Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Schools are coming to end across the U.S. and graduating Native high school students who want to wear tribal regalia at their ceremonies, in many cases are not allowed to.

In California, a law protects the right to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

Christina Aanestad reports.

California’s first Native American lawmaker, State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), is reminding the near 1,000 school districts and 9,000 schools across the state to respect Native students’ rights to wear tribal regalia at their graduation ceremonies.

“We urge local school administrators to know the law and respect the rights of our Native American students and to celebrate with them and to honor then and allowing them to move forward with their constitutional right to wear tribal regalia.”

His statement comes after Jessica Lopez, former chair of the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu Indians, said she had to argue with school district officials about her son’s right to wear regalia at his graduation.

California lawmakers passed legislation in 2018, allowing tribal regalia, in most cases, at graduation ceremonies.

In 2021, they passed another bill, to establish a task force educating school districts about the legislation giving students that right, but some districts still are unaware.

A Cochiti Pueblo artist opened a new exhibit in Colorado called Virgil Ortiz Revolt 1680/2180: Runners and Gliders.

It looks at the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in a futuristic light.

In part two of her special series, Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau shows how it’s made an impact on visitors.

The exhibit opened to the public this month. Jeremy Morton with History Colorado says this is unlike anything the museum’s done before, pushing the boundaries of how history can be taught.

“Someone who is maybe not a history person, maybe not a history buff, is able to look at this exhibit and create this association of, wow. I didn’t realize history could be told in this unique, interesting sort of cool way.”

It’s left an impact on some visitors like Heider Tun, a college history professor in Denver.

He’s Yucatec Maya and he says he struggles to remind himself that his people are still here.

“I think this exhibition brings this idea that we are not just here, but that we are modern, we are part of the future as well.”

Kat Lovato, who’s part Jicarilla Apache, also came to see the exhibit.

She came dressed to the event in traditional regalia.

“Everything that Virgil does, that has an emphasis on the Indigenous population in the wars and everything, it matters to us.”

She hopes exhibits like these educate people about Indigenous history.

People like Emmaline Cheroutes, her 8 year-old granddaughter.

“I love learning about our family’s history…and people need to know.”

Virgil Ortiz, the lead artist of the exhibit, agrees.

“Every time the people talk about indigenous people, it’s like in the past, right? … I just want them to acknowledge and know that we’re still here, living and thriving, creating.”

He hopes that other Indigenous communities can join him in his mission to highlight their prevalence – in Colorado and throughout the Mountain West.

“I really want them to come speak up and tell their history, all of their ancestors, and be acknowledged of how we’re all still here together.”

Virgil Ortiz Revolt 1680/2180: Runners and Gliders is on display at History Colorado until next May.

Suzan Shown Harjo was one of five people to receive an honorary degree from Princeton University on Tuesday during its 2023 commencement ceremony.

The advocate, poet, and president of the Morning Star Institute was honored for her lifelong work advocating for Native rights.

 

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Advocates for clean water have reached a settlement with a north Idaho business over stormwater that’s discharged into a tributary to the Spokane River.

Spokane Public Radio’s Steve Jackson reports.

CHS Incorporated deals with transporting fertilizer and agricultural chemicals.

The company was found to have violated a stormwater permit, by allowing runoff that contained excessive sediment, and minerals such as copper and zinc, to flow into Rock Creek, a tributary of Hangman Creek.

The Coeur d Alene Tribe and the Spokane Riverkeeper told the company they planned to sue, and after negotiations, a settlement was reached.

Spokane Riverkeeper Jerry White says CHS agreed to modify a basin where the stormwater is collected.

The company also agreed to put $152,000 into a fund that aids Coeur d’Alene Tribe environmental projects.

“The Coeur d’Alene tribe is doing amazing work, and will do amazing work with this fund to intercept and stop pollution with the creek restoration they are doing above this facility.”

White says the work will help benefit chinook salmon and redband trout.

