Senator ADAMS. Mrs. Rosetta Pintado. STATEMENT OF ROSETTA PINTADO, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN Ms. PINTADO. I am Rosetta Pintado and I would like to thank the Yakima Nation for hosting this event today. I am an elder and I represent the American Indian Elders of Seattle. I was born in Seattle in 1926 and when I was in the fifth grade, I was not allowed to attend school any more because I was an Indian. All my life, I have worked. I think you have all my qualifications. Senator ADAMS. Yes. Without objection, your entire statement will be included in the record. And, yes, would you like to have me read it or would you rather do it? I should have read all of your qualifications. Ms. PINTADO. Well, I only have five minutes. Senator ADAMS. Go right ahead and I will see that it appears. MS. PINTADO. The American Indian elders-we need some more assistance. We are just not getting enough. I understand because we are urban Indians we are not allowed to have Title III. Many of the elders that come off the reservations come to the cities and we help where we can help but we need more assistance. We have many young people but we do not have enough. So we are looking for more young people to get educated so that they can learn how to ask for this money and take care of this money for us elders. My father was in the Spanish-American War. My husband was in the First World War. Three brothers were in the Second World War. My son was in Korea. I have three granddaughters and two grandsons in Saudi Arabia. They come home and they ask me what is the government doing for our elders? How can we ask these young people to defend the country that belongs to them when their elders are not being taken care of? You have very good education. I have knocked on doors, picked up your Democratic votes and called people on the telephone and asked them to vote for Senator Adams. I even talked with President Kennedy when he came here to Seattle. He came through to Seattle going over to Spokane and because of the Filipino youth activities, 70 percent of the children in that group were American Indians. And we wrote President Kennedy a letter that said to come be our guest speaker for our 25th anniversary. He said he was sorry he could not attend via letter but he had me and my husband picked up and brought to the airport and I met President Kennedy and it was something wonderful. When he walked in, I did not know who he was-he looked so familiar, and my husband walked up to him and said, "Mr. President, how are you today?" And he asked me what I was troubled by because I was writing a letter for the Filipino youth activities and I told him, I said we needed to have the Alaska Land Claims Settlement Act closedverified-do something because it was tearing the people apart. And I told him that my mother was born in 1876 and she heard of the old American Indian Act. She died when she was 103 and she never had a chance to see that. So please, Senators, help out the American Indian elders. We really have a lot of respect for you and we will work very hard to see that all our Congressmen and Senators stay in office because I am a registered voter and I have a big voice. Thank you very much. [The prepared statement of Rosetta Pintado follows:] My name is Rosetta Pintado and I am currently the President of the American Indian Elders. Therefore, I am testifying on behalf of the American Indian Elders of Seattle, Washington and we wholeheartedly support the reauthorization of Title III and Title VI of the Older Americans Act (QAA). The Urban Indian was created through no fault of anyone today. The Urban Indians are here and we have no home base. Therefore, our elders need a place to call their own, a place to meet and prepare and teach our ways to the younger generation. The Urban (non-Reservation) Indians of Seattle have many needs, and they are as follows: We need transportation to and from medical appointments, pharmacies, grocery stores, clothing banks and stores, and various other basic needs. We need financial assistance to establish a transportation fund which the elders can use to enable access to the rest of the Native American community. Often the elders do not drive nor own a vehicle and need assistance to attend activities and ceremonies that the Indian commity request us to attend -to help officiate, to provide guidance, and to show our support to our community. We need our nutrition program to continue to feed the elders. United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) currently operates a nutrition program that serves lunch to American Indian Elders 5 days per week. I am, therefore; requesting that this very important program continue and there is a need for this program to expand in order to enable more elders to participate. There are approximately only 50 elders who are able to regularly attend and there are approximately over 100 to 150 other elders who are not able to access our program due to the lack of money and transportation. We need cultural preservation assistance. The elders are the safe keepers of our long history and most are low-income and are unable to purchase the necessary materials and tools to make garments, beadwork, arts and crafts which are used in traditional gatherings and ceremonies. We also need to teach and share these skills to our children; which were historically lost due to the assimilation process of the United States of America. TESTIMONY STATEMENT Rosetta M. Pintado, President, American Indian Elders May 4, 1991 The monies generated through the Older Americans Act (OAA) will help support the Urban Indians in Seattle in establishing a home base; creating a transportation fund in order to access much needed services and cultural ceremonies; and to continue our daily nutrition program. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify on behalf of the Senator ADAMS. Thank you, Mrs. Pintado. And I particularly appreciate your speaking from the heart to us. One of the things that a number of us are most concerned about, is the return of our people who have served in the military and I know on the House side, Representative Foley has asked that a committee be set up to look at this. Senator Mitchell has asked me to serve on the committee on the Senate side and one of our goals is to be certain that those who have returned are not just recognized with parades but with help for the problems that they face as they return. We do not want to ever repeat what happened after the Vietnam War. I also am very, very aware of the urban Indian problems in Seattle as that is my neighborhood. That is where I grew up, as you well know. I have known you a long time. That is part of the purpose of the hearing and why I appreciate each of you speaking from the heart on this subject. We need to have information from you on the development of centers and communication back to the reservation. You have a great responsibility, Mr. Olney, you and the Yakimas, and the other tribes because you are the strength in our State. Our small tribes that have the same problems; as their people go into the Seattle area, they disappear. I am going to be reading your testimony and I am going to have my staff go over it in detail as to the suggestions that you have. We have some excellent centers in Seattle but we do not handle the total job and that is why I am so pleased that Congressman Martinez is with us so we can address these problems. Your testimony was very moving and I appreciate it. I will hold the rest of my questions for Congressman Martinez. Please go ahead. Ms. PINTADO. I just have one question the elders have been asking. The boundary lines-reserved/urban Indians was never created by us and we would like to see it removed. We are all Indians of the same tribe, of the same human race and we resent being called urban Indians and reserved Indians. We are one family and that is what the elders feel. Senator ADAMS. Good. I am glad now that you have said that because many people-many people, because of the fact we have 26 tribes on the west side of the mountain lump them into groups where they often do not wish to be. It has only been in the last few years that we have been able to deal tribe-by-tribe. Strengths that exist here need to be used to help the less fortu nate. Ms. PINTADO. Thank you. Chairman MARTINEZ. Thank you, Senator. I am quite moved, Ms. Pintado, by your statement and it reminds me of something I heard when I first got to Congress. Chairman Kiki de la Garza from Texas, who is Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, at an annual Hispanic Heritage Dinner, he got up to make a presentation and at that time we were talking about IRCA, which was an immigration law that we were trying to curtail illegal immigration in the United States. And you said something about the false boundaries that exist in people's minds |