News For All Americans
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National Native News was at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill.
Anchor Antonia Gonzales along with Native America Calling host Shawn Spruce and Native Vote 2024 contributor Shaun Griswold from Source NM brought you special live coverage during Thursday night’s acceptance speech by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Listen to the full broadcast or watch it on YouTube.
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This month, many Indigenous people across Canada are marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Tina Fontaine.
She disappeared in July 2014.
The 15-year old’s body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River.
As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Fontaine’s death threw an international spotlight on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Canada and led to a national inquiry.
About 100 members of the Sagkeeng First Nation, where Fontaine was from, honored her legacy a decade after her death.
They marched across their community, 80 miles northeast of Winnipeg, in support of Fontaine’s family.
And in Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Minister of Families Nahanni Fontaine (no relation) said her provincial government is honoring Fontaine with an investment of nearly CAD$1 million ($740,000).
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‘This funding will support operations and programming at Tina’s Safe Haven, including counselling support, program mentors, resources, and health care from an Indigenous-led perspective with a focus on relationship building.’
Tina’s Safe Haven is run by a non-profit organization dedicated to helping at risk young people.
It’s a 24-hour drop in center for those 13 to 24.
The minister also said that Tina’s legacy is enormous and she said we honor her memory in the sacred work we do to protect women, girls, and youth.
Nahanni Fontaine also said ten years after her death, the Manitoba government is working to protect Manitobans like her by supporting community partners and programs on the front lines.
Of the nearly $1 million, about CAD$400,000 ($296,000) will go to partnering with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre for weeklong public health nursing.
The remainder of the money will go to operating costs and programming.
Allen, SD, where the new Bennett County satellite voting center will be located. (Photo: Ss114)
In South Dakota, the Bennett County government has agreed to open a satellite voting location to better serve Indigenous communities.
This follows claims that the county violated the civil rights of Native Americans by limiting access to polls.
Bennett County lies within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation, though its county seat, the town of Martin, is mostly split demographically between Native American and non-Native residents.
The agreement aims to make voting and registration opportunities available to Native voters outside Martin city limits.
A memorandum between the U.S. Justice Department and Bennett County says the office will be in the predominantly Native community of Allen, located in the northwest corner of the county.
Niigaanii-Animikii Inini Kalvin Hartwig is shown in a studio where he recorded an Ojibwe dubbing of the character Red Leader in the upcoming Ojibwe version of “Star Wars: A New Hope”. (Photo: Cary Miller / Wisconsin Public Radio)
An official with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is helping bring Ojibwe to a galaxy far, far away.
As Danielle Kaeding reports, the tribe’s language-culture coordinator is a voice actor in an Ojibwe dubbing of the first Star Wars film ever made.
The Force is with Niigaanii-Animikii Inini Kalvin Hartwig.
“I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a kid, so this is checking all the boxes for me.”
Hartwig, who lives in Washburn, Wisc. is the Red Cliff tribe’s language-culture coordinator.
He lent his voice to the character “Red Leader” in an Ojibwe dubbing of Star Wars: A New Hope.
Hartwig says it took about an hour to record around 40 lines for the project in Winnipeg this spring.
“I hope young people and adults alike watch this film and are inspired to either continue learning the Ojibwe language or to start their Ojibwe learning journey.”
The film will be screened at select theaters in Wisconsin beginning August 30.
The Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance has announced recipients of the 2024 Indigenous Seed Keepers Stipends.
A total of 45 individuals from 36 different tribes have been awarded $2,000 each to support efforts in preserving and cultivating traditional seeds within their communities.
The stipends were made possible by Ceres Trust.
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Vice President Kamala Harris will officially accept her party’s nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night in Chicago.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) formally accepted his nomination for vice president Wednesday.
As National Native News anchor Antonia Gonzales reports, Native Americans at the DNC say it’s important for the next administration to keep the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations.
Native people at the DNC say there are a number of tribal issues that need to be addressed by the next administration.
Duane Duffy is vice president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico.