Both types of fish were hurt by the sediment and minerals in the plant’s runoff.

A Cochiti Pueblo artist is showcasing his latest work at a museum in Colorado, using contemporary art to blend historic events with futuristic elements.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau has more.

The year is 2180.

The New Mexico pueblos are under attack by Spanish invaders.

Two leaders in metallic combat gear – Omtua and Catua – are going to each Pueblo to share the news about an uprising.

That’s the premise of Virgil Ortiz Revolt 1680 2180: Runners and Gliders.

The new exhibit at Denver’s History Colorado museum blends augmented reality and futuristic fashion with more than 800-year-old pottery.

It’s an artistic expression that’s based on the true story of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

“It’s America’s first revolution, but it’s not called that or taught that because of the bloodshed.”

That’s Virgil Ortiz, lead artist on the project.

His ancestors told him about how tribal runners coordinated the revolt against the Spanish using knotted deer hide.

“At each pueblo, they dropped off a knotted cord to all the leaders and they instructed them to untie one knot every morning. So on the the day when the last knot was untied, then all the people rose up and pushed out the invaders.”

Experts call it the most successful Indigenous uprising in North American history, even though it has rarely been taught in schools.

“So I’m trying to educate globally about what happened to our people, the atrocities of bloodshed and eventually the peace that came after it, but using art.”

But this isn’t your average exhibit.

It explores the concept called Slipstream, where events in the past, present and future are occurring at the same time.

Wren Batista modeled for the exhibit.

“I’ve got this awesome silver crocodile skin patterned chest piece on with a spiky sort of headdress coming out of the back. And it’s all very sci-fi and transformative.”

The exhibit also features a projection room with colored lights, Indigenous symbols and characters searching for artifacts.

Batista says the layout of the exhibit shows that Indigenous history transcends time.

“That heritage has survived on despite the violence, despite the colonialism against them. And so to see it finally being socially relevant, to see voices like Virgil’s being highlighted by history centers is such an awesome turn of tides.”

Tune in to our next episode for part two and hear how the exhibit has made an impact on visitors

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

A young Yup’ik man from Kipnuk, Alaska, joined TikTok in 2020, making videos of his everyday life living in a rural village just for fun. He couldn’t have predicted what following he would grow.

Martin Paul, 19, has over 140,000 followers and growing.

A majority of his videos are funny Native humor skits, but he also shares what it’s like living in a rural village including his Yup’ik culture and dancing.

Paul says he never imagined his videos would go viral.

“I started just wanting to share the Yup’ik culture, the Native culture on my platform. We have to share our culture to keep it alive, that’s very important, and my account just started growing and growing because people found that kind of thing interesting.”

Martin shares videos of riding on snow machines and four wheelers, the only form of transportation in his village, as well as videos of him going out in negative -20 F weather to get ice.

“In most of rural Alaska, there is no running water still. So what do we do? We get ice. There’s other ways to get water, but at the place I am at right now, Kipnuk, Alaska, we get water from ice.”

As for Paul’s funny Native humor skits, he says he gets his ideas from various places.

“A lot of the skits are do are memories I’ve had in the past, or experiences I’ve had. Or I’d hear a story from my parents or grandparents, and I’d act it out in a way, and just say whatever Is on my mind and the native humor would just come out,” Paul said.

Like this skit about being a Native weather man.

“Native weather report, super windy, the wind is winding, probably about thirty knots with the wind chill of twenty. And it’s slippery so, you know, you gotta be careful, because you might end up slipping into my arms.”

@nativevoiceone @martin.h21 chatted with Jill Fratis from our flagship station #KNBA about his @TikTok channel and high kicking at the #Native ♬ original sound – Native Voice One

Paul finds a balance on his channel sharing funny and informative content, but he says that because of his elders, he wants to make sure sharing his culture goes above all else.

“Well, the elders would always tell me to keep the culture alive. I grew up Yup’ik dancing, and I was always encouraged by my elders to always keep the songs alive, because they go way back and it’s so important to keep it alive basically.”

