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The National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund are hosting a virtual roundtable for tribal leaders to discuss potential impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta.

The high court Wednesday, ruled 5-4, Oklahoma can prosecute non-Indians for crimes against Indians in Indian Country.

The decision is a reversal of the precedent set by the court in its 2020 landmark McGirt decision, which held states do not have authority.

National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp called the ruling an attack on tribal sovereignty.

John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, agrees, saying the unauthorized and unconsented intrusions on tribal sovereignty are antithetical to tribal sovereignty and tribal treaty rights.

The Native organizations are continuing to analyze the decision saying the consequences for tribes, the federal government, and states will take time to unravel.

The tribal leader roundtable is scheduled to take place next week.

The newest group of Navajo Nation police officers recently graduated from the tribe’s training academy. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, they’ll join a department tasked with patrolling the largest reservation in the United States.

Ten men and women attended a ceremony in Crownpoint, New Mexico last Saturday to receive their police badges.

They make up the 57th Navajo Nation Police Training Academy Class, and will now work on the 27,000 sq. m. reservation that includes parts of northern Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

The 28-week training course that recruits undergo focuses on academics, crime scene management, de-escalation techniques, and several other areas of policing.

Navajo Police Chief Daryl Noon attended the ceremony and said 32 people began the course last December. It comes as the Navajo Police Department has faced myriad challenges like officer retention and funding.

A report last year called for several major reforms including doubling the number of officers who patrol the vast reservation in order to improve public safety.

Navajo President Jonathan Nez, who also attended the graduation, said the tribe has raised police salaries in order to retain officers, and has also created a new enforcement program to fight drug use and sales as well as bootlegging and violent crimes.

President Nez also said the force has begun incorporating traditional Navajo beliefs into how it addresses substance abuse, suicide, missing and murdered Indigenous people, and other persistent issues that officers commonly face on the reservation.

The Onondaga Nation, the state of New York, and the U.S. Interior Department announced Wednesday, an agreement to return more than 1,000 acres of land back to the tribal nation.

The agreement, which stems from a 2018 settlement with the company Honeywell, directs the company to transfer the land in Central New York’s Tully Valley to the Onondaga Nation.

It’s said to be one of the largest returns of land by any state to a tribe. Plans are to restore and manage the land, which includes wetlands, forests, floodplains, and fields.

The Pointe-au-Chien Tribe in Louisiana is working to create a culturally reflective French immersion school.

Last week, tribal and state leaders took part in a ceremonial signing of bill HB 261, which creates the school.

In recent years, the tribe has made it a priority to maintain the Indian French language after previous efforts to establish an immersion school failed. 

The tribe is focused on creating a school to incorporate the local dialects of Indian French and Cajun French into the curriculum.

The bill passed the legislature without opposition.

 

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The leader of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma says the U.S. Supreme Court has failed its duty to honor the nation’s promises, defied Congress’s statutes, and has disregarded tribal sovereignty.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. made the statement following the high court’s ruling Wednesday siding with Oklahoma, ruling the state can prosecute non-Native Americans when the victim is Native American for crimes on tribal land.

The 5-4 decision undercuts the court’s own 2020 landmark McGirt ruling, which reaffirmed reservation boundaries and held the state did not have jurisdiction.

Chief Hoskin expressed disappointment in Wednesday’s ruling, but said it does not diminish the tribe’s commitment to public safety, and that tribal and federal jurisdiction remain unchanged. He also affirmed unchanged reservation and tribal sovereignty.

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough has officially recognized the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration as a tribal veteran service organization.

It meets the standards to be accredited under the VA Tribal Representation Expansion Program, which helps veterans with benefits and claims.

During a visit to Gallup, New Mexico, on Tuesday, McDonough recognized the tribe. His remarks were streamed live by the Navajo Nation president’s office.

“They are the first tribe to take up this new authority and I’m thrilled we can announce that today and as importantly put it into action that we are living up to our obligations.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez called it a milestone achievement and a big step forward for Navajo veterans.