“We want to see an investment in head start facilities, head start education, and the federal government to honor and respect the treaties that were signed and that trust responsibility owed to the tribal governments and tribal citizens.”
Kansas delegate Carole Cadue-Blackwood (enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe) says she’d like the next administration to further the boarding school report by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), which investigated the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding schools.
“I would like to see someone support, enforce, endorse the Indian boarding school report, and Deb Haaland one of her recommendations is that schools should teach Native American curriculum. That’s history, culture, language.”
Ellen Williams, a member of the Native community in Chicago, says she’d like see the next president and vice president make sure to protect the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as the law, intended to keep Native children with Native families, continues to be challenged.
“When people attack our families and our children, steal our children, remove our children it’s a way for genocide, if we can’t keep our children, all of our love, and all of our future is with our babies.”
In her role as vice president, during remarks at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit in Washington, DC, Vice President Harris told tribal leaders she’ll continue to defend the ICWA.
At the summit, Harris also recognized tribal sovereignty and told leaders she’s committed to speaking truth about the horrors of federal Indian boarding schools and work on healing intergenerational trauma.
This week, Gov. Walz made an appearance at a Native caucus meeting.
In his remarks, he acknowledged tribal sovereignty saying in Minnesota it’s about actions on every decision that needs to be done.
The DNC wraps up on Thursday.
Watch our special coverage of Harris’ acceptance speech featuring “Native America Calling” host Shawn Spruce and Antonia Gonzales Thursday starting at 8 p.m. CT live from the DNC
Screenshot from 2020 documentary interview.
A new episode of the public radio program Reveal explores the controversial adoption of a Northern Cheyenne child by a wealthy white family in Utah.
Co-reporter Bernice Yeung says the saga started in 2017 when David Leavitt, the politically connected brother of former Gov. Mike Leavitt (R-UT), traveled to the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana.
A Native woman with connections to his wife’s family was struggling and had a young child. Leavitt thought he could help through adoption.
“In that whole process, members of the child’s Native family have raised concerns and have objected to the adoption. So the story really looks at how well the Indian Child Welfare Act was followed.”
The act is intended to keep Native families together. But relatives say, after the mother was arrested and the child put in the care of the BIA, Leavitt became a temporary guardian.
Weeks later, the Leavitts adopted the child, against the wishes of the biological father and other Native relatives.
“Another important aspect of this is the history of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints Indian Student placement program. It’s now a defunct program, but for nearly 50 years, students were taken from the reservation and placed in LDS Family foster homes. The aim was to educate children, but also of course assimilation and baptism.”
The Reveal episode drops this Saturday.
Watch Mike Leavitt’s interview with a documentarian in 2020, which was reportedly given to Homeland Security investigators as part of a criminal human trafficking probe
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Native Americans at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago are focusing in on how to get Native voters to the polls in November.
National Native News anchor Antonia Gonzales is at the DNC and has more.
Tribal leaders and Native vote organizers say they’re working to protect Native voting rights and are reaching out to people in tribal communities encouraging them to vote.
Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis says he’s an advocate for his people.
At the convention this week, the leader was seen holding his cellphone and sending a video message out on social media to his community.
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“That’s going back home. That’s going back to the Gila River Indian Community and all, hopefully all of the 22 tribes in Arizona. As we know, the need of vote is going to be critical, especially in Arizona, the battleground state as well.”
After listening to a panel on the Native Vote 2024, Gena Kakkak, chairwoman of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, says she sees the value in talking to community members about voting.
“To make sure that we get them to the polls. Looking at that younger generation, the 18-to-24-year olds having them engaged and participating. And just really encouraging that message to get out and vote and to make sure that our voices are being heard.”
Debbie Nez-Manuel, Arizona DNC Committeewoman, says it’s helpful attending the convention, where she’s hearing and learning about Native vote efforts across the country and in her state.
“This morning we heard from the Arizona Political Network that Montana produced over 60,000 voters and that was really powerful.”
Judith LeBlanc, Executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance, says her group’s efforts are on the grassroots level.