Paul says the best thing to come out of his channel is when people from all over the world reach out to to say what his videos have done for them.

“Quite a bit of people have told me that, ‘hey your videos make me happy when I’m sad,’ they’d say hey the song you posted was so relatable to me. There were a few people that nearly made me cry they were like ‘your song saved me’ or like your videos, I don’t know. Hearing that it meant so much to me.”

Martin is taking a break from college to be with family and spend time his home town, and continues to share his culture, humor, and life.

Complete with the pen President Joe Biden used to sign the RESPECT Act, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) recently presented a framed copy of the law to Oglala Sioux President Frank Star Comes Out.

Sen. Rounds sponsored the act.

It repealed eleven laws that, while not enforced, directly discriminated against Native peoples in American legal code.

Among other issues, these laws gave the federal government the right to ignore treaties, take Native children from families for placement in boarding schools, and economically disadvantage Native communities considered “hostile.”

Sen. Rounds said the bill represents a four-year effort.

“It is symbolic, but I think it sends the message that it’s time to turn the table between the federal government and the tribes and show the respect that sometimes has not been shown in the past. It would not have happened if it wasn’t for your work, and the work of a number of other tribes around the United States.”

Star Comes Out is also a representative of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

 

 

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Lake County commissioners Thursday delayed a decision about whether to stop county law enforcement work on the Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports the county is waiting for a court to weigh in.

Lake County commissioners pushed back the effective date for a resolution that would have stopped law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation this week.

Commissioners say the county will continue policing the reservation while a court case to determine whether the county or state is financially responsible for that work plays out.

The county filed that lawsuit last year.

Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) recently vetoed a bill to pay Lake County $5 million over the next two years, arguing the state isn’t responsible for paying for law enforcement on the reservation.

Lake County, the state, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) entered into an agreement in the 1960s giving the county police jurisdiction, but it’s long been a question of who pays for those services.

The CSKT have repeatedly declined to comment on the issue.

The Lake County district court could make a ruling on the case this summer.

A new study in Southwest Alaska on COVID-19 vaccinations shows a high rate of success.

As reported in the Alaska Beacon, the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) tracked COVID cases throughout 2021 and found vaccines were 92% effective in preventing hospitalizations over the year.

They also helped to head off serious cases.

The mostly Yup’ik communities in the region have no road systems to distribute the vaccines, a lack of piped water and sanitation systems, and chronic overcrowding in homes – factors that put them at high risk for the spread of COVID.

Tribal governments and other health organizations helped to mobilize bush planes and snow machines to get the vaccine out to remote areas.

The study found that protection waned as the virus mutated but bounced back after booster shots.

YKHC says the study could have lessons for tribes across the nation.

The recognition for an Alaska Native soldier comes almost eighty years after he died in action in World War II.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA brings us the story of Pfc. George Fox, who grew up in Unga, a tiny village in the Shumagin Islands, that today has no inhabitants.

He signed up for the Army in 1941 just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The last his family heard from him was in a letter to his father, dated May 17, 1944, written in Italy, in which he downplayed the dangers he faced.

He said he was finally seeing a little action, but told his family not to worry about him.

Instead, he asked about the price of salmon and wrote, “I sure would like to be fishing again. This makes three seasons that I’ve missed.”

Two weeks later, Pfc. Fox died near Anzio Beach, a bloody campaign in which Allied Forces lost 800 soldiers a day.

“He was literally fighting the Nazis. A bomb exploded near him.”

Michael Livingston has spent almost a decade researching Pfc. Fox’s story.

He says he one of the forgotten soldiers of World War II – and the only Unangax to die in that war.

He says Pfc. Fox was buried in Italy, his remains later sent to Unalaska, where he was buried in an unmarked grave on a rocky hillside next to his mother, hidden underneath bushes that grew over his grave.

“Eighty years is really a long time for unfinished business. Pfc. George Fox should have been recognized in 1944 after he was killed in action.”