Five Navajo staff members are accredited to process claims. The accreditation allows employees to represent claims on behalf of veterans.

Before, Navajo veterans would have to travel to VA centers off the reservation. More than 80 claims have been filed since May. According to the tribe, there are about 10,000 Navajo veterans.

Navajo leaders say there is a need for a veterans outreach center and hospital on the reservation to provide services and health care.

Gallup, a reservation border town, has one of the closest Community-Based Outpatient Clinics. It was one of four clinics in the state facing closure.

The VA and members of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation announced this week all four clinics would remain open.

The California State Senate Public Safety Committee approved the “Feather Alert” bill Tuesday evening. The bill (AB 1314) was introduced by Native American State Rep. James Ramos (D-CA).

It would create a state Endangered Missing Advisory system for Native Americans. Creating an alert system was a recommendation from tribal leaders.

Several leaders joined Rep. Ramos and advocates before the committee hearing Tuesday at the state capitol in Sacramento.

Rep. Ramos talked about his bill as a tool to address missing and murdered Indigenous people. 

“This bill brings further attention to end violence on tribal lands and across California. The rates of murdered and missing people in Native American communities is a shameful state and national tragedy that does not receive the scrutiny and attention it deserves. We are excited about this alert system, but even more excited about the growing momentum the momentum to tackle this issue not only from Indian Country by non-Native people – the California Highway Patrol, as well as the state legislature.”

Rep. Ramos says California has the greatest population of Native Americans in the nation and is among states with high rates of reported cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. He says the alert system would help get the word out sooner when an individual is missing or endangered by asking the public for tips and leads as quickly as possible.

The bill is supported by a number of tribes, urban Indian health clinics and Native business councils.

 

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California tribal leaders and state lawmakers are advocating for legislation to help law enforcement and tribes locate missing Native Americans.

They’re gathering in Sacramento Tuesday to announce the “Feather Alert” bill (AB 1314), which will be heard before the Senate Public Safety Committee.

Tribal leaders gathered at the state capitol in May urging legislators to take more urgent action on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Chairwoman Janet Bill of the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians was among leaders to testify at a May 4th hearing in the Select Committee on Native American Affairs.

She urged lawmakers to partner with tribes to help address MMIP in California.

“I’m standing ready to not only keep the dialog going, but ready to roll up my sleeves and get work done and work tirelessly with you and other key stakeholders to ensure this happens. This is an issue that will take every single one of us to come together and solve. It’s incumbent upon tribes, the state and others to partner and work together to make this epidemic a priority and attention it deserves.”

Chairwoman Bill is joining other tribal leaders and lawmakers to announce the “Feather Alert” bill.

The legislation by Native State Rep. James Ramos (D-CA) seeks to create an alert system to issue advisories to help law enforcement and tribes locate missing people. Rep. Ramos in a statement about the bill said there’s much work to do, but this is one step that can help.

A Native American organization in Montana is hoping to increase voter numbers after low turnout during the June primary. Eric Tegethoff has more.

Keaton Sunchild with Western Native Voice says numbers were low even for a midterm primary – at 21% of Native American precincts in Montana. He says new election laws likely affected numbers, especially an end to same-day voter registration.

Sunchild notes same-day signups are used frequently by Native Americans who often live in rural areas and only make one trip to the polls.

“Certainly disappointed with how low the turnout was originally, but we also recognize that there were some new barriers put in place, some confusion with the laws and various lawsuits. As well as turnout is usually lower, as we all know, in midterm elections.”

Restrictive election laws were passed by Montana legislators in 2021, but an injunction had been in place blocking those laws, including an end to same-day voter registration.

However, the state Supreme Court overturned the injunction in May, allowing the restrictive laws to go into place before the primary.

A trial is expected on these laws later this summer.

Western Native Voice is setting up voting kiosks on reservations across the state to ensure people are registered before election day.

Sunchild says the organization is looking at the data and determining where their work will be most impactful.