“We’ve been organizing since dirt. We know how to organize. We do know what the problems are. So, what we need is the opportunity to voice those during the election because, guess what, on election day, that’s a snapshot of the organized power of our communities.”
LeBlanc says the Native vote contributes to building healthy and safe tribal communities.
Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out stands with staff of Native Women’s Health Care during its reopening ceremony. Photo: Lee Strubinger / SDPB)
A Rapid City-based clinic is reopening its doors after not seeing patients for nearly a year and a half.
SDPB’s Lee Strubinger has more on the Native Women’s Health Care.
The clinic hadn’t seen patients since April of 2023.
A report from last year pointed to staffing issues leading to a large drop in appointments starting in 2021.
Clinic officials say it offers OBGYN services, prenatal care, and STI testing.
It will still refer deliveries to Monument Health.
The clinic has hired a midwife and registered nurse.
Clinic director Waysha White Face says patients should schedule appointments immediately.
“And as fast as you can. We announced last week that we were opening up for this week and we filled up within two days. The service is very needed here, especially to our native American women here in the community.”
The services are available to Indian Health Service-eligible tribal members.
The clinic was funded through an agreement with OST, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes.
Earlier this year, Rosebud and Cheyenne River pulled their funding, citing concerns the clinic had not seen patients for over a year.
Enrolled Rosebud and Cheyenne River members now go to Oyate Health Clinic for women’s health services.
Oglala Sioux Tribal president Frank Star Comes Out says it’s unfortunate the other tribes pulled out.
He says OST found resources to reopen the Native Women’s Health Clinic.
“I’m glad its finally happening. This is going to be huge, I believe, in the future because of the need. Looking forward to seeing that in the future for our membership.”
Star Comes Out says he’s confident the clinic will remain open beyond his administration.
This story has been corrected to better reflect who is eligible for services. Original reporting said it was limited to enrolled Oglala Sioux Tribal members.
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Native Americans are among those gathered in the Windy City for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to discuss tribal priorities with elected officials.
National Native News anchor Antonia Gonzales reports from Chicago.
Native people from across the country gathered in a packed room for a Native American Caucus meeting.
The meeting is among 33 council and caucus meetings the DNC is hosting this week.
Attendees at the Monday morning meeting including convention delegates, tribal leaders, and community members.
It began with a prayer and land acknowledgement.
Panel discussions were paused as special guests made appearances, including Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
The room was overwhelmed with excitement when vice-presidential hopeful, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), walked in.
“There’s something in Minnesota that we take seriously and that’s tribal sovereignty.”
Gov. Walz, in brief remarks, acknowledged tribal sovereignty and the 11 Native Nations in his state.
Gov. Walz says tribal consultation is key when addressing Indian Country issues, including economic development, education, and environmental and health issues.
Before exiting, Gov. Walz recognized Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Nation/D-MN).
He says if the Harris-Walz ticket wins in November, it also means a win for Lt. Gov. Flanagan, who would become governor.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan welcomes delegates to the DNC on Monday, August 19. (Photo: Seo McPolin)
Arizona DNC delegate and Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis is among those excited about both the Harris-Walz ticket and Lt. Gov. Flanagan’s possible next leadership role.
“Of course, she knows firsthand how important tribal sovereignty is, how important it is for that state-tribal partnership as well, that if we elect Gov. Tim Walz as our next vice president, Vice President Kamala Harris as our next president, but she (Lt. Gov. Flanagan) would be the first Native governor of a state and also the first female governor of the state of Minnesota. It’s amazing.”
The Native American Caucus continued with panel discussions including on the topic of the Native Vote 2024.
The caucus will meet again on Wednesday.
(Courtesy Willi White / NDN Collective)
As the school year approaches, one Indigenous-led organization is handing out backpacks to Rapid City, S.D. kids.
As SDPB’s Lee Strubinger reports, NDN Collective officials say they distributed more than 2,000 backpacks last Friday.
The line for families seeking backpacks for the upcoming school year wrapped around the Journey Museum parking lot near downtown Rapid City.
