American Indian Heritage Day

Your Signature is requested for
NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY
NOTE - DRAFT LETTER

 We beam all day long when we do a good thing; here is an opportunity for us to earn a cheer.

The Native Americans and the American Indian Heritage Day Committee is asking you to consider supporting H.B. No.174, a bill to create the American Indian Heritage Day.


With enough signatures from fellow Texans, it will make it easy for the state representatives to pass the bill, that will create an "American Heritage Day" to honor and appreciate the Native Americans. Every community, and every nation on the earth has a national day, except fellow Native Americans. We all have to participate and contribute towards each others pride.

All you have to do is copy the following letter below or modify to suit your reflections, write your name, address and email to: roberto.alonzo@house.state.tx.us and copy to pslarney@gmail.com. You are welcome to copy me as well at MikeGhouse@gmail.com.

This information is also available at www.MikeGhouse.net and at http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-indian-heritage-day.html
The full letter is appended below

Thank you.

Mike Ghouse
America Together Foundation

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DRAFT LETTER (modify to suit your expressions)

To members of the Texas Legislature and other elected officials:

Please accept this letter and my signature below as my strongest possible request that you lend your immediate support to passage of H.B. No. 174, a bill to create "American Indian Heritage Day" in the State of Texas.

This bill deserves passage and will bring deserved recognition of the historic, cultural, and social contributions those American Indian communities and leaders have made to this state.

We, the thousands of American Indian tribal members and friends of various tribes, have waited long to finally receive this deeply deserved respect and recognition from the State of Texas. With the passage of this bill, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to celebrate the rich traditional and contemporary American Indian culture in this state.

We hope you will realize that Texas ranks 4th in the nation in numbers of American Indians living in the state.  Additionally, we urge you to take note of the presence of tribal members in Texas from over 120 different American Indian tribes, eight federally funded Indian Education Programs in the state, one Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas, and the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Some writers have called our people "the invisible people" and certainly passage of H.B. 174 will help to create much needed awareness of our impact in the state.

We thank you in advance for your help in passage of H.B. 174 in the Texas Legislature in the upcoming session. This is a proud moment for our people and we hope you will lend your support to officially celebrating this state's rich American Indian heritage and history.

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Signature                                                                           Date

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Name Printed

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Address

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City/State/Zip

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By:  Alonzo    H.B. No. 174

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to creating American Indian Heritage Day.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 662, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 662.056 to read as follows:

Sec. 662.056.  AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE DAY.  (a)  The last Friday in September is American Indian Heritage Day in recognition of the historic, cultural, and social contributions American Indian communities and leaders have made to this state.

(b)  American Indian Heritage Day shall be regularly observed by appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs in the public schools and other places to honor American Indians in this state and to celebrate the rich traditional and contemporary American Indian culture.

SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.

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January 2013                   

 TIME SENSITIVE CORRESPONDENCE

RE:  American Indian Heritage Day of Texas

It is inappropriate for Indian children and children of America to celebrate a day honoring a person for discovering a nation of people and not having a holiday paying tribute to the people of those nations.  Therefore, the American Indian Heritage Day Core Committee is asking that you consider supporting H.B. No.174, a bill to be entitled an act relating to creating American Indian Heritage Day.

Representative Robert R. Alonzo, D-Dallas, will be introducing H.B. No.174 to the Committee Reading of the 2013 Texas Legislature that could be as early as mid- to late February.  We hope to receive at least two weeks notice so that we can announce the date and make preparation for appearance at the Committee Reading.

1.  Letter of Support

We are asking that you support H.B. No.174 with a Letter of Support AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Attached is a draft Letter of Support that you may use to develop your own or just sign the draft Letter of Support and forward.  We ask that you either email or fax the Letter of Support to Texas Representative Robert R. Alonzo at Robert.Alonzo@house.state.tx.us or Fax 512-463-1817.  Please send me a copy at pslarney@gmail.com

2.  Testimony

We invite that you consider in presenting personal testimony to support H.B. No.174 either in person at Austin or have the testimony recorded in a journal to be presented to the Committee Reading.  We expect to receive a very short notice to the day the Committee Reading will hear H.B. No.174.  Again, submit the testimony to Representative Robert Alonzo's office for recording.  Please send me a copy at pslarney@gmail.com  ----   so that I may keep a log of possible presenters.

3.  For Further Information

We ask that you share this information with your families, friends, and community and ask them to submit a letter of support or a testimony.  We need a Texas-wide support.  Please contact your local elected officials and inform them of the upcoming H.B. No.174 and solicit their support.

