National Native News

News For All Americans

Monday, December 4, 2023

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The Native group Not In Our Honor in the greater Kansas City area renewed its call on the NFL and the Kansas City Football Team to end the use of Native American stereotypes and imagery in sports – as members of the group respond to the use of a headdress and face paint by a young fan at a recent game.

An image of the young fan at the game wearing a headdress and his face painted half black and half red has gone viral and has sparked much debate – both in opposition and support.

The fan’s parents have responded, coming to their son’s defense, which includes telling news outlets that he’s Native American.

Gaylene Crouser, executive director of the Kansas City Indian Center and member of Not In Our Honor, says the parent’s response that they are Native American misses the point.

“If they stopped and thought about it for a minute, and used a little empathy, they would be able to recognize that they wouldn’t like it if somebody took their sacred symbols and their culture, made a mockery of it, and turned it into a costume. I am sure they would not appreciate that. So it’s almost where people give them a pass on that. To me, it makes it worse because they should have known better.”

Crouser says it’s the Kansas City team that is at fault.

“I always put those kinds of things really squarely on the team, and I think that the initial article that’s getting the backlash really nailed it on the head when they said, ‘If they had changed their name, prior to this incident, and if the NFL had put more pressure on them to stop appropriating stereotypes instead of what they did here, then we wouldn’t even be talking about that.'”

Crouser says that when it comes to Kansas City, the city should focus on what is good about their town.

“The football team is on the world’s stage. And with the world cup coming here in a few years, all of this is going to be even more on that world stage. And it’s upsetting to me that is great as so many people of Kansas City are and we have so many wonderful institutions here of art and culture that this is what gets the media attention. That this is what is in the forefront and shows representation of Kansas City. And, not only do Native Americans deserve better than this, Kansas City deserves better than this.”

Not in our Honor plans to be at the next home game on December 10 to demonstrate.

This old mission is one of the historic structures preserved by the Pueblo of Zuni Tribe in New Mexico using federal funding. (Courtesy: Pueblo Of Zuni Tribe / U.S. Interior Department)

A U.S. House committee held a hearing last week on cultural and historic preservation.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Will Walkey reports, it comes as major federal funding for these programs has expired.

Many who testified say accurately telling the story of the U.S. is more important than ever, especially for marginalized communities like Tribes.

Pressures from climate change and development are threatening cultural resources like buildings and burial sites.

And funding often doesn’t meet the needs of communities who want to preserve their history.

Reno Keoni Franklin is chairman of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians in California.

“Tribal historic preservation officers receive funding that is nowhere near the amount that we need in order to adequately do our job to the best of the abilities and protect not just our own historic resources, but the historic resources of the country.”

Federal grant money for state, local, and tribal preservation offices expired in September.

A bill introduced this year in Congress would reauthorize and increase that funding from $150 million to $250 million.

Proponents say the money is needed to keep up with inflation and increase staffing around this issue.

Tributes were paid this weekend to pioneering Latina journalist and frequent National Native News contributor María Martin, who passed away at the age of 72.

 

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Friday, December 1, 2023

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Lake County says it will no longer handle felony cases for tribal members on Northwest Montana’s Flathead Reservation come next spring.

But as Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports, there are many open questions about whether the state will fill that void.

The agreement known as Public Law 280 gives Lake County authority to charge and prosecute tribal members for felony crimes, but the county says it’s withdrawing because the state isn’t paying for that work.

That means the Lake County jail and attorney’s office will no longer handle cases involving tribal members.

Under the agreement, the state is supposed to take over that responsibility, but Lake County Commission Chair Gail Decker says Gov. Gianforte (R-MT)’s office has met the county with silence.

“I think the governor’s office has been aware that this has been a distinct possibility for several months, but no, we have not heard anything.”

Gov. Gianforte has six months to officially recognize Lake County’s decision.

Gov. Gianforte’s office declined to answer MTPR’s questions about whether the governor will do so and whether the state plans to take over felony jurisdiction for tribal members.

During a public meeting, law enforcement agencies on the reservation told residents they won’t see much of a change on the ground when the county withdraws.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Police Chief Craig Couture.

“So if you have a 911 call, any emergency that happens, everyone in this room will be responding if they’re close enough. Others will stay out to handle other calls like we always do.”

Couture says the tribal jail and prosecutor’s office do have the authority and ability to handle felony cases involving tribal members if need be.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland says her agency is continuing work on missing and murdered Indigenous people.

