Tuesday, March 10, 2015
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Medicine Wheel, Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Protecting Sacred Places
Lecture by Dr. Thom White Wolf Fassett
Members: Free, Not-Yet-Members: $10, Students: $5
Online registration has closed. Ticket sales will continue at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.
Thousands of years before the arrival of immigrants to the shores of the Americas, native peoples cared for and protected the lands they called their homeland. Native Americans have made spiritual journeys, conducted ceremonies, buried their families and honored ancient customs and traditions on sacred lands. These sacred lands are central to their cultural identity and ceremonial practices to this very day. Today, some of these hallowed grounds are being threatened by mining, oil and gas development, federal land trades, confiscation and recreational developments–all of which compromise or destroy tribal sacred places. We will explore some of these sacred sites to understand the threats and the challenges to preserving tribal identity, the viability of cultural integrity and the survival of native peoples.
As emeritus General Secretary of the international public policy organization of The United Methodist Church, The General Board of Church and Society, Thom White Wolf Fassett brings a rich and varied background of experience as he works in the field of faith, politics and issues of justice.
About the Speaker
As emeritus General Secretary of the international public policy organization of The United Methodist Church, The General Board of Church and Society, Thom White Wolf Fassett brings a rich and varied background of experience as he works in the field of faith, politics and issues of justice.
Receiving advanced degrees from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and The American University, Dr. Fassett’s experience includes teaching high school English; local pastorates in United Methodist congregations; founding Minister of Urban Mission in Rochester, N.Y.; Urban Affairs Officer for United States Operations, the Xerox Corporation, in which he developed national strategy plans for corporate social responsibility; Special Assistant to the United States Senate and House of Representatives conducting investigations into Federal/Indian policy with the American Indian Policy Review Commission; executive for programming of the General Board of Church and Society; Superintendent of The United Methodist Church in Alaska, District Superintendent in Central New York, and General Secretary of The General Board of Church and Society with headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and United Nations offices in New York City.
In these positions or along with them, Fassett has worked extensively in radio and television hosting three radio programs and co-hosting a daily television series that ran for six years during the NBC “Today” program. He has also been extensively involved in civic organizations including service as Executive Chairperson of the Indian Manpower Planning Consortium sponsored by the Seneca Nation of Indians. Fassett has written and published extensively authoring Giving Our Hearts Away: Native American Survival, co-authoring four other books with over 200 articles appearing in periodicals and scholarly publications. He has also served as adjunct faculty member of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall Seminary and Crosier Theological School and has received numerous honors and appears in various international biographical publications. His most recent appointments include serving as a founding board member of the Institute for the Study of Harassment of African Americans in Washington, D.C.; Advisory Council, Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, and advisor to the President’s Commission on Race. He is also a life member of the NAACP as well as a life member of the National Congress of American Indians.
An internationally recognized champion of human and civil rights and an outspoken defender of Native and indigenous rights, Fassett has traveled throughout the world to assist those whose voices need to be heard–to Zimbabwe and Mozambique as part of a team investigating human rights; to Guatemala as a leader of the International Justice Forum; to Copenhagen, Denmark as delegate to the United Nations Summit on Social Development, and to other nations around the world as well as countless American cities to speak and write for justice and reconciliation.
Dr. Fassett is well known for his activities in conflict resolution/management and mediation and has participated in White House negotiations resulting in the peaceful “invasion” of Haiti by the U.S.; traveled to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on a peace mission with the President of the United States; negotiated Cuban principles of religious freedom face to face with Fidel Castro, and played the determining role in breaking the impasse between the United States and Cuba in the case of Elian Gonzalez.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Medicine Wheel, Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Protecting Sacred Places
Lecture by Dr. Thom White Wolf Fassett
Members: Free, Not-Yet-Members: $10, Students: $5
Online registration has closed. Ticket sales will continue at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.
Thousands of years before the arrival of immigrants to the shores of the Americas, native peoples cared for and protected the lands they called their homeland. Native Americans have made spiritual journeys, conducted ceremonies, buried their families and honored ancient customs and traditions on sacred lands. These sacred lands are central to their cultural identity and ceremonial practices to this very day. Today, some of these hallowed grounds are being threatened by mining, oil and gas development, federal land trades, confiscation and recreational developments–all of which compromise or destroy tribal sacred places. We will explore some of these sacred sites to understand the threats and the challenges to preserving tribal identity, the viability of cultural integrity and the survival of native peoples.
As emeritus General Secretary of the international public policy organization of The United Methodist Church, The General Board of Church and Society, Thom White Wolf Fassett brings a rich and varied background of experience as he works in the field of faith, politics and issues of justice.
About the Speaker
As emeritus General Secretary of the international public policy organization of The United Methodist Church, The General Board of Church and Society, Thom White Wolf Fassett brings a rich and varied background of experience as he works in the field of faith, politics and issues of justice.
Receiving advanced degrees from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and The American University, Dr. Fassett’s experience includes teaching high school English; local pastorates in United Methodist congregations; founding Minister of Urban Mission in Rochester, N.Y.; Urban Affairs Officer for United States Operations, the Xerox Corporation, in which he developed national strategy plans for corporate social responsibility; Special Assistant to the United States Senate and House of Representatives conducting investigations into Federal/Indian policy with the American Indian Policy Review Commission; executive for programming of the General Board of Church and Society; Superintendent of The United Methodist Church in Alaska, District Superintendent in Central New York, and General Secretary of The General Board of Church and Society with headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and United Nations offices in New York City.
In these positions or along with them, Fassett has worked extensively in radio and television hosting three radio programs and co-hosting a daily television series that ran for six years during the NBC “Today” program. He has also been extensively involved in civic organizations including service as Executive Chairperson of the Indian Manpower Planning Consortium sponsored by the Seneca Nation of Indians. Fassett has written and published extensively authoring Giving Our Hearts Away: Native American Survival, co-authoring four other books with over 200 articles appearing in periodicals and scholarly publications. He has also served as adjunct faculty member of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall Seminary and Crosier Theological School and has received numerous honors and appears in various international biographical publications. His most recent appointments include serving as a founding board member of the Institute for the Study of Harassment of African Americans in Washington, D.C.; Advisory Council, Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, and advisor to the President’s Commission on Race. He is also a life member of the NAACP as well as a life member of the National Congress of American Indians.
An internationally recognized champion of human and civil rights and an outspoken defender of Native and indigenous rights, Fassett has traveled throughout the world to assist those whose voices need to be heard–to Zimbabwe and Mozambique as part of a team investigating human rights; to Guatemala as a leader of the International Justice Forum; to Copenhagen, Denmark as delegate to the United Nations Summit on Social Development, and to other nations around the world as well as countless American cities to speak and write for justice and reconciliation.
Dr. Fassett is well known for his activities in conflict resolution/management and mediation and has participated in White House negotiations resulting in the peaceful “invasion” of Haiti by the U.S.; traveled to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on a peace mission with the President of the United States; negotiated Cuban principles of religious freedom face to face with Fidel Castro, and played the determining role in breaking the impasse between the United States and Cuba in the case of Elian Gonzalez.