adjacent to the McCloud Bridge Campground, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. For almost five years, the Tribe has made every effort to peaceably achieve a temporary closure of the 300-yard section of river where the Ceremony takes place.

The Forest Service has denied the tribe’s requests, leading to the disruption of their ceremonies. During Bałas Chonas in 2006, the Tribe was subjected to racist, disrespectful, and dangerous treatment by boaters who ignored a voluntary closure. One woman flashed the Tribe, while others called them “fat Indians” and declared “It’s our river too, dude!”

During the 2010 Ceremony, the celebrants and other tribal members once again endured an element of intrusive voyeurism from boaters who ignored another voluntary closure.

This July the Winnemem had planned to hold the Bałas Chonas for Marisa Sisk, the young woman who is training to become the Tribe’s next spiritual leader. However, because they still couldn’t secure a mandatory closure and no guarantee for her safety, the Winnemem decided to postpone the ceremony for another year because it was too dangerous not only for Marisa but for the future of the Tribe.

The presence of boaters not only creates a pervasive sense of dread during the ceremonies, it also endangers everyone’s safety. Swimmers are present in the water throughout the five days, and on the final day of the ceremony, the celebrant and several others swim across the river to be received by the tribe. Failure to enforce a mandatory closure increases the possibility of an accident and serious injury.

While no one suffered physical harm in 2006 or 2010, the spiritual injury suffered by the Tribe’s young people can’t be dismissed. Waimem Sisk-Franco, the young woman who went through her coming of age ceremony in 2006, will forever carry the experience of being taunted and “flashed” during one of the most sacred moments of her life. The other young Winnemem who witnessed the behavior will also carry those painful experiences. It is already sufficiently difficult to grow up Indian in the U.S., and the Winnemem young people do not deserve to be further traumatized.

Over the years the Tribe has worked with the U.S. Forest Service, Congressman Herger, Senator Boxer, and local authorities who have been unable, and, in some cases, unwilling to provide the temporary closure needed to hold this ceremony in privacy.

This summer’s Ceremony is for the young woman who is to become their next spiritual leader. The importance of this Ceremony to the tribe and to the young woman cannot be overstated. It’s essential to the future of the tribe there is no interference or interruptions. We write to urge you to use your considerable power and influence to help the Tribe secure the needed temporary closure.

We believe that joint authority exists across local and federal agencies to achieve the temporary closure. However, overlapping jurisdictions and poor relations between the necessary agencies have made it impossible to broker an agreement. We believe you can either broker the agreement or find another means, perhaps legislative intervention, to provide the Winnemem Wintu with their basic right to religious freedom and dignified access to the sacred sites that are irreplaceable in the practice of their religion.

In December 2010, President Obama signed The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Obama emphasized that the endorsement wouldn’t be an empty gesture, and that the administration will take actions in line with the Declaration.  To quote Article 25: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters, and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.”

Accord to the U.N. DRIP, the Winnemem have a right to hold this Ceremony in peace, to uphold their responsibilities to future generations and to ensure their next leader, Marisa, becomes the women she’s meant to be.

Please, close the river in the name of religious freedom for all, a right that all Americans hold dear.

Sincerely,

Distribution List

Names, Address and Fax

The Honorable Diane Feinstein

U.S. Senate

331 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Fax: 202-228-3954

cc:

The Honorable Barbara Boxer

112 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Fax: 202-228-3865

The Honorable Wally Herger

242 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Fax: 202-226-0852

J. Sharon Heywood

Shasta-Trinity National Forest

Forest Supervisor

3644 Avtech Parkway Redding, CA 96002

Fax: 530-226-2471

Kristy Cottini, District Ranger

Shasta Trinity National Recreation Area

14225 Holiday Road, Redding, CA 96003

Fax: 530-275-1512

Tom Bosenko

Shasta County Sheriff

1525 Court St

Redding, CA 96001

Fax: 530-245-6054

Captain David Dean

Boating Safety Unit

Shasta County Sheriff

Fax: 530-245-6076

Ryan Harvey, Special Agent

Law Enforcement Unit

USDA Forest Service

3644 Avtech Parkway, Redding, CA 96002

Fax: 530-226-2471