| Project Passport has gathered broad community support. Read on for comments from tribal elders, community leaders, parents, teachers, administrators, and students. |
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I endorse Project Passport. It is important for young Crow people to have their passports and to travel. We are an important tribe, with an interesting history, and we have a good reservation here. The Crows have to reach out to the world - not only to Europe, but the whole world. We like people to know about our tribe, that we have a strong cultural persistence, and that we are encouraging our young people to carry on by telling people that we are proud to be Crow Indians. I endorse this program so that our young people can tell the world who we are, and when they come back, tell the people here about what other people in Latin America, Europe, and Asia are doing.
Dr. Joe Medicine Crow
Crow Tribal Historian/Anthropologist
Author: Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow
Chief on the Reservation and Beyond
WWII Veteran
French Legion of Honor
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| Dr. Joe Medicine Crow |
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This particular project for Native American students in high school living on reservations sounds very challenging, but rewarding for the students and something I wish we had at our reservation high school. It takes someone with a big heart and an interest in the students to do something like this. I think many students need to see other places and cultures before they get to old or complacent in their life, which happens to many of our young people on reservations. They settle for what is here and never experience real challenges or venture too far away from home or the Reservation. Thank you for taking on this challenge.
Tom Mexicancheyenne
Community Health Programs
Northern Cheyenne Tribal Health Department
Lame Deer, Montana |
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| Leonard Bends, Sun Dance Chief |
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The Crow Indian Reservation is located in South Central Montana. Lodge Grass, a small community located in the southernmost part of the reservation, is known as the "Valley of the Chiefs." The Valley of the Chiefs community is comprised of 97% members of the Crow Tribe of Indians and is the most traditional community of all the towns on the Crow Reservation. Approximately 95% of the adult Crow Tribal members still speak their native tongue as well as 90% of the Crow population practice traditional religious practices and/or participate in Crow Tribal cultural activities.
I am one of those people who still practice our traditional religious ceremonies. I am the "Sun Dance Chief" for the Crow Tribe. I have been an active participant of the Crow/Shoshone Sundance since 1972. I was given the honor of the Sun Dance Chief in 2004 after the previous Sun Dance Chief, John Pretty On Top, retired.
I am honored to write this letter of support for Project Passport. This tour will provide a great educational opportunity for the native youth of this community. It will give these young people an opportunity to see other cultures and how these cultures have survived over time just as our tradition and culture has survived. It will show them the importance of preserving the Crow tradition, culture, and language.
In my younger days, I had the opportunity to know my "great grandmother," who taught me the importance of keeping the old stories of the tribe, and how these were ways of keeping the tribe together and preserving the rich heritage of our people. I am sure that participating in this venture these young people will realize the importance of maintaining the Crow culture.
Leonard Bends
Sun Dance Chief
Athletic Director, Lodge Grass Schools
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It is important for kids on the reservation to see the world. I never in my life thought I would go over the ocean, but when I was a senior at Lodge Grass High School, my friend and I decided we would go to Paris and London. Many people in the community thought that we would never make it, but we worked hard and raised the money; and when we actually went, people here realized that their kids could go too, and their attitudes were less negative. When I told my friends my experiences, they were amazed because they thought you could never do that. There are a lot of people here that don't get to see outside the reservation.
Everything was different: the food, the language, the people, the narrow streets. When I was there, I wanted to learn the language so that I could interact with the people. I saw that it is a small world: we went to the Wild West Show at Euro-Disney and there were even Crows there. I feel that the experience changed me in some way: I came to respect the cultures I saw. The thing that impressed me most was the art: it was a great influence on me, and now I am working on trying to make my living from my own art and start my own internet business.
Rhonda Rides Horse
Parent, Artist (Crow) |
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| Philip Beaumont, Jr. |
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I am honored to endorse "Project Passport." I currently reside at Arrow Creek on the Crow Indian reservation, located two miles south of the home of Chief Plenty Coups in Pryor, Montana. I built an art studio and gallery called "Charges On The Camp." My family and I actively participate in the many Crow Indian cultural and traditional activities throughout the year.
My late father, Braids On Top (Philip Sr.), advised his children to "travel while you are young, see the many different cultures, traditions, and languages of other countries around the world." My art has been influenced by the numerous countries that I have visited.
Philip Beaumont, Jr.
Artist
Teacher (art), Pryor Schools |
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The Crows were very fortunate to have leaders such as Chief No Vitals and Chief Sits in the Middle of the Land, who chose our land where it is presently located. We are fortunate to have the mountains, rolling hills, plateaus, rivers, creeks, and vast open skies. We love our beautiful country; and at the same time, it has its limitations and isolation. The Crows' last chief, Chief Plenty Coups, led our people toward the change; he encouraged education as our tool to survive in this world.
We need to continue to support this change, and to seek opportunities to explore, learn, and receive degrees. We need to enhance the student's learning experience, whether it is in a classroom or in an outside setting. Through travel, our students can exchange and share cultures, and learn first-hand about other customs, religions, demographies, and geographic regions.
Project Passport will give the students the chance to experience international tours, an opportunity they may never have. Project Passport will give the students a life-long experience that will help to endure their education and become successful in life. It is my privilege and honor to endorse and support the Project Passport program.
Francine LaForge Small
Lodge Grass Junior High and High School Counselor
Lodge Grass Public Schools
*Francine Small is a direct lineal descendant of the great Crow war chief Pretty Eagle and of Mitch Boyer, the Custer scout who died in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Both men are her great-great-grandfathers.
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| Professor Norman Hammond, Boston University |
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Project Passport is a great idea: taking a group of Crow students to see the achievements of their distant collateral relations in the Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec civilizations of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala will give them an insight into the grandeur of Pre-Columbian cultures. The stunning architecture and art of these prehispanic peoples is on a par with those of Old World civilizations, and all Native Americans can take pride in these ancestral achievements. Dr. Plank's training in Maya Archaeology is being put to good use in bringing news of it to these young people, and taking them to see it, and the descendants of those who created it.
Professor Norman Hammond
Maya Archaeologist
Boston University
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