On Monday, the University of Arizona announced a new program to cover tuition and fees for full-time undergraduates from Arizona’s 22 tribes who study on the university’s main campus in Tucson.

Starting in the fall, new and continuing full-time students may be eligible for the Arizona Native Scholars Grant.

According to the university, it’s the first program of its kind for a public Arizona university.

The program is among initiatives at the university to serve tribes and Native students.

More than 400 Native students were enrolled at the university last year.

Future plans may include expanding the tuition program for graduate students.

A U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs field hearing is taking place Tuesday in Minnesota at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is chairing the hearing to focus on how tribes can use funding for infrastructure needs.

Minnesota tribal leaders and federal officials are expected to attend.

 

 

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Native advocates in New Mexico voice anger over Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to end the federal right to abortion leaving authority up to states.

Elder and lifelong Native advocate Noreen Kelly joined reproductive health and advocacy groups on a press call Friday following news of the ruling.

Kelly says in the Native community women are often the decision makers in the household and men play a role as equal partners.  She says male politicians and judges should not have access to a woman’s body autonomy.

“Our decisions are our own. They’re made with care and there’s reasonings and holiness behind the decisions women make. It really angers me and it saddens me that someone still thinks they can make decisions for women and I appreciate the men that are supporting us. But they didn’t have that right to speak on our behalf.”

Krystal Curly, director of the Native-women led organization Indigenous Lifeways, also attended the press conference. Curly says Native women already face challenges when it comes to health care, and lack of access to abortion.

She adds that in wake of the high court decision, her organization will continue to advocate for Native women’s rights.

“We know that Indigenous women have always been a threat to this colonial system since day one and now 500 plus years, women and pregnant people as a whole are a threat to this colonial system, and it’s now at this time that it is so pivotal we come together and unite.”

Abortion in New Mexico is likely to remain legal while neighboring states in the Southwest are expected to see changes.

The University of Alaska Southeast is set to offer a free option for Alaska Native language classes starting in the Fall. Claire Stremple reports.

X’unei Lance Twitchell is a professor of Alaska Native languages at UAS. He says this is part of revitalizing the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages.

“I think it’s going to be medicinal, I think it’s going to alter the course of the way things are going. And it’s really exciting.”

There has been a decline in Alaska Native languages over the last hundred years due to genocide and assimilation.

Many elders who were birth speakers died during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Twitchell says there has also been a shift in the last decade toward language revitalization.

For example, UAS offered free Tlingit courses during the pandemic. Twitchell says 600 people signed up.

“We didn’t put ourselves in this situation, our language was banished, it was prohibited, it was made illegal. We were tortured and abused, and all kinds of things to get us to stop speaking. So why should we have to pay to learn our own language?”

Arts and Sciences Dean Carin Silkaitis says one of their main jobs is to support faculty and find ways to say “yes.”

“You have to open doors, you have to bring seats to tables. And I think the way to do that is to create more access. And I think creating free curriculum as a way to create more access for people.”

Dean Silkaitis says the free classes are made possible with help from Sealaska Heritage Foundation and a Language Pathways grant.

Students who select the free option won’t earn credits or receive a grade. 

 

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Active shooter preparedness training is being offered to tribal communities across the country by a Louisiana State University academy.

The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education teaches mobile classes in Indian Country.

Robert Holden, the academy’s tribal liaison, says they’ve partnered with many tribes over the years to help them prepare and respond to emergency situations. He says the courses help participants learn how to better protect themselves, their communities and infrastructure from potential threats whether it’s in the classroom, a tribal office or elsewhere in the community.

Holden sees a more urgent need for the training today, pointing to recent gun violence in Texas and New York.

“We have program that provides training to tribal departments, public safety, can be utilized by emergency medical services, fire departments. It helps them to train, the things that they do on a regular basis, but it’s at no cost to tribal governments. We bring everything out, instructors who have taught in foreign nations and states and other entities across the world.”

Holden says the trainings are also tailored to meet Indian Country needs such as, taking into consideration each tribe’s culture, beliefs, decision making processes and jurisdictional issues.