Last year, a headstone went up on Pfc. Fox’s grave followed by a full military ceremony.

This year, efforts to acknowledge his service continue. Pfc. Fox’s name was added to a fallen soldier’s memorial in Anchorage.

“You can see at the very bottom here, Pfc. George Fox’s name has been added, it was just added a few days ago. This is the first time that, since this wall was erected, that a new name has been added.”

Livingston doesn’t know why Pfc. Fox’s service was forgotten, possibly because he was an Alaska Native from a remote part of the world.

Livingston took some rubbings of the engraving for Pfc. Fox’s family.

As the black crayon rubbed the paper, and Pfc. Fox’s name emerged, Livingston said it was metaphor for what had happened – that Pfc. Fox’s sacrifice, once forgotten, is now finally coming into focus.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) has vetoed a bill that would have funded Lake County’s law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.

The bill would have used state money to pay Lake County $5 million for providing law enforcement on the reservation.

County officials have argued residents can no longer afford to pay for those services.

Lake County, the state, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) entered into an agreement in the 1960s outlining that the county would provide law enforcement on the reservation.

Lake County commissioners earlier this year withdrew from the agreement, saying that the state is responsible for picking up the work later this year.

Gov. Gianforte wrote in his veto letter that when Lake County entered into the 1960 agreement, it “agreed to bear the corresponding costs for the benefit of its residents, both tribal and non-tribal.”

Gov. Gianforte also said the state isn’t responsible for funding law enforcement on the reservation and pointed out the county had opposed handing over law enforcement jurisdiction to CSKT in the past.

Tribal officials did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

In Rapid City, S.D., Native leaders met with federal emergency response agencies, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, and elected representatives to improve local disaster response strategies.

This comes after harsh storms froze South Dakota’s reservations all winter.

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

It was a winter sure to be remembered on the Rosebud Reservation near the Nebraska border, where infrastructure was tested by blizzard snowfall measured in the feet rather than inches.

U.S  Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) spoke at the event.

He says this is an opportunity to establish connections before emergencies like that happen again.

“With regard to tribal trust land and land that is on the reservations, primary authority for law enforcement, for zoning and so forth lies with the tribe. You want to make sure that you’re communicating or coordinating with law enforcement. If you talk about it in advance before you have the emergency, then those individuals know one another, and they’re better able to respond when they know each other and they know whose responsibility it is, and they know where the resources are at.”

He says while the federal government wants to help tribes in these situations, there is an unavoidable sovereignty question.

“We all recognize there is a sovereignty among the tribes, but that sovereignty works fine until you need resources that the tribe does not have immediately on hand. That’s when you say okay, we have different levels of government, how do we work together so that we can provide the immediate assistance to the people that expect us to be able to help them.”

Frank Star Comes Out is the President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

He said he appreciates seeing first-hand efforts.

“The main thing is communication, the talks. We’re getting that out there, starting to organize, getting these resources from different government agencies to come out to Indian country, meet with us personally, and really take a look at how life is on our reservations.”

Among other groups, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, FEMA, and the BIA were present.

U.S. Sens Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and more than 20 of their colleagues have reintroduced the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies in the United States Act.

The legislation was first introduced in 2020 by then-U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo/D-NM).

It was then reintroduced in 2021 by U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk/D-KS) and U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw/R-OK).

The bill would establish a formal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge the impacts of federal Indian boarding school policies on Native Americans.

The commission would also develop recommendations for Congress for healing efforts and to provide a forum for the sharing of personal experiences.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

A push to establish a new national monument near the Grand Canyon gained steam recently with the visit of U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, for years, tribes and environmentalists have advocated for added protections in the area.

Sec. Haaland met with leaders of the Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, and other members of the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition.

They’re urging President Joe Biden to declare the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

The meeting highlighted the tribes’ connections to the area and their efforts to protect more than a million acres adjacent to the national park from future uranium and other hardrock mining.