This is the fourth year in a row NDN Collective has handed out school supplies to Native children before school starts.
Despite handing out thousands of backpacks, the organization ran out of supplies to those still standing in line.
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Nick Tilsen is the CEO of NDN Collective. He says the backpack giveaway has grown every year.
“A lot of people who have privilege and have resources don’t realize that going back to school is a good thing, but it’s also a very expensive thing. But we’ve also noticed thousands of people coming here and the community being really grateful for it and, really, it helping reduce stress for families too.”
Tilsen says NDN Collective is focused on education for Native children to combat the school-to-prison pipeline.
The group is also backing the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy, a private school founded in Lakota language, culture, and spirituality.
Mary Bowman heads of the school, which is heading into its third year.
“In November, we will be out on the land where our school will eventually be built—our permanent building. It’s something that we’re looking forward to doing and I know our kids are super excited to be in our own building because that’ll allow us to do more things—like after school programming, summer programming for our students and families.”
The academy has been operating in churches around the city.
The new facility is in a development in north Rapid City.
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The Democratic National Convention kicks off this week in Chicago.
Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to receive her party’s nomination for presidential candidate, to run against former president, Republican Donald Trump.
Courting the Native American vote is seen as vital with tight contests in key battleground states with sizable Indian populations.
Last week at a rally in Glendale, Ariz., Harris appealed to Native voters.
“…As president, I will tell you, I will always honor tribal sovereignty, and respect tribal self-determination.”
Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada have high numbers of Native Americans and are all considered battleground states this year.
Former president Trump has also courted the Native vote, including at an October 2020 stop in North Carolina.
“Way up here, Native Americans. That’s why we’re here. The last administration promised to bring hope and change to Indian Country. But they cruelly abandoned you the moment they got your vote. And they went to Washington. That’s what they do.”
Trump lost his re-election bid, with many Native Americans criticizing his ending of an annual White House Tribal Nations Conference started by President Obama, and the curtailing of environmental regulations while president.
And his running mate J.D. Vance has fired up controversy over past remarks on Two Spirits and Indigenous Peoples Day.
Issues being raised by Native Americans this campaign season include water rights, education, health care, and leniency for Leonard Peltier, among others.
Stay tuned to National Native News all this week with reports from the DNC by Antonia Gonzales as part of our Native Vote 2024 coverage – and a special live program Thursday night during Harris’ acceptance speech on NV1.org and your local station
Mount Konocti in Lake Co., Calif. (Photo: tawnn)
Voters across a rural Northern California county will decide whether to change the name of a town that honors a 19th century settler who had enslaved and murdered Pomo and Wappo peoples.
Jacob Resneck reports.
The town of Kelseyville was named for Andrew Kelsey, who in the 1840s, raped, tortured, and murdered Indigenous peoples forced to work on his cattle ranch near Clear Lake about 85 miles northeast of San Francisco.
He and his business partner were killed in an 1849 uprising led by the Pomo and Wappo people he had enslaved.
The following year, a bloody reprisal by the U.S. Calvary killed hundreds of Pomo, mostly women, old men, and children in a dark chapter known as the Bloody Island Massacre.
For decades, the name Kelseyville has been controversial as it honors a man who had committed crimes against Pomo and Wappo peoples.
And a citizen movement has, in recent years, pushed to change the town’s name to Konocti, after the 4,300 ft volcano that towers over the town.
Opponents to the name change had urged the county supervisors to limit an advisory vote to those who live in the immediate community.
But Lake County Supervisors voted 3-2 last month to make the vote countywide.
Supervisor Moke Simon, who is also tribal chairman of the nearby Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, said it will be a referendum on how far Lake County has evolved in its understanding of history that predates European settlement.
“I want it on record where this county stands with the Indigenous people that lived here and have been here before it was created.”
The non-binding vote will appear on the November 5 ballot, but the ultimate authority to change the community of Kelseyville’s name to Konocti lies with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
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Photo: Desiree Coyote. (Kathy Aney / Underscore)
Native American advocates for women, families, and safer tribal communities are pleased that a new federal alert system for missing and endangered people will soon launch over TV, radio, and mobile phones.
Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission voted to establish the new MEP alert code for people who don’t qualify under the criteria for AMBER alerts.
It’s expected to help Native American tribes spread awareness of missing members.
“I am excited about it. For me, it’s been long overdue.”
Desiree Coyote is the Family Violence Services Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeast Oregon.
She says an FCC alert would spread the word more quickly and thoroughly than standard communication methods.
“I’m sitting here with the Umatilla reservation, like, ‘Okay, who can I share this with to get this out? Definitely need to make sure dispatch gets this, law enforcement this, maybe our communications people. The casino needs to have this.’ So I’m going down a list of who I need to share this with, I can definitely miss out on sending it to the people who really need to have this on hand.”
The FBI says last year there were more than 10,000 reported missing Native American or Alaska Native people.
Coyote says, while state, federal, and law enforcement agencies have their part, it’s also important for tribal communities to support the relatives of the missing, and keep their unique plights in mind.
“Systems has a habit of checking the box. And ‘We’ve done this, we’ve completed that,’ and not really looking at how the families who are remaining, are trying to walk through this.”
And the new MEP code can also help mobilize public response to cases of missing Black persons.
Those 18 years and older make up more than a third of missing persons despite being just 12% of the U.S. population.
(Photo: Chuck Quirmbach)
As a voter registration effort aimed at Native Americans continues in Wisconsin, tribal members are talking about some of the issues they hope candidates will address this fall.
As Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM in Milwaukee reports, a couple hundred Native people from around Wisconsin attended a tailgate party ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers game on Thursday.
The non-partisan group Wisconsin Native Vote sponsored the event, saying it wanted to do something fun, to promote its ongoing get out the vote effort.
The Menominee Nation’s Smokey Town drum and singing group performed at the party.
Also on hand, Shannon Holsey, who is President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indian, and Chair of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council.
Holsey says the tribes have had an interesting and complex relationship with the U.S. government, and she hopes candidates for federal office this fall will address some key issues.
“There are things from being able to provide our citizens with affordable health care, access to good education, making sure we have stewarding of Mother Earth and making sure that those systematic barriers that exist with our federal government, we continue with tribal nations, as sovereigns, we continue to envelope those relationships and build those relationships.”
(Photo: Chuck Quirmbach)
Clean water is a key issue for a member of the Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Gloria Waabigwan-Wiggins.
She also hopes to hear from state political candidates between now and November.
“We would like the state to collaborate with the tribal leaders, to make sure that our sovereignty is being recognized and we’re brought to the table of discussion.“
Somewhere between 1-2% of the nearly 6,000,000 people in Wisconsin are Native American. That’s enough to make a difference in a battleground state where contests are sometimes decided by less than 1% of the vote.
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Native American communities are often left in information “blind spots” because federal and state governments restrict public health data.
That’s according to KFF Health News.
It reported federal investigators and tribal epidemiologists documented multiple obstacles, including confusion over data-sharing policies, poor or old data, and strict privacy rules for sensitive health issues such as HIV and substance misuse.
And in 2022, the Government Accountability Office published a report that confirmed tribal health officials’ concerns, including at the Great Plains tribal epidemiology center.
Federal investigators learned that health officials in Native American communities dealt with federal agencies lacking clear processes, policies, and guidelines for sharing data.
Tribal health officials reported that data denials hindered their ability to respond to serious health issues, including contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic and a syphilis outbreak in the Midwest and Southwest.
They add that while some data sharing has improved, there’s more work to be done.
In South Dakota, Rapid City Area Schools superintendent Nicole Swigart has been relieved of her duties by the local school board.
This follows reported remarks published in a recent civil rights investigation about Indigenous students.
SDPB’s C.J. Keene reports.
The decision was finalized at this week’s school board meeting after two-and-a-half hours of discussion and public comment.
In the report, quotes are attributed to Swigart about tribes not valuing education, informing students they don’t need to graduate, and saying the district struggles with “Indian time”.