Gun violence has been a hot topic across the country including in the nation’s capital. The U.S. Senate Thursday passed a bipartisan bill to address gun violence, which is now being considered in the House.

The National Congress of American Indians met in Alaska last week for its mid-year conference, focusing on top concerns facing tribal communities. As Emily Schwing reports, some tribal leaders are calling for more unity within the NCAI and others are seeking a shift in how sovereign nations describe and represent themselves.

The day before the mid-year conference convened, NCAI announced its CEO, Dante Desiderio, would not be in attendance. According to the statement, he is observing an administrative leave of absence. The statement says the “leave is appropriate under the organization’s policies governing the current situation,” but offered few other details. Harold Frazier, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said turmoil within NCAI is a problem for member Nations.

“That’s something that is really frustrating, because the fight’s out there and we can’t be fighting inside or internally. You know, I think we need to get back to the core functions of a government and advocating for better healthcare, more housing and things like that.”

During a general Assembly, Ron Allen, president and CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington, called for a paradigm shift in how tribes present themselves in order to emphasize their sovereignty.

“Are you a tribe or are you a nation? They mean the same. Nation is more reflective of sovereignty… So you’re changing that paradigm and the perception of the outside world looking at you in terms of who you are. What you’re standing in is in America. So, I always say American Indian and Alaska Native governments are among the family of American government systems.”

NCAI’s annual convention will take place in Sacramento California in late October.

NCAI has not announced a theme or released any further details about the annual meeting.

The Milwaukee Bucks picked MarJon Beauchamp during Thursday’s NBA draft.

The Native athlete was the 24th pick in the first round.

Many in Indian Country closely watched and celebrated his selection.

 

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Interior Sec. Deb Haaland vows to continue to investigate U.S. Indian boarding schools and support healing efforts for tribal communities impacted by intergenerational trauma caused by the schools.

Many students faced physical, mental, spiritual and sexual abuse. And, many students did not make it back home.

Sec. Haaland testified Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the findings of her federal Indian boarding school initiative, which she announced last June.

A report released in May found there were 408 schools across the U.S. from 1819 to 1969, and about 53 marked or unmarked burial sites identified.

Boarding school policies focused on cultural assimilation, and the forced removal and relocation of Native children.

Sec. Haaland says as the investigation continues, the next step is to gather testimony, find support for healing, and resources for language and culture initiatives.

“I recently announced we will embark on the road to healing, a tour to hear directly from survivors and descendants. A necessary part of this journey will be to connect survivors and their families with mental health support, create a permanent collection of oral histories. We know this won’t be easy, but this is a history we must learn from if we are to heal from this tragic era in our country.”

The hearing also focused on Indian boarding school legislation (S. 2907) to create a commission to help locate and analyze records, and hold culturally appropriate hearings.

Sandra White Hawk, board president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, was among a panel of Native leaders to testify in support of the legislation.

“It will open up wounds, but in order for us to heal we need to air out those wounds and replace them with the medicines that we have within our ceremonies, our songs along with our mental health professionals that can help us as well. Most importantly, what was taken from us our songs, our lifeways that will bring the healing when our wounds are open from that. There was an elder that was one of my teachers and he said we are people that are well acquainted with grief. And, I’ve watched and seen that as we’ve gone into communities and listened to experiences and watched healing take place.”

Senators on the Indian Affairs Committee, including chair Brian Schatz (D-HI), vowed to continue to push the boarding school legislation forward and to help find appropriations.

Click here to read the testimonies or watch the hearing

Leaders of an Indigenous community in Sonora, Mexico have banned outside tour operators from bringing visitors to their territory. Instead, they are asking tourists to arrange visits directly with members of the community. From the Fronteras Desk, KJZZ’s Kendal Blust reports.

The Comcaac New Year, the community’s most important celebration, is coming up at the end of this month. And ahead of what is often a popular tourist event, leaders are asking visitors to directly contract boat rides, lodging and other services with members of the community.