Carletta Tilousi is a former Havasupai Council member and a spokesperson for the coalition.

“This attempt to declare the Grand Canyon a national monument is very historical because all the tribes once again have come together to unite in one voice and one mission.”

Tribes and conservation groups say uranium mining threatens the Grand Canyon’s environment as well as many sacred sites and tribal water resources.

The mining industry, however, maintains that modern extraction methods are safe.

A 20-year federal moratorium paused new claims in 2012, but a monument designation would make the mining ban permanent.

Previous attempts have failed in Congress since 2008, but the current push is being driven by tribes and is aimed at a presidential proclamation through the Antiquities Act.

After a recent two-day trial, a Ketchikan Superior Court judge ruled that a list of 14 traditional tribal values can keep its place in Ketchikan schools in Alaska.

KRBD’s Raegan Miller reports.

The values were created years ago by Southeast Alaska Native leaders, and include items like “hold each other up” and “speak with care.” But parents Justin Breese and Rebecca King sued the school district, alleging that one of the values, “reverence for our creator,” was a religious statement that violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

They asked for the posters to be taken down from common areas and removed from a behavior reward system at Ketchikan Charter School, where King teaches kindergarten.

They wanted the values incorporated into lessons, instead.

King testified during the first day of the trial.

“I interpret it as the promotion of creationism, whether that be by Raven or God or another supernatural entity outside of ourselves or science.”

Sealaska Heritage Institute president Rosita Worl testified as an expert witness on behalf of the district.

“In our culture, reverence for, you know, our creator doesn’t refer to any god or any deity that we worship. That’s absolutely not within our culture. Within our culture, creator could refer to multiple beings.”

In the written decision, Judge Katherine Lybrand said that the plaintiffs didn’t prove the statement was religious. And, Lybrand ruled, even if it was religious, it still wouldn’t be a violation of the clause, because the display of the posters isn’t forcing a certain behavior.

“The mere display of the posters around the District’s schools does not foster excessive entanglement or coerce students to believe a certain thing and in fact there was no testimony that any student has felt coerced in any way.”

Lybrand echoed testimony from expert witnesses saying the posters were hung to encourage cultural awareness, not a particular behavior.

“The posting of the Southeast Traditional Tribal Values poster has a secular purpose: to promote cross-cultural understanding, place-based learning and strong relationships with the District’s Indigenous student population.”

Additionally, Lybrand compared it more to the Pledge of Allegiance than a religious statement, in the court document..

“Its posting is more akin to reciting the pledge of allegiance than the posting of the Ten Commandments because the poster as a whole demonstrates that its purpose is to promote place-based learning and cross-cultural understanding, not to promote a religious belief,”

Tribal leaders, school officials, advocates, and students are gathering at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday.

They’re asserting rights for Native students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

A 2018 law authorizes the wearing of tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

According to State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), beaded caps, eagle feathers, plumes, and sashes are among adornments schools are prohibiting at graduations, which is against the law.

Rep. Ramos will be leading the event and it will be streamed live on Facebook starting at 4:30p.m. PT.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Although climate change has left some Alaska Native communities just a storm away from destruction, the struggle to get help from government agencies is just as daunting, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

An international human rights group hopes to change that.

The Organization of American States is coming to Alaska this week to hear directly from tribes.

Salote Soqo (I-Taukei) oversees a branch of the OAS that advocates for Indigenous peoples, displaced by climate change.

She says her mission is to make sure tribes have a say in what happens and are treated with dignity.

“There’s a lot of commonalities around the issues that they’re experiencing. They are on the front lines of the climate crisis. They’ve been exposed to years and years of government neglect.”

While state and federal governments do respond to disasters caused by climate change, Soqo says their efforts fall short of helping communities make a long-term recovery or adapt to the threats.

The OAS has partnered with groups like the Alaska Institute for Justice to increase funding and improve government response.

The Institute’s director, Robin Bronen calls the climate crisis one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time.

