Posted: Tue 15 Apr 2008 20:35 Post subject: Radmilla Cody
Radmilla Cody is the 46th. Miss Navajo Nation. She carries on a proud tradition. Besides being a woman of beauty and poise, she also posesses the traditional skills of a Navajo woman, and a desire to help her fellow man. She is working very hard to prevent child abuse and neglect, alcohol and substance abuse, elder abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and to prevent gang activity. These modern day problems are surfacing more and more in Dinetah', and with her help, and others like her, perhaps we can stop these things before they get a true foothold. All of these things are against the Navajo Way.
Miss Cody is of the Red Bottom People clan. Born for the African Americans. Her maternal grandfathers clan is the Mexican clan. Her paternal is the African Americans. Miss Cody is 21 years old grew up in Grand Falls which is about 15 miles East of Leupp. Her grandmother raised her herding sheep, weaving rugs, and speaking the Navajo language being that was her Grandmothers source of communication. Miss Cody dealt with a lot growing up half black and half Navajo.
Radmilla Cody from Leupp, Ariz., is an activist who promotes domestic-violence awareness, environmentalism and Native American issues.
Photo by JOSH BIGGS/Arizona Daily Sun
Bessie Henry (on right) and Radmilla Cody, Dine' songwriter and singer, after a performance by Ms. Cody at the Thunderbird Lodge, Tse'yi' (Canyon de Chelly), June 2005.
Very beautiful woman. Kudos to her for keeping her head up high while growing up in the reservation and becoming an amazing spokesperson for Native Americans in the Navajo community.
Posted: Wed 16 Apr 2008 04:28 Post subject: Cody's former black boyfriend
Quote:
Cody's Blues
by Martha E. Ture, NAV Feature Writer
[January 29, 2003]
She has a lovely voice.
Radmilla Cody, winner of the 2002 Native American Music Awards Best Female Artist for her CD "Seed of Life", 1998 Miss Navajo Nation, singer of the national anthem at Kennedy Space Center as the space shuttle launched the first American Indian into space in November, is gifted with a stunningly unique, clear, voice. Her career was at a peak when, on January 6, 2003, she began serving her sentence in federal prison in Phoenix, Arizona. In a March 2002 agreement with prosecutors, she pled guilty to one count of "misprison of a felony" ‹ failing to report a felony in which she was involved.
"I am of the Red Bottom people," Cody said in her March 1998 speech to the Miss Navajo Nation judges, "born for African American." But Federal prosecutors saw her as a minor player in a drug trafficking operation. She was charged with wiring $1,000 to her boyfriend in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September 1998, knowing that he planned to use the money to sell marijuana. He also was one of 16 people indicted in July 2001 in a federal case that originated in Oklahoma.
Under the plea agreement, Cody admitted that she knew "of the actual commission of the felony offense of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and I concealed this knowledge by not making it known" to authorities. "At the time, I knew it was against the law for me to commit these acts," she said in the plea. "Some of the marijuana involved was distributed in the Northern District of Oklahoma."
It was a bad blow to the Navajo nation. Miss Navajo Nation must exemplify the essence and characters of the Navajo deities First Woman, White Shell Woman and Changing Woman. Because she represents womanhood and the roles of grandmother, mother, aunt and sister to the Navajo people, she must be an exemplar, knowledgeable in Navajo history, culture, values and tradition. The 1998 judges found Cody the best overall in traditional technologies, butchering sheep, fileting the mutton, wrapping achee, carding and spinning, making tortillas, contemporary public speaking, traditional public speaking, fluency in English and Navajo, appearance, attitude, bearing and conduct.
Issue of race
Radmilla Cody
Though, the press referred to her as "biracial," the judges made no mention of her race during the contest. Race is a euroamerican construct. But some Navajo people attacked Cody anyway.
"Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and are thus representative of another race of people," wrote Orlando Tom of Blue Gap, Arizona, in the Albuquerque Journal. ". . .Miss Cody should focus on her African American heritage and stay out of Navajo affairs."
"Ethnic blood cleansing has no place in Navajo society, because the Navajo way teaches that beauty is everywhere," said Daphne Thomas of Leupp, Arizona.
Cody said she entered the contest in order to make a statement that "bi-racial people should not be judged as half of anything. I went into this competition with a goal, that not only was I going to open eyes, but I was going to open doors."
Clearly, race was an issue to some members of the Navajo community, and as it is everywhere, it was a source of endangerment, not endearment or beauty.