Alberto Mellado, who represents the tribe with the municipal government, says the request comes after years of abuse by outside tour operators that increases the marginalization of his community.

He says businesses charge tourists significant sums of money to bring them to Comcaac territory, but little if any of that money goes to members of the community.

He says the Comcaac nation wants tourists to visit, but is opposed to the benefits of those visits disproportionately going to outsiders – who take advantage of the beautiful land- and sea-scape that Comcaac people have protected for millennia.

 

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Tribal leaders are applauding President Joe Biden’s intent to appoint Mohegan Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba as Treasurer of the United States.

She would be the first-ever Native American to serve in the position – among duties overseeing a new office of tribal affairs and serving as a key liaison.

National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp expressed her overwhelming support saying there’s much work to do in Indian Country on economic development, governmental tax parity for tribes, and addressing capital needs.

Sharp also noted the importance of having a Native American in the Treasury Department.

Native representation in all levels of government was discussed last week at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year gathering in Alaska.

Jenifer Nelson, board chair of the Aleut Corporation, says it’s great to see Native women making history in leadership roles pointing to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. 

“In my culture, very matriarchal. I watched my grandmother support local policy, very heavily influenced and even in the Unangan culture women sewed the skin boats for the hunters. So, they always played an integral role in making sure that our cultures survive and our people thrive.”  

Dalee Sambo, international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, echoes the role of Native women in government and hopes to see more women become leaders on a global scale.

“The role that women play in all these diverse fora really reflects the exercise of good governance. Women more often than not, they ensure inclusion and also more transparency, more effectiveness in terms of how decisions are made. When you have woman in that position able to embrace so many others and significantly, we do it in our homes where those values we’re really able to carry them and practice them at all scales.” 

Sambo and Nelson made the comments during live coverage of the NCAI conference in Anchorage on Koahnic’s sibling radio station KNBA.

The White House on Tuesday announced the president’s intent to appoint Malerba as Treasurer of the U.S.

Leaders from Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, and Minnesota are testifying Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about Indian boarding school legislation and a federal investigation.

According to the committee’s website, Chief Kirk Francis from Penobscot Indian Nation; President Sandra White Hawk from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi, Native Hawaiian Policy Lead for the Office of Former Hawai’i Governor John Waihe’e; and La Quen Náay Liz Medicine Crow, President/CEO of the First Alaskans Institute are scheduled to testify, along with Sec. Haaland.

Click here to read their testimonies or watch the hearing live starting at 2:30pm ET

A thousand juvenile Chinook salmon were released last week in a creek near Bandon, OR.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s the latest effort by the Coquille Tribe to restore numbers.

A tribal member sang a song to bless the salmon, which Coquille officials say are among the first of thousands more expected to be released this year.

The 2021 spawning project was done with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners, after surveys showed Chinook salmon numbers had fallen to near extinction in the area.

In a video released by the tribe, Coquille tribal Chair Brenda Meade said she’s proud.

“Proud of the fact that we are all coming together as a community to make this happen because there’s no way the tribe could have done it by themselves. We gotta keep going though, this is just step one, it feels like baby-steps. But it’s the first thousand that are going out, and it’s something to celebrate.”

Invasive bass, climate change, and pollution are seen as factors in the decline of Chinook salmon. 

 

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The chief of the Mohegan Tribe, Lynn Malerba, has been tapped as Treasurer of the United States.

The announcement of President Joe Biden’s intent to appoint Chief Malerba was made Tuesday ahead of a visit by the Treasury Department to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

Chief Malerba became chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut in 2010. She’s the first woman to serve as top leader in the tribe’s modern history.

Chief Malerba will also make history at the Department of Treasury as a tribal leader and Native woman to sign currency.

In a statement, Chief Malerba said she’s honored and that it’s important to have Native voices respected, adding her appointment by the administration underscores just that.

She will oversee a newly established Office of Tribal and Native Affairs to communicate with tribes and be a hub for tribal policy.

The Treasurer of the United States directly oversees the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing – and is a key liaison with the Federal Reserve.

Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen will announce her appointment and the new tribal office during the visit Tuesday to the Rosebud reservation.

Canada’s Assembly of First Nations has suspended its National Chief Roseann Archibald. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, it comes a day after she criticized the organization and also faces an investigation over complaints against her.

Roseann Archibald, the country’s first woman to lead the most powerful Native organization in Canada, is calling the suspension a coup.

Now, she has become the first AFN chief to be locked out, even from her own emails, and it all comes less than a year after her historic election.

The AFN says the decision is regrettable, but the national chief has committed serious breaches of her obligations to the organization through her unfounded public attacks against the AFN.

Paul Prosper is an AFN regional chief from the east coast.

“She breached her obligations to the company contrary to her oath of office, to our code of conduct, and the whistle blower policy.” 

Archibald has faced allegations of bullying and harassment from four of her staff members. After that, the AFN brought in an outside investigator.

Archibald is calling it a smear campaign and says she has been trying to clean up the corruption within the organization and because of that she says she’s been undermined, discredited, and attacked.

The AFN would not disclose exactly what the complaints against her are.

Archibald has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of an investigation.

She will not be able to attend the annual general assembly or the chief’s assembly and is prohibited from discussing the investigation publicly.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a hearing Wednesday on Indian boarding schools.

The hearing will examine the Interior Department’s investigative report on Indian boarding schools and the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S. 2907).

Native leaders are scheduled to testify about the report, legislation and what action is needed next.

Advocates have been calling for the Senate committee to hold a hearing on the boarding school legislation and for the House version to be passed.

The Indian affairs committee hearing will be streamed online.

A week-long dugout canoe journey hosted by the Ho-Chunk Nation kicked off on Monday.

Tribal members and Native youth are making their journey along lakes and rivers in Wisconsin.

Tribal leaders say it’s an opportunity for youth to take part in the tribe’s culture, and say it provides an educational opportunity for the tribe to share history and culture with the public at stops along the way.

Journey updates are being posted on the Ho-Chunk Nation Facebook page.

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Alaska Native leaders are concerned about climate and environmental issues. Those were among discussions last week at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year gathering in Anchorage. As Emily Schwing reports, leaders in Alaska and other states are seeing wildfires having an impact on their communities.

Earlier this month, the largest wildfire currently burning in the state of Alaska forced the evacuation of roughly 150 residents who live in the village of St. Mary’s, a small Yup’ik village located more than 300 miles west of Anchorage. George Beans is the President of Yupiit of Andreafski, one of two tribes in the village. 

“Right now, it was mostly the climate change. We’re dealing with a fire, a pretty big fire at home and I think climate change has a lot to do with these fires that are popping up. It’s just too dry.”

Beans said it was tough for him to decide if he should leave the village for the conference. 

“Well first of all, we had pre-registered and we invested a lot of our finances into coming to this meeting. They address a lot of issues here and there’s a lot of intercommunication between each other and that’s why I think it’s important. We get a lot of information and we can seek some help when we do need in different areas that we do need help.”

At more than 160,000 acres, the East fork fire is the largest fire ever to burn in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region.

It’s also the largest tundra fire the state has seen in 40 years. As of Sunday, fire officials have reported managers have reached their objectives to contain the blaze.

A new art installation in Eugene, OR has visitors gazing at art, that in turn, gazes right back. 

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports on the “Culture Raising” installation and how it recognizes the region’s Indigenous people. 

Flashback to August 2021, and I’m on a stretch of sidewalk between a couple utility buildings and construction projects.

Charly Swing, director of Art City, points out what at first looks like an ordinary fence 100 feet long, 8 feet high, and with individual faces.

“Actually, two faces. Each is a youth and an elder, of Native American and Indigenous people, who live in our community.”

A growing awareness of the land’s original inhabitants, the Kalapuya, has helped Oregonians relate the past with the present. Tennepah Brainard, who goes by “T.J.” is the conceptual artist behind the Culture Raising project.  She’s of Coos/Apache heritage, and a student at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe. She coordinated photography of the subjects, whose images were transferred to the fence slats. 