Rapid City Schools has the highest proportion of indigenous students in the state, and these comments stirred deep controversy.
Critically, Swigart now denies making the comments published in the report.
“There is no proof that I made these alleged derogatory statements, yet this board is terminating my employment anyway. The entire disciplinary process has been unjust and punitive. I accepted the boards 30-day suspension beginning on July 2, and I fully expected to return to work. Yet without warning or explanation on July 18, I was sent a notice of intent to terminate.”
Swigart is not without supporters, many of whom spoke to her character and long history with the district.
However, some aggressively confronted the board following the decision, accusing board members of being influenced by a Rapid City area Native advocacy group.
NDN Collective local organizers attend the RCAS Board of Education meeting where members of the community expressed their frustration and disappointment with the racist comments made by Superintendent Nicole Swigart; calling for immediate action to be taken by the board.
— NDN Collective (@ndncollective) June 5, 2024
In turn, visibly emotional members of the board expressed the difficulty and weight this decision came with.
That includes board vice president Jamie Clapham.
“First of all, I honor and acknowledge the 33 years Mrs. Swigart served in this district, and the hundreds and probably thousands of lives she impacted. That is to be commended, celebrated, and never forgotten. This is likely the most difficult situation that I have faced in this seat. I sit in this chair because I care, and I’m committed to this community.”
Ultimately, the board voted 6-1 to fire Swigart.
That termination is effective August 16.
Assistant Superintendent Cory Strasser will serve as the interim superintendent.
BPA office takeover in 1975. (Courtesy Herb Alden / Oregon Historical Society)
And on this day in 1975, 100 Native American protesters took over the Portland, Oreg. offices of the Bonneville Power Administration.
The occupation was part of several activities organized to protest what they said was federal repression on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations.
Similar occupations were staged at Alcatraz Island in 1969, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office in Washington, DC in 1972.
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Photo: Native American Development Corporation clinical laboratory scientist Stephanie Uffelman with “Joey”, one of the lab’s two analyzers. (Kayla Desroches / Yellowstone Public Radio)
An Indigenous-led laboratory is open for business in Billings, the largest city in Montana.
The lab is starting small with plans to scale up.
Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports, the Native American Development Corporation recently cut the ribbon on its new lab in downtown Billings.
The lab officially opened in July and is capable of processing blood and urine for drug content.
Native American Development Corporation CEO Leonard Smith says this facility answers the need for more testing capacity and is also unique in the region as a Native-led laboratory.
“We felt that it would bring the kind of return that we need to become sustainable, and continue to offer good services to our community.”
Following the ribbon cutting, clinical laboratory scientist Stephanie Uffelman shows Smith and other NADC leadership the one-room laboratory, located inside a St. John’s United building for seniors.
Uffelman stops in front of a boxy white machine labeled “Joey” and opens a drawer to reveal a tray of empty tubes.
“So each patient will sit in a vial.”
Uffelman named both of the lab’s analyzers after characters from the TV show Friends.
She gestures over to the second machine, named after Joey’s fake identical twin.
“And this guy in the beginning was actually giving me a lot of problems, so he’s my problem child, my Carl. [laugh].”
She says the machines can turn results within a period of 24 to 72 hours.
“These are what’s gonna produce the most revenue for us.”
Native American Development Corporation CEO Leonard Smith says the capabilities of the lab will grow.
He says the lab will be available to the NADC’s Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center in addition to the community at large, with plans to expand its services from substance use testing to other metrics.
“We hope to be able to market to the tribes as well as the private sector entities. I just take great pride in seeing at this point.”
Professor Patty Ferguson-Bohnee. (Courtesy Arizona State University)
Native voting-rights advocates contend two Arizona laws have made it more difficult for Native voters to be civically engaged, despite already existing structural barriers.
Alex Gonzalez reports.
Patty Ferguson-Bohnee (Pointe-au-Chien) with the Indian Legal Clinic at Arizona State University says House Bills 2492 and 2243 will unfairly impact Native voters.