Boyfriend
Cody's singing career took off, but the seeds of downfall were growing even in 1998, the year of her reign. The event for which she was indicted took place in September of that year, while Cody was with her now ex-boyfriend, Darrell Dwight Bellamy.
Until his arrest in June 2002, Bellamy, a black man, was on the U.S. Marshal's list of 15 most wanted criminals, for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heading a major drug organization, based in Phoenix, which distributed more than 150 kilograms of cocaine to several states since 1993. He was charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory life sentence. "He should be considered ARMED AND DANGEROUS," his Wanted poster warned.
Apology and support
In a letter to the Navajo people published in December 2002 in the Navajo Times, Cody apologized for being involved in an "abusive six-year relationship" that she said she tried unsuccessfully to ease out of. Her letter did not mention the indictment or plea bargain.
The letters to the editor that followed news of her indictment and plea bargain showed dismay, outrage at the sentencing, and support for Cody and her family.
"I am writing this letter of support to our former queen, Miss Radmilla Cody. I fully understand her situation and pain. I was in an abusive marriage for many years," read one.
"I heard about Radmilla Cody, and the situation that she is in. She does not deserve this and you know it."
"From what I understand is she was caught in a catch 22 situation, so she couldn't win no matter which road she chooses."
"In this world we are not perfect. If I were perfect we would shine as we pass another. So forgive what happened to our African-American/Diné lady, who led the wrong way. Forgiveness and happiness along with communication is the way to success."
"I blame the boyfriend."
Reality
Writing in the Navajo Times, Freelancer Dave Stephenson said "First, she suffered severe abuse at the hands of a boyfriend who purportedly ran a major narcotics ring, clobbered rivals, and tortured with scalding oil those who dared to provoke him. Now, she's experiencing an even worse form of domestic violence perpetrated by the U.S. government's so-called "justice" system...Cody was given 21 months in federal prison for "misprision [sic] of a felony," an obscure statute that authorizes the imposition of harsh penalties upon those who were ostensibly aware of illegal activity and failed to put an end to or report it to authorities. Cody was subjected to the fairly recent judicial convention of penalizing someone for what they didn't say or "should have" said, a practice that fails to meet long-standing legal criteria regarding a defendant's ability to form intent and incur criminal liability..."
Well, not exactly.
"It turns out Cody has long known what her boyfriend was up to but never did anything about it," one newspaper reported. "Because she never told police she is now going to prison for 21 months."
That's also inaccurate, or, in the vernacular, bunk.
Sentence
Cody's a beneficiary, in this case, of federal guideline sentencing.
Before the advent of the sentencing guidelines, federal trial courts had broad sentencing discretion. The Sentencing Reform Act took effect November 1, 1987.. Under guideline sentencing, the courts have lost discretion ‹ sentence is cemented within a guideline range.
Here's how you make a guideline range. You have an offense level, to which the cookbook assigns a number, and a criminal history, to which the cookbook assigns a number. The two values, offense level and criminal history, form the X and Y axes of a chart, called the sentencing table. Together, they give the sentence under the guideline, expressed in months. Never busted before, caught dealing a thousand dollars' worth of pot = what sentence? The judge can look it up in the cookbook; so can we.
The federal drug statutes provide two types of mandatory minimum sentences. One is based on criminal history. For defendants who have previously been convicted of drug offenses, the statute establishes increasing minimum sentences, up to life imprisonment. The other type of mandatory minimum is based on the amount involved. For certain drugs in certain quantities, minimum sentences of 5 or 10 years' imprisonment are prescribed. Courts are required to "impose a sentence of the kind, and within the range" specified in the applicable guideline.
Federal law authorizes sentences below a statutory minimum for cooperation. The court, on motion by the Government, may "impose a sentence below a level established by statute as a minimum sentence so as to reflect a defendant's substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense."
In other words, Radmilla Cody was pressured to help bring down her ex boyfriend in exchange for a lighter sentence, under a different statute. If she did not produce or cooperate, she would have to be sentenced under the drug guidelines, maybe giving up five years of her life.
The odds are that the federal agents had not monitored her phone conversations or her wiring of funds to Bellamy; that through her legal counsel, she offered this event as a basis for the much lighter "misprison of a felony" charge, which does not fall under the strict X-Y axis of the drug charges.
The road ahead
Cody got off light, in a political atmosphere tightly wired against anything labeled "drugs." It may even be that this was the best way to get Bellamy out of her life forever. His charges carry a mandatory life sentence. Guideline sentencing does not allow for parole. If he ever does get out, odds are he'd seek vengeance.