We’re taking a look at some of her priorities ahead of next week’s White House Tribal Leaders Summit, which she’ll chair.

Sec. Haaland says the Interior Department is reviewing recommendations recently released by an advisory commission, which was created to address MMIP and human trafficking.

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples is, it’s an issue that has been present here since colonization started on this continent. It’s going to take more than a few pieces of legislation to remedy this really horrible, these horrible events. And so we’re going to keep working on it.”

Sec. Haaland says a missing and murdered unit created in 2021 has increased investigations across the country, which she says is devoting time and funding to help solve cases and help families heal.

Sec. Haaland talked about work on MMIP during a recent interview with New Mexico PBS.

 

The National Congress of American Indians, the Native American Rights Fund, and the National Native American Bar Association are celebrating the confirmation of Judge Shanlyn Park to the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Judge Park is the first Native Hawaiian woman to hold that federal position in the state.

Native Hawaiians make up nearly 22% percent of the population served by the district where she’ll preside.

Leaders of the Native groups say despite the impact federal court decisions have on Native communities, Native people are under-represented with only seven of the more than 870 federal judges currently serving across the country are from American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.

The organizations are praising the appointment, saying Judge Park has deep ties to her community, and understands how federal laws and policies impact Native Hawaiian, American Indian, and Alaska Native people.

 

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Thursday, November 30, 2023

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Ahead of next week’s White House Tribal Nations Summit, we’re taking a look at some of the priorities of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), who will chair the summit in Washington, D.C.

One initiative is her investigation into the troubling legacy of U.S. Indian boarding schools.

Earlier this month, Sec, Haaland completed the 12th and final stop on “The Road to Healing” tour.

The year-long tour across the country provided the opportunity for survivors of federal Indian boarding schools to share their stories with Haaland and other federal leaders.

The tour also connected communities with trauma-informed support, and gathered permanent oral histories.

Just two days after the final stop, Sec. Haaland reflected on the healing tour during an interview with New Mexico PBS.

“In so many instances, folks have told us that they were reluctant to share a thing with their families, but felt it was time to finally say something about the experiences that they have had. We feel that is, you know, that’s healing for people. And that was the purpose of our road to healing was to really start healing for the country. This is a history that all Americans share, not just Native Americans. And so ensuring that we are open and honest about the past history of this country has been really important to us. And I think overall, it’s been a really good experience for everyone who has participated.”

Sec. Haaland says further healing efforts will include Native language preservation and an oral history project.

“We want to make sure that that information is open to our larger countries so that people can learn. And it’ll take a lot to heal, but certainly ensuring that we can help with things that Indian communities have lost during these assimilation policies, and namely, I should say, Native languages. That was a topic. that was so often reiterated around the country. And so we know that President Biden has been incredibly supportive of Native language preservation and we’ll continue with that as well.”

Sec. Haaland will join White House officials in chairing the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, which provides an opportunity for tribal leaders from the 574 federally recognized tribes across the country to engage with the Biden Administration.

Courtesy: Popping Bubbles / Facebook

The fourth season of the show Native Shorts, presented by the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, premieres Thursday night on FNX Television.

Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA spoke with one of the show’s hosts about the new season.

The show focuses on short Indigenous films from around the world.

Host Ariel Tweto is Inupiaq.

She connects with the everyday viewer asking questions that the audience might have about the film.

Tweto says they have a lengthy process to choose which episodes air on the show.

“I mean we wanted an array of films or genres, and so they’ll find a horror, a romance, comedy, something very abstract and so we want to get films from all over the place.”

From New Zealand to Australia to the Aleutian chains of Alaska, Indigenous filmmakers share stories of their cultures and ways of life.

Tweto says she notices a lot of differences from one continent to the next.

“Just to see how other people live is I think really special. I’ve learned a lot just about different cultures from around the world. I think that’s really cool. Different ways of storytelling, how someone in New Zealand tells a story a lot different than someone say from Finland, and it’s cool to see the diversity.”

Tweto says Native Shorts is a great platform to showcase short films, when in the past, it was only shown at film festivals.

“It’s so cool that we get to showcase the short films because there’s not really a platform for short films after festivals. Usually if it’s not in a festival, it’s just, I don’t even know where it goes, so this is just a really cool opportunity for us to showcase all these amazing Indigenous filmmakers and actors and actresses.”

