Articles

 

ARTICLES 

 

The Seattle  Times – Seattle, WA

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002596255_litefoot01.html

 

Cherokee Phoenix – Tahlequah, OK

http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/18967/Article.aspx

 

The Day – New London, Connecticut

http://www.theday.com/article/20050714/DAYARC/307149810

 

Revolutions Per Minute – Indigenous Music Culture

http://rpm.fm/news/mentor-litefoots-reach-the-rez-tour/

 

News From Indian Country

http://indiancountrynews.info/fullstory.cfm-ID=254.htm

 

Newsvine.com

http://kavika.newsvine.com/_news/2011/06/19/6892535-native-american-litefoot-rapper-businessman-actor-speaker-tribalistic-funk

 

Cherokee Phoenix – Tahlequah, OK

http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/1067

 

Mashantuckets donate $250K to reaching the rez

By JESSICA DURKIN
Norwich Bulletin

Originally published July 14, 2005
MASHANTUCKET– In a push to support American Indians throughout the country, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation donated $250,000 Wednesday to a social project run by a Cherokee Nation celebrity and motivational speaker.

Litefoot, who goes by the single name, is a Seattle-based American Indian rap artist and film actor. He will begin the Reach the Rez project Friday. will embark on a one-year, 212-reservation tour to 40 states, speaking character-building messages to Indian youths. The music and speaking tour starts with a concert in Wisconsin and ends in Alaska in 2006.

Reach the Rez is part of the Association of American Indian Development, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida is one of the main sponsors of Litefoot’s tour. The Mashantucket donation will cover tour expenses, Litefoot said.

“I’ve always seen music as a way to bring down walls with kids and deliver the message most effectively,” said Litefoot, who received artist of the year at the Native American Music Awards. “But, I mainly encourage them to find their purpose on this Earth.”

Litefoot said through music and lectures he addresses modern-day concerns for tribal youths on reservations, such as drugs, poverty and a sense of disconnection in society.

“We are still dealing with things that happened to us years previous, and today’s youths are the end result of centuries of struggle,” Litefoot said.

Mashantucket Jeremy Whipple, 23, has known Litefoot for six years and has been traveling with him for the past six months. Whipple brought Litefoot and the project to the tribe’s attention.

“I’ve been on the road with him a lot and I’ve seen what he does for tribal people, and I wanted to bring him here for our tribe,” Whipple said. “He made me feel proud. Being where I’m from, we get a lot of criticism.”

Litefoot is scheduled to appear at the tribe’s annual Schemitzun festival in North Stonington in August.

This is the first time the tribe has donated money to this charity, tribal spokesman Arthur Henick said. However, the tribe has an established history of giving to local and national nonprofit organizations, and receives about 3,000 requests per year, according to publicity officials.

Locally, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe pledged $1 million to the Otis Library renovation in downtown Norwich in May.

In 2002, the tribe gave $3.4 million to charities, Foxwoods spokesman Bruce MacDonald told Indian Country newspaper that year.

In the last decade, the tribe has gave the Mystic Aquarium $5 million and gave $10 million to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., Indian Country reported.

The tribe and its casino employees are also involved in donation drives for the Special Olympics Connecticut branch and the United Way.

jdurkin@norwich.gannett.com

Tour begins July 15 with a concert in Wisconsin.
It includes motivational speaking and music performances led by Litefoot, of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Litefoot was named 2005 Artist of the Year at the Native American Music Awards.
Reach the Rez tour will travel more than 200,00o miles, stopping at 211 reservations in the United States and potentially reaching an audience of 350,000 Indians.
The project raises awareness of drugs, disease and poverty among Indian youth groups