Yet despite that, she says government efforts are scattered across too many agencies, with no real structure in place to address problems in a systematic way.

“There is an urgency to the climate crisis that the government is struggling to respond to. And our hope is, with this visit, that it will elevate this issue, so that communities all over the United States and especially in Alaska, get the resources that they need to implement their adaptation strategies.”

Bronen says it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to help communities move to safety or recover from disasters. But for Indigenous peoples, there are also cultural, economic, and social impacts that can be equally devastating.

The OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will visit two communities on Thursday – Nunapitchuk on the Kuskokwim River and Kwigillingok on the Bering Sea coast.

On Friday, it heads to Kivalina, a barrier island on the Chukchi Sea.

All three communities plan to move to higher ground.

The commission started the week in Louisiana, where it met with several tribes, which are also being forced to relocate due to climate change.

The Yurok Tribal Council has issued an emergency declaration in response to the fentanyl crisis on and near the Yurok reservation in California.

The declaration directs the Yurok Tribal Court and Yurok Public Health Department to oversee the tribe’s response to the crisis.

According to the tribe, in the last 12 months, fentanyl has taken the lives of Yurok citizens and is impacting families.

Earlier this spring, Yurok law enforcement and justice officials discussed the fentanyl crisis during a legislative roundtable at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

Chief Judge Abby Abinanti with the Yurok Tribal Court told lawmakers there needs to be partnerships and more assistance from the state.

“We cannot ignore this. We need to be in partnerships with our natural partners, law enforcement, it means health services, it means we need mobile clinics in rural areas, we need regional treatment centers not treatment centers we have to go hundreds of miles to that may not have room for us. This is not right. This is a state that can do better and needs to do better.”

The Yurok Tribal Council has also made it mandatory for all tribal government staff to be trained in giving Narcan, which can reverse effects of an opioid overdose.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid, which is said to be 50 times stronger than heroin.

The tribal declaration also includes xylazine, which is a sedative used on animals.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

A new federal grant program has made up to $50 million available to tribes to support harvesting, processing, and packaging Indigenous meats, like salmon, moose, and caribou in Alaska.

As KDLG’s Izzy Ross reports, tribes across the country can now apply for the funding.

Over the past two years, the federal government has worked with tribes to find ways to help support Indigenous food gathering traditions.

Julia Hnilicka, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development program, says the result of that process was the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant.

“It was really out of this consultation, especially as we were moving out of the pandemic, and seeing the worries that a lot of tribes have for food security and food sovereignty, that informed this program.”

The grant is part of the USDA’s Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative, which began in 2021.

The initiative works with organizations that serve tribes to get Indigenous perspectives on how to improve federal food programs.

The grant doesn’t set limits on the amount of money tribes can apply for, but there are a few restrictions: Projects must involve Indigenous animals and meat processing activities and can’t be used to buy land, meat, or animals.

Still, Hnilicka says, the program was designed with tribal governments in mind.

“There is just so much flexibility within this money, it can be something from like a four wheeler to move animals to an entire distribution center. It really, really depends on what the tribe’s needs are.”

Grants are available for tribes across the country, and Hnilicka says there’s a good chance tribal nations in Alaska could tap into a large portion of what’s available.

“I do know that they are really looking for networks that can reach across the nation, but also across tribes, as well. So there is an opportunity with these monies for tribal governments to band together and to submit co-applications.”

The mid-July deadline is in the middle of summer fishing and harvesting, already a busy time in Alaska.

“It’s unfortunate that the window falls during this timeframe from now until July 19. But this could be the only time so I really, really encourage everybody who can apply for this to do so.”

Hnilicka says anyone interested in applying should reach out with questions.

More information on the grant can be found at the USDA’s website.

Killers of the Flower Moon premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film is directed by Martin Scorsese, based on a best-selling book about the Osage Nation and oil.

In the 1920s, after oil is found on Osage land, Osage people are killed and the FBI investigates.