Peggy Larney, Chair-American Indian Heritage Day Core Committee

pslarney@gmail.com or  214 943 9616 

Attachment:  Draft Letter of Support and Copy of H.B. No.174

Standing up for others

This site  www.StandingUpforOthers.com is dedicated to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, whom I have come to respect and honor for his teachings in creating a cohesive world. Standing up for others is the right thing to do, every human goes through a period of invincibility to vulnerability, if we don't stand up for those who are vulnerable, then who will stand up for us when we are vulnerable? 

The idea of alms, charity, taking care of the elderly, weak, sick and the children is a common theme in every religious tradition. It is indeed an insurance for every one's well being. I cannot be at peace when others around me aren't, and hence it behooves me to take care of the ones who need assistance.



I am blessed to have taken a stand for Jews, Catholics, Ahmadiyyas, Immigrants, Hindus, Falun Dafa, Zoroastrians, Muslims, Native Americans, Christians, Baha'i, Wicca, Sikh and other identities of humanity including GLBT community. It is the right thing to do. 

Father Moon emphasizes the idea, "Living for the sake of others" indeed there is a lot of wisdom in it as Martin Niemoller also reflects it in his eternal poem, "first they came for the Jews, I wasn't a Jew, so I did not say a thing, then they came for Communists, I didn't care, I wasn't a communist, then he concludes, then they came for me and it shattered me to know that there was no one left to speak up for me."

Please note that I am no more of a volunteer than you are, if I have not spoken out against one of your dear causes, it is simply because not being aware and having only 24 hours in a day. If you would like to share it with me, please do so in the comments section.

Mahatma Gandhi has been a major inspiration in my life. Twice in my life I have seen Mahatma Gandhi in my dreams, the first time was when I was in College around 1971, when Mahatma Gandhi, the vice-chancellor of Bangalore University Sri V. Narsimaiah and I were having a dinner together and Mahatma puts his hands on my shoulders and says, "tujhe bahut kaam karna hai beta", you have a lot of work to do son, and again around 2003, he appears in my dreams and with the same affectionate hand (as my Dad's), he pats on my back, "you have to do it"... the only thing I consistently get from this message was the work of Pluralism, help me God, I am committed to do.

Thanks to my Father and Mother for breaking away from the traditional practices of apartheid, growing up as kids, we did something that was un-heard of, the Dalits and us would eat off our plates, and drink tea off our glasses, they would come in to our home... and many had called my Dad for stopping it. I shall write that some time.

Links are linked where the compilation is done, others will be completed by 12/31/12 - God willing if I am alive. 

• Standing up for Atheists
• Standing up for Christians
• Standing up for GLBT
• Standing up for Hindus
• Standing up for Immigs
• Standing up for Jews
• Standing up for Others
• Your Comments

• Standing up for Apostates Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia work
• Standing up for Baha'i - Iran petitions 
• Standing up for Jains - Adding the Jain logo at
• Standing up for Muslims  - Standing up for Ahamdiyya, Bohra, Ismailia, Shia, Sufi, Sunni and other Muslims
• Standing up for Pagans - Petition to save a woman in Saudi Arabia
• Standing up for Sikhs - Afghanistan, France, UK, USA, Pakistan
• Standing up for Wicca - Arlington Cemetery Head stones
• Standing up for Native Americans http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/02/petition-for-native-american-heritage.html
• Standing up for Falun Dafa http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/3/19/70952.html
• Standing up for Women's rights - Burqa, Sharia, divorce,
• Standing up for Darfur - Joined the Darful Coalition and petitions
• Standing up for Bosnia - Faxes, phone calls etc.
• Standing up for Burmese Buddhists - http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2007/10/stand-with-burmese-people.html

 

 

I am dedicating this site to Reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unificationists Church ascended to heaven on Sunday, September 2, 2012.  I have written many articles about his teachings and planning to write a tribute to his work after the Unity Day event on September 11, 2012.

I was moved by his teachings of the divine principles, and his continuous emphasis on "living for the sake of others

Reverend Moon's work for humanity is exemplary, he was committed to peace between North and South Korea, and Israel and Palestine. He was also considering enabling the United Nations to understand and resovle the religious conflicts before they exploded into genocides and massacres.

His greatest legacy to mankind is the book he compiled called, "World Scripture" a comparative anthology of sacred texts. It is indeed the best reference guide for the pluralists and interfaithers. (A tribute to Rev. Moon).

 

To be updated, God has blessed me to be a part of many a societies and I am thankful for the same. I urge you to knock off one hour's TV or gossip and spend that time standing up for others, the least you can do is to let them know that you are with them and that they are not alone.

 Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace making, foreign policy, Islam, Israel, India, Pakistan, interfaith, and cohesion at work place or social settings. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a strong presence on national local TV, Radio and Print Media, and is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.