“And so, I thought okay, let’s do like half a face and eyes, but after a while I realized that for me, it’s kinda of like doing Native American people just as people. Not like full-on headgear and regalia, just…see that we’re here, and this is us, and how we look very different and how we look like everyone else.’”

The Culture Raising installation is now up for several months and will be on display during the World Track and Field Championships in Eugene.

The slats will eventually be taken down and woven into a new form, which will be auctioned to help support new art pieces by Native Americans.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is gathering written comments on cannabis in Indian Country through July 8th.

The committee held a virtual listening session on the topic last week to hear from tribal leaders and other experts on tribal cannabis commerce and related equities.

The input will help inform the committee’s current work on tribal cannabis and for future use on national cannabis reform legislation.

 

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The state of New Jersey is suing the Ford Motor Company for dumping paint sludge and other toxic waste on Ramapough Lenape land for decades beginning in the 1960s.

Tribal members say the contamination is the source of numerous illnesses and even deaths.

CBS News reports the land contains arsenic, chromium, lead, and other toxins even after several clean-up attempts. The waste comes from the Mahweh auto plant that dumped thousands of tons of waste in the forests and mines in the area.

The commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told CBS the automaker’s actions are the definition of environmental injustice. The state is seeking an undisclosed amount of money.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. has reversed a decision to stop flying the Oklahoma state flag at tribal facilities. KOCO-TV news reports Hoskin signed an executive order earlier this month banning the state flag on Cherokee properties. But he changed his mind after council members and citizens objected.

Hoskin originally said putting the Oklahoma flag on par with the tribal flag was inconsistent with tribal sovereignty. He says he’s since been persuaded by concerns that the action could deepen divisions between the tribe and the state.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that handed tribes expanded criminal jurisdiction has been the source of disagreements between tribes and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK).

The state of New Mexico has reached a $32 million settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill. Contractors working for the EPA caused the release of thousands of gallons mine drainage into the San Juan and Animas Rivers.

The spill contained acids and toxic heavy metals that disrupted water use including drawdowns for drinking water and agriculture downstream on into the Navajo Nation.

The state filed suit against the federal government in 2016. Officials secured an $11 million settlement from the mining company on behalf of water users in 2021.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) rejected plans by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians for an off-reservation casino and resort.

The proposal for the $180 million project has been in the works for more than 14 years. Because it’s not on tribal land, it needs both state and federal approval.

The Interior Department signed off on the plan in December 2020 starting the clock for the state to act.

M-Live.com reports Gov. Whitmer informed the U.S. Department of Interior that she can’t approve the Little River Band project until she knows there’s a decision on the status of the Grand River Band, which would like pursue their own casino if they are granted federal recognition.

The Little River Band already operates a casino in another city.

Gov. Whitmer told Interior she would be willing to reconsider the project once the Grand River Band’s status is decided.

The Peacock Network show “Rutherford Falls” is premiering its second season. The comedy show has a Native storyline supported by a number of Native writers, producers and actors. KLCC’s Brian Bull catches up with Lakota actress Jana Schmieding about what’s in store for the show.

Schmieding plays Reagan Wells, a member of the fictitious Minishonka Tribe and friend to Nathan Rutherford, heir to the town’s colonial legacy. That legacy – and their friendship – was tested last season, but season 2 suggests they’re on to new misadventures.

Reagan: “Adversity makes us stronger.”

Nathan: “No Reag, is this sweater too sexy?”

Reagan: “For what?”

Nathan: “How about a vest?”

Schmieding says with the world-building of “Rutherford Falls” established in season 1, the writers cut loose with season 2.

“It’s a very comedy-forward season. We have things like a Halloween episode, we are doing some goofy stuff. Reagan decides that she wants to apply for a plot of land on her rez, so we see tribal bureaucracy this season, we have a pretendian episode.”

“Rutherford Falls” has won praise for its portrayal of Native Americans, due to its team of Indigenous writers.

 

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