Phoenix Rising: the new RFRA in Texas by Standing Deer   To all my sisters and brothers who struggle in unity to FREE LEONARD PELTIER and demand that the united states gives him humane medical treatment, I send most profound greetings and the prayer that this will be the year that Leonard -- and innocent man -- goes free to return to his family and loved ones. AHO!   With creaks and groans and in tiny spurts, religious freedom for American Indians may be creeping into Texas prisons like an inch worm on a turtle's back. There is still a long way to go but, in May 1999, the Texas legislature passed the Texas "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" (RFRA). This is, nearly, identical to the federal RFRA which was found unconstitutional by the u.s Supreme Court in 1997.   When I was cast into this spiritual wastebasket called, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in 1993, I was not surprised to learn that the rednecks who run the prison system had declared that my religion to be against the law. Not too long after I was encaged on Ellis Prison, I met (by mail) a Comanche brother named Alex Montana who was waging a courageous battle to practice his religion. Alex refused to cut his hair and was suffering all manner of deprivations and reprisals. Alex and others had filed a lawsuit demanding that the federal court order the TDCJ to allow the practice of Indian religion.   The power of his lawsuit came from the new federal "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" which had been signed into law by President Clinton in September of 1993. The RFRA came into being as an effort to essentially overturn a Supreme Court ruling in a case where an American Indian was fired from his job because he used peyote in a religious ceremony. He was, also, refused unemployment compensation because he had violated a law that prohibited the use of his religious sacrament. The high court held that although religious belief is absolutely protected, religiously motivated conduct may be subject to generally applicable laws.   The u.s. Congress and Senate did not like the Supreme Court's ruling. So, they went to work creating the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act". During the debates, many politicians argued, passionately, that prisoners should be excluded from the protections of the RFRA but, alas, they failed. So, when the RFRA became law, we, at last, had a law in our favour that would force prisoncrats to allow our religion the same protection that were enjoyed by the religions of the dominant culture. The RFRA clearly stated that no government agency could substantially burden a person's free exercise of religion without first demonstrating that doing so was in furtherance of a compelling government interest and was the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.   So, with the RFRA behind him, Alex Montana, set out to win for us our right to practice our religion in Texas prisons.   Unfortunately, in the first serious challenge, the Supreme Court rejected the RFRA, ruling that it violated separation of powers, threatened the federal-state balance and bypassed the Constitution's amendment ratification procedures. So, in 1977, the lawsuit, on which we had such high hopes, crumpled and died.   We were down but not out because although the Supreme Court rejected the RFRA they said that it was appropriate for states to legislate their own religious freedom bill. Thus, was born a mighty national coalition which enlisted the Rutherford Institute (of Paula Jones fame) to aggressively lobby the state legislatures for a re-birth of the RFRA on a state level.   In Texas, the Native American Church of the United States, along with Texas Catholic Conference, Texas Baptist Committee, Islamic Association of North Texas, Dallas Jewish Community Relations Council, Christian Coalition, Anti-Defamation League and Texas Freedom Network began lobbying Bush, Jr. for a state version of the RFRA. When the wannabe next president George Dubyou Bush, Jr. came out in support of a Texas RFRA, the legislators presented bills in both the Senate and House. These bills were certainly not crafted to protect Indian religion in Texas prisons. But we inherited the fruits of this legislation, almost as a side-effect, because the reactionary lawmakers were unsuccessful in excluding us. This was due, in large part, to the presence of the Native American Church of the United States. While all this was going on, the Texas prison officials saw the handwriting on the wall. They opened a program which would allow Indians to apply for transfer to a different prison where their religion would, allegedly, be practiced. It is too early to tell how true these new prisons will be to their mission of providing the same religious freedom to Indians as to Christians. But, at least, it is a start.   They still do not allow Indian men to grow long hair for religious reasons. However, at a prison in Amarillo, the bros tell me that they are allowed to pray with the Sacred Pipe twice a month; they may carry their medicine bags at all times; they may gather together for prayer and a talking circle once each week; they may collect stones, herbs and other materials from the land around the prison; and they have been told that, in May, they will begin having Sweat Lodge ceremonies.   This is a good beginning but, we must press for complete religious freedom. To this end, Alex Montana and others have formed the American Indian Religious Rights Foundation (AIRR). I am one of the co-chairmans and Linda Gonzalez is the secretary/treasurer at AIRR headquarters. She is hard working and helping make our dreams of religious freedom in Texas prisons become a reality. For more information please contact her at 3005 Lamar Blvd., STE. D109-183, Austin, Texas 78704.   In other good news, Lenny Foster, who is coordinator of the National Native American Prisoners Rights Coalition and director of the Navajo Nation's Corrections Project has joined our struggle and is making trips from Arizona to Texas to further our efforts. Lenny Foster is the spiritual giant who got our religion into the prisons of the Four Corners States. In February of this year, Lenny and Linda met with the heads of the chaplaincy programs for TDCJ and an assistant to powerful, Texas Senator Gonzalo Barrientos. In August, Lenny will meet with the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal justice, Wayne Scott, as well as, Senator Barrientos, himself.   On a personal level, I am elated to be meeting with Lenny on June 10, 1999. Although we will not be permitted to pray with the Sacred Pipe, my spiritual strength will be renewed just by praying with him through the glass and steel screen. I haven't seen Lenny in 15 years, and so this will be an event in my life that I will long remember.   In Texas prisons, our religion has been ridiculed, trampled on and disrespected ever since the first prison opened. I have never been able to figuer out why the rulers of this country and the keepers of the ironhouses of greed are so desperate to put an end to our religion. Is it because they fear it? Or is it because they see that, at times, it is the only thing we have and they would prefer to see us completely empty. Whatever the reason, they have tried to stamp out our Indian religion for 500 years but, they continue to fail. They don't understand that our Mother the Earth will continue to give comfort to women and men and other animals long after this experiment called america has consumed itself by its own greed. The religion of my Grandfathers will live on in the hearts of my children's children's children because it is Truth. Truth can never die. We send our prayers for Leonard's freedom. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Standing Deer June 2, 1999 Robert H. Wilson #640289 Pack 1, 2400 Wallace Pack Rd. Navasota, Texas 77869