 

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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) will continue to collaborate with jurisdictions to provide “robust” law enforcement services, according to tribal officials.

This comes after the Lake County Board of Commissions notified Montana’s governor last week the county would no longer provide law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation.

Lake County commissioners say the state should pay the county for law enforcement services on tribal lands, but a judge recently ruled the state is not required to do so.

The county said it will no longer oversee felony cases on the reservation.

In a statement Tuesday, CSKT Police Chief Craig Couture said the change from Lake County does not impact their ability to provide the highest quality law enforcement.

CSKT Tribal Council Chairman Tom McDonald in the statement said they’re committed to doing what’s best for their communities and will continue to work in partnership with other governments that share felony jurisdiction.

The tribe says it will collaborate with the state and federal government on next steps.

Gregory Golodoff in 2018 attending the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Attu, in which the United States fought the Japanese to regain control of the island. (Courtesy KUCB)

Attu was one of the forgotten Alaskan villages of World War Two, an isolated island on the Aleutian chain, where the Unangax̂ seemed to have a good life.

But then in 1942, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded and took all 40 villagers to Japan as prisoners of war. Until this month, there was only one last survivor.

And as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, Gregory Golodoff’s death marks the end of an era.

Final prayers and songs for Gregory Golodoff were heard at the Anchorage Russian Orthodox Cathedral this week.

He died at the age of 84, not too long after the death of his younger sister Elizabeth.

Golodoff was only three years old when his mother, father and all seven of the family’s children were taken to Japan, where only half of the village survived.

In a 2018 interview, Golodoff said he said he was lucky he arrived in Japan, well-fed, due in part to success the Unangax̂ had at hunting and fishing,

“I was so fat, I guess. Chubby little boy.”

He doesn’t remember much, except the constant hunger.

“We only get one bowl of rice a day. Sometimes one salted herring, you know. And sometimes we get a fry bread a day.”

The rice was actually less than a cup, because it was watered down.

“I understood this was all I get (laughs).”

He said the Japanese cooks did give him the burned scrapings from the rice pot, even though they were starving too. Captives and captors alike suffered through the final days of the war.

Gregory Golodoff, (Courtesy Golodoff family)

But the difficulties did not end with World War II.

His father, two brothers, and a sister died before the federal government rescued them.

They were never allowed to go home to Attu – and relocated on Atka, an island about 500 miles away.

Dimitri Philemonof, a longtime Unangax̂ leader, describes Golodoff as a humble man, who never spoke of the war, but instead devoted himself to his new community.

Golodoff became a tribal leader in Atka in the 1980s and oversaw significant growth, including the building of a large subdivision and a new school.

“Throughout his life he has been a great leader. I never saw him hate or anything of that sort. I think that says a lot for the Aleut people.”

Philemonof said Golodoff exemplified the Unangax̂ value of quiet perseverance through life’s hardships.

Rachel Mason, a cultural anthropologist, interviewed Attu survivors extensively.

“It was sad to say goodbye to the last Attuan. But what’s encouraging is that the descendants of Attu are still really a vital group.”

Mason says Gregory Golodoff was the last link to the people of Attu, but for his descendants, he it is not the end of the story.

Chef Sean Sherman is traveling to Dubai to discuss Indigenous food and knowledge at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

According to the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, Sherman will discuss the role Indigenous knowledge can play in navigating climate issues.

He was invited by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The conference takes place November 30 through December 12.

 

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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

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A new study finds that Canadian coal mines contribute nearly all of the selenium found in Montana’s Lake Koocanusa.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

For decades, coal mines along British Columbia’s Elk River have sent large amounts of selenium into Lake Koocanusa in northwest Montana.

Selenium is naturally occurring, but at high levels can harm fish reproduction.

Researchers wanted to know how much natural selenium came from the lake’s largest tributary, the Kootenai River.

Study author and U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologist Meryl Storb.

“Over the last decade, the Elk River is contributing 95% of the selenium into Koocanusa from those two sources.”

That’s striking because the Elk River accounts for a quarter of all waters flowing into Lake Koocanusa, but is contributing nearly all of the selenium.

Montana and British Columbia tribes are pushing U.S. and Canadian officials to shut the mines down.

The House Natural Resources Committee will host a roundtable titled “Strengthening Historic and Cultural Preservation.”

The roundtable is in commemoration of Native American Heritage Month.

The panel will discuss how Congress can better support and improve historic and cultural preservation.

