Washington, U.S.A. — In response to a recent episode of “Our America” with Lisa Ling on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA) issued the below letter commending the show and network for highlighting the problems that plague reservations across the United States. NAFSA’s members include many tribes which have found a solution to these problems through online lending.

The full text of NAFSA’s letter is below:

An Open Letter from the Native American Financial Services Association to Lisa Ling and the Oprah Winfrey Network

Dear Ms. Ling and Ms. Winfrey:

We want to commend you on your recent episode of Our America with Lisa Ling, which highlighted the startling realities happening on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation and throughout much of Indian country. This Our America episode illustrated to the rest of America what those of us who are active tribal members know all too well – that life in Indian country is riddled with a host of problems. Furthermore, these problems put at risk our culture, which has existed on this continent for thousands of years.

Reservations today face very serious and systemic problems that can only be addressed through economic development and job creation. Faced with untenable unemployment rates and extreme poverty on our lands, many of us do not benefit from the revenue streams that some tribes enjoy. Harsh geographic challenges, severe underdevelopment and dwindling populations make traditional business models unsustainable for many tribes.

Luckily, we have found one model that works – e-commerce. Through e-commerce, we are able to provide new and sustainable pathways to economic prosperity for tribes across the nation. By enabling tribes to pursue these new initiatives, we provide jobs and incomes to those in Indian country that need it most.

If, for any reason, these exciting new initiatives were to be threatened, the result would perpetuate the unforgiving cycle of poverty many tribes are facing. Recently, several tribes banded together to form the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA) to address this issue and to ensure Native Americans are allowed to freely enjoy the economic independence which has evaded us for far too long.

Through the protection of consumer rights and sovereign immunity, NAFSA allows tribal governments to serve the under-banked with better short-term financial services, furthering the economic development opportunities which have shown so much promise throughout Indian country.

Our efforts are already showing tremendous potential. Montana’s Rocky Boy reservation – home of the Chippewa Cree tribe – has benefited greatly from online financial services, providing hope for the reservation. We produced a short documentary on these efforts, which can be viewed at www.vimeo.com/nafsa. We hope you will take the time to see how we are proactively addressing the needs of our people.

We want to thank you again for highlighting this most troubling problem and for allowing us to shine a light on how it may be solved. We would welcome you on any of our reservations at any time to see how these problems are being addressed in a responsible manner.

Thank you again for your continued advocacy.

Sincerely,

Barry Brandon

Executive Director, Native American Financial Services Association

Image Courtesy of  s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

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Just six years ago, Tom Cruise was infamously jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch on the Oprah Winfrey show, publicly declaring his undying love for then-girlfriend, Katie Holmes. Meanwhile, Katie was just as joyous publicly announcing that her dream as a little girl was to one day marry Tom Cruise. The whirlwind romance blossomed and soon the two were married. Now with one child that they have together, it looks like the two haven’t had the fairytale ending they had once anticipated.

Just two weeks ago, Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise after their five year marriage, while Cruise was filming a movie in Iceland. Reports have speculated that Cruise was shocked by Holmes’ filing.

Now the main concern is their six-year-old daughter Suri and a custody battle, as well as raising eyebrows that wonder if Scientology played a role in Holmes’ decision.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Holmes used a disposable cell phone to keep in touch with her attorneys, and she has hired three different law firms in three separate states. Last week, a settlement was reached regarding custody, and Holmes was granted primary custody of the little girl while Cruise was given generous visitation rights. Holmes also was granted the leading role in how to raise their daughter. She can decide whether to raise her with the beliefs and ideals of Catholicism— which is how Holmes was raised— or with Scientology— which Cruise is extremely devout to.

On Monday, “the former Hollywood power couple requested privacy and said they have “respect for each other’s commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other’s roles as parents,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Cruise’s attorney, Bret Fields, denies that Scientology played a role in the couple’s divorce. And even though the former couple has publicly announced that they are going to work together to raise Suri, many are questioning how this can be done with their conflicting beliefs. According to reporter Mark Rathbun of The Daily News, “It’s a very coded statement, especially when they say they are going to respect each other’s beliefs. That is not allowed in Scientology. He’s prohibited from respecting others’ beliefs if he’s going to raise Suri in Scientology. There’s no neutral ground.”

Additionally, an unknown source close to Holmes, told E! News, that the 33-year-old was “never truly comfortable” with the religion. It was additionally stated, “It was something she accepted and put up with for many years because it was important to Tom,” the source said, adding, “It wasn’t that she was against Scientology… but she also didn’t want it to be her everything, and for Tom, in some ways, it was.”