But the catbird seat is not new to Cody. What is new is that her expectations of the road ahead may now be unrealistic.
"Walk in beauty and with "Mother Earth," Millie! I hope these words encourage and give you strength through the 21 months of boarding school life ... bless you," wrote Danny H. Victor of Crownpoint, New Mexico Department of Behavioral Health. Note to Mr. Victor: Federal prison is not a boarding school.
"My music career hasn't ended," Cody said in December. "It's only going to get better and stronger. So I have a lot of time to write some more songs."
That's not a typical schedule or forecast for federal prison inmates. Cody isn't typical, but her stunning voice and her life performance will be severely limited now. We hope she will rise from this ordeal singing like a lark in the morning.
Though, the press referred to her as "biracial," the judges made no mention of her race during the contest. Race is a euroamerican construct. But some Navajo people attacked Cody anyway.
It's a EuroAmerican construct true but Native Americans are affected by that construct, unless individuals and the Dine Nation reject that construction and don't feed into the 'white way' They will and do fall under the racist system. The system that still says they are a dying breed.
"Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and are thus representative of another race of people," wrote Orlando Tom of Blue Gap, Arizona, in the Albuquerque Journal. ". . .Miss Cody should focus on her African American heritage and stay out of Navajo affairs."
Another racist thought, they are not clearly black, she is easily biracial, sometimes she looks more obviously. Others she looks like a lot of Native people. If she was half white she probably wouldn't get that flack. But even that depends, some natives wouldn't not let a mestizo represent them either, but would accept them as Native.
It's a EuroAmerican construct true but Native Americans are affected by that construct...
I dunno. If there is one thing that I have learned from hosting this site, it is that it is just as much an Afro-American construct, if not even more so.
It's a EuroAmerican construct true but Native Americans are affected by that construct...
I dunno. If there is one thing that I have learned from hosting this site, it is that it is just as much an Afro-American construct, if not even more so.
lol Oh yeah I would go further say it's an American construct, even if everyone who falls under that umbrella does not believe in it. Most of us are affected by it.
But would you say the origin of the racial catagories are just as much Afro-American? I'm thinking that it was a Euro American construction that the rest of us were given as truth... and many/most who are apart of this social system believe it and preach it like a fire & brimstone pentecostal preacher.
But would you say the origin of the racial catagories are just as much Afro-American? I'm thinking that it was a Euro American construction that the rest of us were given as truth... and many/most who are apart of this social system believe it and preach it like a fire & brimstone pentecostal preacher. South Africa has similar 'racial' ideas,
Well, I think that the notion of "races" (in the sense of sub-species) comes from Western thought during the Age of Enlightenment (Kar von Linneé and all that). But since Western culture is pretty much the global norm nowadays, such concepts are shared by just about everyone on the planet today. South Africa differs from the U.S. in having three "races" (Black, Coloured, and White) rather than just two (Black and White), and in seeing them as more detrermined phenotype, rather than genealogy. For example, it is not unusual for a South African's "race"" to differ that of from her parents or siblings. Regarding the U.S.-unique color line (dichomtous, and genealogically based), it was invented by the rulers of the Chesapeake colonies, and was resisted by both Euro and Afro involuntary laborers. If blame (or creidt) must be laid for its invention, I would place it at the feet of the planters, rather than of all Europeans.
But would you say the origin of the racial catagories are just as much Afro-American? I'm thinking that it was a Euro American construction that the rest of us were given as truth... and many/most who are apart of this social system believe it and preach it like a fire & brimstone pentecostal preacher. South Africa has similar 'racial' ideas,
Well, I think that the notion of "races" (in the sense of sub-species) comes from Western thought during the Age of Enlightenment (Kar von Linneé and all that). But since Western culture is pretty much the global norm nowadays, such concepts are shared by just about everyone on the planet today. South Africa differs from the U.S. in having three "races" (Black, Coloured, and White) rather than just two (Black and White), and in seeing them as more detrermined phenotype, rather than genealogy. For example, it is not unusual for a South African's "race"" to differ that of from her parents or siblings. Regarding the U.S.-unique color line (dichomtous, and genealogically based), it was invented by the rulers of the Chesapeake colonies, and was resisted by both Euro and Afro involuntary laborers. If blame (or creidt) must be laid for its invention, I would place it at the feet of the planters, rather than of all Europeans.