Panelists include tribal historic preservation officers and tribal leaders.

Members of Congress expected to attend are House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member U.S. Rep Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).

The roundtable will take place in person Wednesday in Washington, D.C. and will also be livestreamed.

Two small business owners rooted in western Alaska have spent countless hours preparing for a busy holiday season, as people gear up for gift-giving.

KNOM’s Ava White has more.

For artists with small businesses, the holiday season kicks off well before the temperature starts to change.

Shirley Hootch of Emmonak is a Yup’ik jeweler who specializes in handmade earrings made of caribou antler and walrus ivory.

She says she sources her materials through her family in Point Hope.

The first earrings she ever created, she says, remains one of her most popular sellers.

They resemble traditional Yup’ik masks.

She says she never makes more than five pairs of the same earrings, so each pair is truly unique.

“By supporting artists and jewelers and carvers, you get a one of a kind treasure.”

Nikki Corbett of Bethel is the owner of a popular qaspeq company called Sew Yup’ik.

Corbett says that when you support Alaska Native artists through your purchases, you have the chance to engage and connect with their culture.

“I don’t want people to be wearing the same one. I really tried to make each one individualized with its trimming and the accent hoods, or cowells.”

She says she makes sure to set good intentions because if she doesn’t, she risks passing negative energy to the piece she’s sewing, and that can transfer to the customer.

The state of Oregon recently announced its first Tribal Affairs Director.

Shana McConville Radford will serve in that position.

McConville Radford recently was the deputy executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

She has more than 15 years of experience with tribal relations, policy, and intergovernmental affairs.

McConville Radford will help with communication and collaboration with the nine tribes in the state.

 

 

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Monday, November 27, 2023

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Lake County says it will no longer provide law enforcement services on Northwest Montana’s Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports the decision follows a recent court ruling.

Lake County commissioners say the state should pay the county for law enforcement services on tribal lands, but a judge ruled earlier this month that the state isn’t required to do so.

Lake County commissioners last week sent a letter to Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) reiterating the county will no longer oversee felony cases on the reservation.

Commissioners issued a resolution to withdraw from the decades-old agreement with the state and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe (CSKT) earlier this year.

State law required Gov. Gianforte to recognize the decision by Nov. 26.

The state will eventually take over law enforcement services.

County commissioners have long argued that the county doesn’t have the tax base to pay for law enforcement on tribal lands.

Lawmakers this year passed a law allocating $2.5 million annually to Lake County, but Gov. Gianforte vetoed the bill.

Gov. Gianforte’s office says it will “work with stakeholders to find the best path forward.”

CSKT declined to comment.

Courtesy CNN

A Montana woman, and member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, is one of CNN’s Top Ten Heroes for 2023.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Orlinda Worthington shares her story.

Tescha Hawley lives near Harlem, just north of the Fort Belknap Reservation where she grew up.

It’s a remote part of northeast Montana, 40 miles south of the Canadian border.

Her journey to helping others began during a difficult time for her personally.

“Back in 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I quickly realized that our worlds don’t communicate in the same way when it comes to healthcare,” Hawley said.

The lifesaving treatment she needed several times a month was 200 miles away.

“Transportation in our community is a huge barrier.”

After her recovery, she started the Day Eagle Hope Foundation to help alleviate barriers for others.

“There was a missing link in the services between our reservation and between our community and the major hospitals in the state of Montana and I decided to really look at patient navigation and to connect these two worlds together so we could better understand each other,” Hawley said.

Hawley began the foundation with her own money during COVID-19.

She now writes grants for her foundation, and has expanded services outside of healthcare.

“I received $250,000 over the next two years to deliver non processed, traditional, organic food, from our farmers and ranchers locally. That’s both Indian and non Indian farmers and ranchers.”

When Hawley first learned she’d been named a CNN Top Ten Hero, she tried to keep it quiet.

“I just wanted to traditionally, humbly go about my business, do the work that needs to be done. And it wasn’t until they explained to me that this could expose our work to other funders, donors, which will in turn help my community. So. You know, when I win, my whole community wins.”

The hero of the year will receive a cash prize.

Voting can be found online.

Elizabeth Golodoff Kudrin and her brother, Gregory Golodoff, photographed on Atka Island, sometime between 1946-1947, after they had begun to recover from the starvation they experienced during their stay in Japan, where they were housed as prisoners of war until 1945. (Courtesy: National Park Service, University Of Washington Press, And Ethel Ross Oliver)

Memorial services are planned for Monday in Anchorage, Alaska, for Gregory Golodoff.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, he was the last surviving prisoner of war from Attu, a small Unungan village in the Aleutians.