HB 2492 mandates that voters present evidence of a physical mailing address, which Ferguson-Bohnee says will present problems for many Native people who simply don’t have one.
HB 2243 requires county recorders to terminate a voter’s registration if they suspect someone is not a US citizen.
The pieces of legislation are being challenged in court, but Ferguson-Bohnee says education and outreach are also key.
“So trying to translate to tribal people in their own terms, in their own communities, why it’s important to participate in voting can already be a challenge when you’re dealing with a legal infrastructure that has tried to deny your existence.”
Ferguson-Bohnee says that when it comes to Native voting, there have been steps forward and then backwards.
“There is some feeling within Indian Country and among some Native people is ‘Why should I be participating in this process?’ But when you recognize that people who are elected actually have touch points in your everyday life, even if you’re in a remote location, because of this federal trust relationship.”
Ferguson-Bohnee adds that realities on reservations are often very different than off the reservation, and contends that is something that should be taken into account by elected officials when creating policy.
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Photo courtesy Mercury Justice For Grassy Narrows / Facebook
A northern Ontario First Nation is appealing to an international human rights commission over mercury contamination that has continued for decades.
As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the Grassy Narrows First Nation has also said it would sue the governments of Canada and Ontario over the contamination.
The moves are aimed at getting those governments to do more to tackle the mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon River system in northern Ontario.
Grassy Narrows First Nation recently told a virtual hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that many of its members have lost hope, and that many struggle with work or school.
They say after decades of mercury poisoning they want justice.
Canada is one of 35 member states of the Organization of American States, which oversees the IACHR.
Judy DaSilva of Grassy Narrows says many in her community, up to 90%, live with the debilitating symptoms of mercury poisoning.
“Our way of life has been totally destroyed. Like our people were proud fishermen and land users, and hunters. And then the poison came and took all that away. And our social and economical fabrics have been broken.”
Most of the contamination comes from the fish caught locally.
A recent study by researchers at Ontario’s Western University shows that waste water from the Dryden paper mill is mixing with mercury dumped in water decades ago to make methyl mercurate, an even more toxic cocktail.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the mill dumped nine tons of mercury into the river.
Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle wants action now.
“Especially with the new generation and the children that are growing up the river should be cleaned up for them and they should be compensated because they are still taking mercury into their system.”
The mill’s owner says it only recently bought the company and would review the study.
But the First Nation is suing Ontario and the federal government alleging that the governments’ allowed the river system to be contaminated and then failed to do something about it and at the same time authorizing industrial activities that made the situation even worse.
Chief Turtle says he believes something would have been done if it had happened to a different region and population.
He wants authorities to ban industrial land use in or near the territory.
Meanwhile, construction is expected to begin soon on a Mercury Care Home and take up to three years to complete.
Work is already underway on a new health care facility.
Ottawa says it has committed to the construction of a new water treatment plant, but lawyers for the First Nation call those actions a band-aid solution.
(Courtesy Cheyenne River Youth Project)
A Native youth art festival recently celebrated its 10th anniversary on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.
Kathleen Shannon has more.
The RedCan Graffiti Jam is an art showcase set on the Eagle Butte campus of the Cheyenne River Youth Project, a Lakota youth advocacy organization founded in 1988.
This year’s event featured hoop dancing, poetry reading, community meals, skateboard painting and a rock band from Rapid City.
Fourteen graffiti artists from across the world made nine murals in the campus’ art park and the greater community.
Given the group’s mission to provide opportunities for kids, its Executive Director Julie Garreau says the jam is about more than art.
“You know, it’s community development. It is youth development. I would also say it’s like cultural reclamation. I think it’s language revitalization, because we’re using Lakota language on our walls. I think it’s also healing.”
Garreau says the jam was designed as a one-time event a decade ago to improve decrepit buildings in town. But it was so well-received, she says the organization keeps hosting it.
She adds next year, the group has been invited to bring a version of the RedCan Jam to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
This story includes original reporting by Kate Mothes for Arts Midwest.
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