Since she IS half Navajo and was raised around Navajo culture and people I think she has every right to call herself a Navajo/Native American. It's incredibly annoying at how this stupid double-standard exists when it comes to someone who is half white half Native American being allowed to identify as Native American but take a person who's half black half Native American and they're automatically deemed "black" and that's it. Give me a break. That's white american construct of stupidity for you. One bad thing Native Americans have adopted from whites : the "divide and conquer" strategy. Goodness.
Last edited by Helena21 on Thu 17 Apr 2008 21:04; edited 8 times in total
I remember reading about her soon after she was crowned and some of the controversy that it caused. Even though her mother is navajo and she was raised on a reservation by her non-english speaking grandmother in traditional Navajo ways, she was told that she should not have been selected as a representative of Navajo women. Gotta luv that ODR
"Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and are thus representative of another race of people,"
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of."
-Orlando Tom
I have always thought she looks a lot like Ananda Lewis
I remember reading about her soon after she was crowned and some of the controversy that it caused. Even though she was raised on a reservation by her non-english speaking grandmother she was told that she should not have been selected as a representative of Navajo women.
"Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and are thus representative of another race of people,"
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of."
yeah she does
Ananda does have native ancestry too
I have always thought she looks a lot like Ananda Lewis
Since she IS half Navajo and was raised around Navajo culture and people I think she has every right to call herself a Navajo/Native American. It's incredibly annoying at how this stupid double-standard exists when it comes to someone who is half white half Native American being allowed to identify as Native American but take a person who's half black half Native American and they're automatically deemed "black" and that's it. Give me a break. That's white american construct of stupidity for you. One bad thing Native Americans have adopted from whites : the "divide and conquer" strategy. Goodness.
Navajos were never united with African Americans. They have no historical relationship-good or bad-with black folks.
Negative views about black folks are sadly not uncommon among some Native Americans. It's tempting to blame white people (the collective parent of all of us) for this, but Native Americans are just as responsible for their thoughts, historical victimization not withstanding, as white people who rail against interracial marriage. To think otherwise, IMO, is to deny them their humanity and to see them as child-like people.
Many traditional societies respond negatively to people who look different from them. I wonder if some of this hostility isn't motivated in part by this. Any thoughts anyone?
In any event, she was raised Navajo and speaks the language. This makes her just as Navajo as any half(white)-breed who is raised similarly, perhaps more so, and many Navajo do in fact accept her without reservation.
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of." [/i]
That quote is full of b.s for two reasons - One - she's not black, she's Native American AND Black. She's mixed race. Once again this moron is one-dropping. Therefore she's a very pretty half native half black lady. Two - Radmilla IS proud of her black ancestry, she has clearly stated this in a quote right here:
SO OF COURSE Radmilla is going to be attached to her Navajo side more! That's how she was RAISED and that's half of what she is! She's got Navajo as well as African blood running through her veins! When someone like Halle Berry IDs as Black because she claims that how she was raised and that's how the world sees her, she gets a round of applause. When someone like Radmilla claims her Navajo side then automatically she's deemed as "neglecting" or abandoning her black side. Double standards a bitch, folks.
And here is a blog made by a Black woman (majored in CIS) who discusses her life living with her Native American (Navajo) husband in Texas and trying to have children. She has been to her husband's home in the reservation(in Arizona) many times.
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of." [/i]
That quote is full of b.s for two reasons - One - she's not black, she's Native American AND Black. She's mixed race. Once again this moron is one-dropping. Therefore she's a very pretty half native half black lady.
I hope you weren't calling me a moron. You do realize this quote is an excerpt from a letter written by a member of the Navajo tribe that took exception to Ms. Cody being crowned Ms. Navajo Nation.
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of." [/i]
That quote is full of b.s for two reasons - One - she's not black, she's Native American AND Black. She's mixed race. Once again this moron is one-dropping. Therefore she's a very pretty half native half black lady.
I hope you weren't calling me a moron. You do realize this quote is an excerpt from a letter written by a member of the Navajo tribe that took exception to Ms. Cody being crowned Ms. Navajo Nation.
Be a bit more careful Helena on the 'quoting' for a minute it looked like you were calling Anonymouse a moron
"Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and are thus representative of another race of people,"
"Miss Cody is a very pretty black lady and this is the aspect of her life she needs to focus on, and to be proud of."
'
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
That's white american construct of stupidity for you. One bad thing Native Americans have adopted from whites : the "divide and conquer" strategy. Goodness. 