He was 84.

When Golodoff was a young boy during World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army captured him, along with about 40 Unangax̂’, who were sent to Japan as prisoners of war.

Only half survived. The rest were never able to return home.

The federal government decided their island was no longer fit for habitation – and that it would be too costly to rebuild the community.

Instead, the government moved them to Atka, about 500 miles to the east.

Golodoff spent most of his life in Atka.

He was living in Anchorage with his wife, when he died on November 17.

Golodoff’s younger sister, Elizabeth Kudrin, died earlier this year in February.

The two said very little about their childhood experiences as prisoners of war, except that they suffered from constant starvation.

 

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Friday, November 24, 2023

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When water solutions are discussed, many utility and business leaders are in the room. But at the annual One Water Summit recently held in Tucson, Ariz., some Indigenous youth got a chance to weigh in, too.

Emma VandenEinde reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.

It was the last session of the conference.

Some of the youth were not sure if anyone would show up. But after the session was over, several attendees in the room were in tears.

The youth are members of EcoTruths for Indigenous Youth, a team of students who are taught by elders about the earth and environmental policy.

Eight-year-old Kii’yaa’nii Ross is Diné, Yaqui, and Purepecha. She has one goal in mind.

“In golf courses, they’re wasting a lot of water, like gallons of gallons of water year after year. And they should use dirt instead because, like, come on we’re in the desert.”

Some youth expressed the need to balance housing development with water conservation.

Others want to control water runoff with Native plants. But the youth felt honored that they were listened to and hope more leaders will do the same, as their solutions will impact the rest of their lives. 

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

Mazie Countryman outside the U.S. Capital Building during the White House Tribal Youth Forum this November. (Courtesy Mazie Countryman)

A group of Native youth advocates recently attended a Tribal Youth Forum in Washington, D.C.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann spoke with a young woman from the Wind River Reservation who went to the event.

Mazie Countryman is a sophomore at Idaho State University. In addition to being a full-time student, she’s part of the executive committee for the United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) organization. She’s an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho tribe.

Countryman, along with ten other Native youth leaders from the group, went to Washington D.C. earlier this month. Countryman spoke on a panel about boarding schools and the Indian Child Welfare Act.

“Most of our grandparents have gone through a residential school and have lived through that, and they just wanted us to give our perspective on how it has affected us through generations.”

The forum is in its third year. Its goal is to create a space for federal officials to hear directly from Native youth.

Countryman says when she graduates she wants to work as a pharmacist on a reservation while continuing to advocate for Native youth. 

Young Niizh (Gideon Starr), young Dora (Charlotte Cutler), and young Bezhig (Keris Hope Hill). (Photo: Steve Ackerman / PBS)

Little Bird is now streaming on PBS, and as Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA tells us, it’s a Canadian series that examines self-discovery and the Sixties Scoop.

A new series is making waves in Canada with themes of discovering one’s identity, the Sixties Scoop, and Indigenous narrative sovereignty.

The series is called Little Bird and is streaming on Crave, a streaming platform, and has become one of its first drama series.

What makes this series stand out the most, beyond the material, are the writers and producers behind the series.

Jennifer Podemski is an Anishinaabe (First Nation) and Ashkenazi (Jewish) woman and worked on the show for several years.

She is a producer, actress, and director and began her work on Little Bird as early as 2015.

She has been telling stories from an Indigenous perspective throughout her career.

“It makes, I think, all the difference because the complexity that comes from authentic storytelling is so much more rich and layered and nuanced than what you get when other people tell our stories.”

The series focuses on an Indigenous woman who is taken in something called “the Sixties Scoop, ” a period in the 1950s to 1980s where young Indigenous children were stolen and adopted out to non-Indigenous families as a way to assimilate them.

“Hundreds of thousands of children were moved during the time. And although it does not represent every person’s story, we’ve done our best to create a story that does reflect the most collective experience possible.”

Podemski says that talking about these issues can highlight overlooked parts of history.

“We have a lot of history to retell. In order to catch up with our modern scenarios. And start to imagine ourselves into the future.”

Podemski is hopeful about the impact that stories like Little Bird will have on our future and reshaping traditionally exclusionary media like television to include Indigenous stories by Indigenous people.