In Holmes’ efforts not to confuse Suri with their different beliefs, Holmes has requested that her staff accompany their daughter while she is visiting Cruise.

Image Courtesy of  s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

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Oprah Winfrey and James Earl will be awarded at the next Oscars ceremony.

Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic work.Jones along with makeup artist Dick Smith, will receive awards for their magnificent careers. Both prizes will be handed out at the Governors Awards next November.

Winfrey is best known for her talk show, but that is not the only reason why they have decided to honor her. The Oprah Winfrey Show has been on air over 145 different countries. Her program redefined the talk show genre and made Winfrey one of the most influential women in the US, as well as the wealthiest black women in the world.

Her last broadcasting was last May after 25 years on the air. She was seen alone on stage, telling her viewers how much they had meant to her for the past years. Afterwards, Madonna and Beyonce also took part in the show.

Amy Korin, a Winfrey fan who was watching the recording of her last program said “She said, ‘This isn’t goodbye. This is until we meet again’.”

The last episode filmed in front of 13,000 fans had the intervention of Tom Cruise, Aretha Franklin, Tom Hanks and Stevie Wonder, which paid tribute to the presenter.

Last January, Winfrey launched her own TV network. The channel is called OWN “Oprah Winfrey Network”. It is a joint venture with the Discovery channel and will offer round-the-clock lifestyle programs.

Oprah’s philanthropic work includes the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls that opened in South Africa in 2007. There has been controversy about the decision of giving her an honorary Oscar. Newspapers as Los Angeles Times even call the decision a “boneheaded move.”

Despite every attack, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defended their decision saying that Oprah is always ready to give what she has and fight against any injustice.

“Oprah has given and given and given,” he said. “This is not about personality. This is about a person who has come from the depths, risen to the heights and given back.”James Earl Jones has always been known for his appearance in more than 50 films such Field of Dreams, Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

He also gave the voice to the devil Darth Vader in the Stars Wars film and was nominated in 1971 for The Great White Hope.

His co-star Smith is known in the cinema industry as “the godfather of make-up”. Smith won an Oscar in 1984 for his work on Amadeus. He also was in the cast of The Exorcist, Taxi Driver and the Deer Hunter.

According to BBC News, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said their awards were given to individuals for “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

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25 years of history making, and life changing television, ended yesterday, on May 25, 2011.  An atmosphere full of emotions surrounded Oprah’s final show. Goodbye is always a sad word. That denotes that something has ended and its time to say farewell. After being an iconic figure, a role model, and an admirable woman, she says goodbye to the screen.

Taking once again the stage, and standing in front of her audience, she began to say the first words of her final episode “”There are no words to match this moment.” The showed reveal all the greatest achievements that Oprah considered were made by her, or the ones that she had most pride for. “Every day that I stood here I knew that this was exactly where I was meant to be.”

The show had around 7 million of spectators that day. Exposing a remarkable cipher, and becoming the most important Oprah moment, in her 25 years debut on T.V.  The Oprah Winfrey’s Show was one of the longest running talk shows in United States. It began on 1986, and had emitted 24 seasons, and more than 4,000 episodes.

Everyone has a platform, Winfrey said. “Mine is a stage in a studio. Yours is wherever you are, with your own reach.” We’ve seen Oprah grow, and we have watched her ups and downs during her career. With a rough background and childhood, she found a way to start again, and succeeded becoming one of the most powerful women on the world.

Remarkably, every advertisement that was emitted during the final episode, having duration of 30 seconds was valued in one million of dollars.

The final program was recorded in the United Center and 15.000 people attended as an audience. During the record of the last episode, many artists, and important figures were present such as:  Beyonce, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Halley Berry, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Dakota Fanning, Jamie Fox Queen Latifah and many others.

“Well, I say, all sweet, no bitter. And here’s why. Many of us have been together for 25 years. We have hooted and hollered together, had our a-ha moments, we ugly-cried together and we did our gratitude journals. So I thank you all for your support and your trust in me. I thank you for sharing this yellow brick road of blessings. …I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I’ve tried to be for you. I won’t say goodbye. I’ll just say, until we meet again. To God be the glory.

But for her fans out there not everything is sad news, because she will not be leaving the small screen completely. She will dedicate her time completely to the channel OWN T.V, that stands for Oprah Winfrey Network. Released a couple months ago.

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