The Osage News reports, at the end of the film premier in France, there was a nine-minute standing ovation from the audience for the director and actors, which include Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro.

During a press conference at Cannes, chief of the Osage Nation Geoffrey Standing Bear says the tribe expressed they wanted to make sure they did not lose their voice in the story.

“Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese how are you going to approach this story and he said I’m going to tell a story about trust, trust between Molly and Earnest, trust between the outside word and Osage, and a betrayal of those trusts, deep betrayal. My people suffered greatly and to this day those effects are with us, but I can say on behalf of the Osage, Martin Scorsese, and his team have restored trust.”

Chief Standing Bear says Osage people were extras in the film and were behind the camera, they also made costumes, music, and the Osage language is featured in the film.

Killers of the Flower Moon is scheduled to be released in theaters in October.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

When two major tribal organizations pulled-out of the Alaska Federation of Natives last week, many wondered how AFN would respond.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, AFN is saying very little and asking its early leaders to do the talking.

Tlingit and Haida and the Tanana Chiefs Conference are among some of the largest tribal organizations in the state.

Their sudden exit brings the number of recent departures from AFN to five, including three prominent Native corporations the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon, and the Aleut Corporation.

After AFN held its quarterly board meeting this week, it announced plans for its next convention, but only made brief mention of the departures.

Instead, it said it had asked a few of its founders to reflect on the sacrifices made to form AFN, apparently for the benefit of today’s leaders.

“They’re living the dream that their grandparents sacrificed for.”

Emil Notti was one of those invited to speak at the meeting.

He was the first president of AFN, which successfully fought for one of the largest land claims settlements in U.S. history.

Notti says he told the AFN board how early leaders donated a lot of time and effort to fight for land claims at a great personal cost.

Members passed the hat to pay for the travel to Washington D.C.

Natives across the state gave what they could, even if they could only spare a few dollars.

Some mortgaged their homes.

He says today’s leaders have good jobs and good educations, things they take for granted.

“AFN is a gift to them from their ancestors and grandfathers who donated money to make a strong organization, and that they should do what they can to keep it.”

Notti worries that the strength of the organization could be lost, little by little — and Natives, as a group, could lose power.

Tlingit and Haida’s president Richard Peterson has said the decision is not meant as an attack on AFN – but instead, a sign that the organization is ready to do its own advocacy and no longer needs AFN.

Tanana Chiefs has said AFN hasn’t done enough to protect subsistence.

But many have wondered if there were other reasons for the sudden exits, including Rosita Worl, head of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, a non-profit founded by Sealaska, the regional corporation for Southeast Alaska.

“You know what? I absolutely don’t know what it could be. Everyone was startled and none of us had any inkling of it.”

Worl believes Tlingit and Haida’s departure from AFN could affect both Sealaska shareholders and tribal members, who should have been included in a wider conversation.

Some Native leaders have wondered if dissatisfaction with AFN’s longtime president, Julie Kitka, was behind the move.

Worl hopes that’s not true, because she says Kitka has been highly effective.

She pointed to AFN’s Alaska Day in Washington D.C. this March, which brought six White House cabinet members and four generals together, to meet with Alaska Native leaders.

Worl says she sat next to Pete Buttigieg, President Biden’s transportation secretary.

“I mean, we have someone at the leadership helm who can pick up the phone and call the White House and can command that kind of presence of national leaders.”

Both Rosita Worl and Emil Notti say they hope the groups, which have left AFN, will do what the organization did in the old days – meet and talk out their differences.

This week, the first lady made a quick stop in Bethel, AK, where she highlighted the administration’s broadband investments.

KYUK’s Francisco Martinezcuello reports.

Jill Biden, along with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), were warmly greeted on the tarmac by U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK); Rose Dunleavy (Inupiaq), the first lady of the State of Alaska; and Bethel Mayor Rose “Sugar” Henderson, during a quick visit to Bethel where internet access is very limited.

The First Lady highlighted a broadband fiber optic extension being constructed this year.