 

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Thursday, November 23, 2023

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In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we’re celebrating Native arts and cultures.

Today, we’re featuring an exhibit in Santa Fe, N.M. exploring the art of parka making.

“To Keep Them Warm” at the Museum of International Folk Art explores the art of the Alaska Native parka.

“The parka is so much more than just its final product, you know, the final parka. It’s a whole outlook on the world.”

Melissa Shaginoff is co-curator of the exhibit.

“It’s about having relationship with the land and the animals and with each other. The spirit of Ghhúunayúkata, or to keep them warm, is really this gift of love, you know, and wanting to warm our family. But also to honor the land and the animals.”

The exhibit features 20 parkas from the mid-19th century to more contemporary ones.

“This exhibit is really about the whole story of parka making and really about…how we relate to each other, from the hunter to the parka maker to the person who is gifted a parka. It’s really a whole story, and it’s so much more than just a garment. It really represents our whole culture and how everything is interrelated through kinship and through a deep respect and love for each other.”

The traditional garments were made for survival in harsh environments.

The collection here represents Yup’ik, Inupiaq, Unangan, Dena’ina, Koyukon, and St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik.

“So you have everything from you know caribou to bear guts to fish skin…to bird skins. We have we try to represent as much as animal material is used in Alaska as we could…So, as parka making continues to change and adjust just as our traditions are fluid and changes and adjusts, you see this transition from sinew into sort of modern uses of thread, and then contemporary parkas from neon shoes strings, to velveteen and beadwork as well.”

A rich selection of drawings, photographic portraits, dolls, and other art are shown through the space – all by Indigenous people.

Shaginoff says there’s a deep connection between people in the North and the Southwest.

“I think that, you know, as we continue to show who we are and tell our stories, we’re only going to strengthen the interconnectedness that, you know, our ancestors knew that we needed to survive.”

The exhibit is showing through April 2024 and is of no cost to Alaska Native and Pueblo people.

The National Endowment for the Humanities, which provides funding for humanities projects across the country, is working with the Interior Department on the agency’s Indian boarding school initiative.

Shelly Lowe (Diné), chair of NEH, says part of the work is to support projects that bring people together and tell stories in history not often taught in school.

“One of the things that we have been doing is supporting the work that they’ve been doing in the archives to pull out records of federal Indian boarding schools to digitize that material, and to eventually make that material available to the public so that we can have an understanding of this experience of this history in the United States. And that we can create materials to teach this history so that everybody knows that this happened, and the effects of the boarding schools, on tribes and communities in the United States.”

Lowe says next steps includes finding ways to support tribes and communities that have shared their stories.

“One of the ways that we want to do that is to help really support language revitalization, language programs for tribes and cultural revitalization, those two things that were really kind of stripped away from tribes and communities through the boarding school experience. And that’s just one example of some of the work that we want to continue moving forward.”

Lowe talked about the initiative during a recent visit to Alaska.

 

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Wednesday, November 22, 2023

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Hundreds of water leaders gathered recently in Tucson, Ariz., for the One Water Summit.

The goal was to discuss ways to conserve water.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau talked with some Indigenous leaders about tackling it.

The Indigenous Resilience Center was created at the University of Arizona in 2021 to work with tribes on environmental solutions.

The center puts tribes first by giving them control over the water data it collects and only steps into a project when invited. 

They’ve worked on projects like setting up solar water systems that do not rely on electricity, or providing an off-grid water filtration system. 

Vicky Karanikola has been part of some projects.

She says their goal is to not just make a technology and walk away.

“If it’s not being used after we are gone or the communities don’t want it, then we need to go back to the drawing table and figure out what it is that was not working.”

The center received a $2 million grant this month to expand on the projects.

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

Lynn Trujillo, Senior Counselor to the Secretary at the Department of the Interior, speaks with Gov. Joe Lombardo (R=NV) and Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) at a panel on the MMIP crisis at the Western Governors Association winter meeting in Teton Village, Wyo. (Photo: Hannah Habermann / Wyoming Public Media)

A panel discussed solutions to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Crisis at the recent Western Governors Association meeting in Jackson, Wyo.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann has more.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Native American women are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average.

How can state, federal, and tribal groups work together to address this crisis?

That’s what a panel at a conference in Jackson hoped to explore.

It was led by the governors of Nevada and Arizona.

Lynn Trujillo was one of the guest speakers and works for the Department of Interior.

She says one solution rises above the rest.

“I think most importantly, all of us agree, one of the most important factors is funding.”

Trujillo says more funding is needed for law enforcement and for resources for impacted families and communities.

She also highlighted the newly-released 212-page report from the Not Invisible Act Commission, which shares additional recommendations for solving the crisis.

Courtesy CCT F&W / Facebook

The Colville Confederated Tribes have received a unique gift from the Kalispel Tribe.

Steve Jackson reports.

The two tribes have been trading goods for many years.

The Colvilles would often send the Kalispels salmon and the Kailspels would return the favor with bison meat.

Now the Kalispels have upped their annual gift by sending a herd of 30 pure-bred bison.

Colville tribal chairman Jarred Michael Erickson says there are historic records of the tribe hunting bison in the Northwest, including in the Columbia Basin.

Courtesy CCT F&W / Facebook

He says having a living herd on the reservation now is a big deal.

“The cultural and spiritual ties we have to the animals is important to us and it’s great to start to re-establish them back on the landscape hopefully for generations to come for our people.”
The single bull and 29 females will free range as a wild herd in an area near Buffalo Lake on the reservation.
Erickson says the tribal fish and wildlife department will come up with a management plan that will include a decision whether to offer a public hunt of the creatures.

He says the tribe is likely to apply for a $5 million grant from the Department of the Interior.

It will support tribal efforts to be used for bison conservation and expansion.

 

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Tuesday, November 21, 2023

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The Oglala Sioux Tribe has announced a state of emergency due to increasing crime.

Now, tribal government alleges the federal government is not doing enough to support reservation safety.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The declaration was made by Oglala Sioux Tribal government representatives in Rapid City as a result of concerning crime trends over the last few years.

Among the most pressing issues are a murder rate over twice the national average and suicide rates among Native youth that’s well over two-and-a-half-times the average in the rest of the nation.

While the tribe has entered into a mutual aid agreement with regional law enforcement, tribal leaders say the federal government needs to do more.

OST President Frank Star Comes Out says the US government is in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and the Black Hills Act of 1877.

“We don’t live in Indian County, we survive. This needs to change. It’s time to bring awareness to the world that the government has a responsibility to uphold – and that is treaty obligations.”

In multiple treaties dating as far back as 1825, the United States Government is named as a responsible entity in protecting the Oglala Sioux Tribe and its people from “bad men.”

Further, the 1877 Black Hills act formalized the existence of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the cede of the Black Hills to the American government.

That treaty was signed after the “sell or starve” rider cut off all rations to the Sioux people.

Those treaty interpretations led to a lawsuit last year that continues to move through the court system.

This May, a federal judge ruled the federal government does have a treaty obligation to fund tribal law enforcement.

OST Council member Anna Halverson reflected on changes she’d seen.

“I feel like a long time ago we maybe dealt with one homicide, maybe once a month or once a year, and now it’s every day. It’s getting to be very horrendous crimes that are being committed.”

Oglala representatives will send the proclamation to lawmakers in DC to agitate for additional support for reservations.

Additionally, President Star Comes Out says he hopes to speak directly with President Joe Biden soon on the matter.

Courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society Press

A new memoir called SURVIVAL FOOD shares tales from growing up on the Menominee Indian Reservation.

The author, Thomas Weso, was born in 1953. He passed away in July before the book was published.

WUWM’s Lina Tran has more.

Thomas Weso grew up in a time of economic transformation – when commodity goods were eaten alongside game from Wisconsin’s Northwoods. And then there was the rise of processed foods.

He often wrote about food. Here he is speaking in a 2021 interview with Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

“We should think about where food comes from. Because if we think where food comes from, we’ll take better care of the land around us.”

Weso’s wife, the writer Denise Low, says he was interested in writing about Indigenous people in the present.

“He had a very zen sense of like, “What’s here now?” and not “what were Indians like, or Indigenous people like, 100 years ago? Here we are now.”

Courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society Press

That’s why you’ll find all kinds of recipes in the new book, from tamale pie to turtle soup.

There’s instructions on how to forage milkweed pods, which Weso writes are tasty with butter. But he likes mixing them with canned tuna into boxed mac and cheese.

“He doesn’t just stick to Indigenous food. He tries to embrace the diner foods that he loved also. And to accept that there was an intermixture.”

Weso’s taste celebrated that unique mix, found only in Wisconsin, on the Menominee reservation.

 

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