“This is one of the largest tribal broadband expansions in the country. With high-speed internet, you’ll have better access to critical healthcare, new educational tools, and remote job opportunities. It will change lives. It will save lives.”

The Biden Administration has awarded $386 million in Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) grants to 21 projects throughout Alaska, with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2021.

In 2022, the Biden Administration awarded roughly $125 million in funding to two broadband infrastructure deployment projects in the YK Delta. One of these projects is the Alaska FiberOptic Project.

The other funding is going directly to the Airraq network, an initiative developed in partnership from the Bethel Native Corporation, and GCI – Alaska’s largest telecommunications company.

“An Airraq isn’t the story itself. It’s a tool that helps us tell it. A simple string that becomes a thing of beauty with the creativity and joy and hope we bring to it. The connections of this community are already deep. But with Airraq, you will be able to bring them to life in new ways.”

After the speech, there was a performance from Ayaprun Elitnaurvik students and Biden was given a red, white and blue kuspuk.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced $16 million in funding for projects to help increase participation in WIC, which provides supplements foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education to women, infants, and children.

Some tribal programs are among the 36 projects to receive funding.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) and others say fake health care providers have defrauded the state out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the schemes allegedly target Native American communities.

Officials say for nearly three years more than 100 treatment centers in the Phoenix area have fraudulently billed Arizona’s Medicaid system for services they didn’t deliver.

The providers often lure Native Americans from reservations who’re experiencing homelessness or have mental health or substance abuse problems.

The would-be patients are frequently held against their will and rarely given the promised treatment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI have been investigating.

Antoinette Ferrari is an FBI special agent.

“These individuals are targeting Native Americans because there’s a lower threshold in order to bill for behavioral health services. So, we’re just seeing a mismatch between what’s actually happening and what is supposed to happen.”

At a press conference, Gov. Hobbs called the situation a “humanitarian crisis” that’s believed to have contributed to the epidemic of missing Indigenous people.

She said the providers have been cut off from receiving payments and other systemic reforms will be put in place.

So far, 45 indictments have been handed down and about $75 million have been recovered.

A statewide hotline has been set up to report missing people.

Many victims are believed to be members of the Navajo Nation, and according to Attorney General Ethel Branch, the tribe will open a command center to assist victims and families.

After more than nine months of debate, the scope of an Alaska planning group will shrink to no longer include 3.5 million acres and an Alaska Native village within its boundaries.

Riley Board with KDLL in Kenai, AK reports.

On Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, two communities on opposite sides of a major waterway have been in conflict for months over the scope of a land planning group based out of the east side community of Nikiski.

The planning group was established last September following advocacy from residents who wanted a say in local planning decisions.

The original boundaries encompassed Nikiski, surrounding land on the east side of Cook Inlet, and millions of acres on the west side — within them, the Native Village of Tyonek.

Representatives from Nikiski argued the two areas, though geographically separated, were one community.

But westside residents rejected the description of the westside as a part of the Nikiski community, and said the decision to form the planning group was made without their consent.

In December, local officials introduced an ordinance to reduce the size of the planning area’s boundaries.

This week, the borough’s governing body, the borough assembly, finally voted to reduce the area to just the east side of the inlet, following several proposed amendments and a lengthy postponement.

Assembly President Brent Johnson said it was important to honor the input from the west side, which included dozens of letters from Tyonek residents and peninsula Native corporations.

“I’m looking at the strong feelings of the folks that live on the other side of the inlet in the Tyonek area.

They have strong feelings, and they don’t want to have an APC that’s on the east side telling people on the west side what to do.”

The group’s new boundaries include about 300 thousand acres, which still makes it the largest of its kind in the borough.

First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Bethel, AK Wednesday.

She highlighted the administration’s work to improve broadband in the Y-K Delta, which Biden says will help with health care, education, and jobs.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) joined the first lady on the visit.

This was the first-ever visit by a first lady to Bethel.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.