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Deadline day at Oceti Sakowin

February 22, 2017 By Art Hughes

By NNN staff

Dozens of people participated in ceremonies and left on foot from the Oceti Sakowin camp under threat of deadlines by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of North Dakota. Others stayed to risk arrest by authorities clearing the land to continue construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe.

The state provided travel assistance and other services for those voluntarily leaving the main camp for people opposing the pipeline. Buses came to take people to an assistance center in Bismarck. The state is providing health services, bus fare, food vouchers and a one-night hotel stay. Grassroots groups are also providing assistance.

Muddy conditions hindered debris removal. Rain and snow hit the area the morning of the evacuation. Campers had asked the Army Corps for more time to continue clean up efforts, but the agency denied the extension. Law enforcement officials said anyone still at the camp after 2 p.m. local time would be arrested and remaining property, structures and vehicles would be impounded.

The Army Corps set Feb. 22 as the deadline for people to vacate the camp. The state also called for people to leave through an evacuation order issued the week before.

Tribal leaders express concern over Trump administration picks

February 17, 2017 By Art Hughes

by Matt Laslo

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Some Native leaders are voicing concerns over the potential direction of federal education policy and other implications of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks.

Only a small percentage of Native American children go to tribal schools. The majority attend public schools. That has many native leaders worried that the new Dept. of Education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been a big proponent of school choice and charter schools.

“I’m just concerned with some of her past positions on privatization. The majority of our native children are in public schools – we have like 6% in Indian schools. So I want to educate her on the unique needs in Indian Country,” said Patricia Whitefoot is the former president of the National Indian Education Association, who was in Washington, D.C. for the annual State of the Indian Nations Address.

Whitefoot is not alone.

“We are worried about that – not only public schools but Indian schools. I don’t know that she has enough experience in that or even interest in that so that does worry us,” said Teri Pepper, tribal council secretary of the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma. She says a lot of members from her tribe go to school in nearby Lawrence Kansas, which she hopes DeVos will come and visit to gain firsthand knowledge.

“It’s deplorable conditions. It would be wonderful if she could come there. Both my parents went there and a lot of proud people went there. Changes need to be made in Indian education,” she said.

It’s not just fear over the new Education secretary. Pepper says she’s also bracing for a potential shakeup at the Department of Justice now that Jeff Sessions is Attorney General. Pepper notes he’s been accused of racism in his past and he’s voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

“I worry about his bigotry. That’s one of my fears, not only towards African Americans but Native Americans, and with women. I don’t want to take steps back, not only as women but as Native Americans,” she said.

Journalist organization condemns arrest of reporter covering Standing Rock protest

February 3, 2017 By Art Hughes

The Native American Journalists Association says the arrest this week of a working journalist at the North Dakota pipeline protests is unlawful and a violation of free press principles. Morton County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested reporter Jenni Monet along with 75 others. They were taken into custody while protestors were assembling a new camp on what officials say is private land. Monet—who has covered the protests on location for numerous news organizations including National Native News—was on assignment for Indian Country Media Network.

NAJA President Bryan Pollard says Monet’s arrest is in keeping with a pattern by Morton County law enforcement to try and prevent the press from documenting their actions.

“I think it’s more important than ever that journalists go there and document what’s happening,” Pollard said. “But I think it should be said that any journalist who goes there to cover what’s happening at Standing Rock needs to go there understanding that they are entering something that is resembling a war zone.”

Pollard says Monet is a clearly-credentialed journalist who has covered the events in North Dakota for months. He says officials need better awareness in order to distinguish reporters from protesters.

“Officials in charge either have not trained their forces properly, or simply don’t care that that’s an illegal action and a violation of the First Amendment,” Pollard said.

Monet texted her editors before she was arrested, saying she was unable to get away from the sweep of officers taking protesters into custody. Indian Country Media Network demanded Monet’s release and the dismissal of all pending charges.

Montana’s Denise Juneau ponders what’s next after failed congressional bid

December 20, 2016 By Art Hughes

By Nicky Ouellet
Just a month after losing her hard-fought congressional bid, Montana’s Denise Juneau is looking to turn defeat into a new opportunity. She’d hoped to be the first Native American in Congress. Now, Juneau confirms she’s interested in the top post at the University of Montana.

“I think I have a great record, and I am interested in the position,” Juneau said. “It is something I’ll be looking really closely at and if the answer was today it’d be yeah, I’m going to apply for the UM presidency.”

The current president, Royce Engstrom, made the surprise announcement this month that he’s stepping down. The university has endured declining enrollment and a wave of sexual assault reports.

Juneau’s tenure as Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction ends in January and she doesn’t have any solid plans for what comes after that. “I look forward to a little time off to readjust the sails and think about what it is I want to do and accomplish,” she said.

During her campaign, Juneau paid special attention to voters on Montana’s seven reservations – she’s Mandan and Hidatsa and grew up in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation. Many pollsters and analysists expected her background to draw out the Native Vote, but it didn’t. Get-out-the-vote groups estimate Native American voter turnout in Montana at 59 percent. Montana’s overall rate was 74 percent.

Juneau says the loss stings, but she did everything she was supposed to.

“We just lost,” Juneau said. “People believed in this race, they believed in my candidacy and you can’t ask for more than that.”

‘Water protectors’ ponder choices facing winter and a request to stand down

December 10, 2016 By Art Hughes

James Thomas from California: “We’re all here to stay and be a part of this revolution” (Photo: Antonia Gonzales)

By Antonia Gonzales

The Oceti Sakowin Camp is in transition as extreme winter weather and requests by the Standing Rock Sioux chairman and others are prompting people to leave. Camp organizers closed the camp to new arrivals as another major blizzard approaches.

Lucas Mullikin from Flagstaff, Arizona was folding a tarp and packing up his tent Thursday morning. He was there for about a week. This was his third visit. Mullikin said the winter weather created some challenges.

“Definetly the first blizzard out here in North Dakota I’ve experienced,” Millikin said. “Up late listening to the radio, missing peoples’ reports and going on search parties, helping look for people who got misplaced in the snowstorm. Stressful, but a really big sense of community that brought everyone together.”

Aaron Bercovitch from San Diego was with Mullikin and a couple other people. This was the Californian’s first time to the camp. He says leaving now is the right thing for him.

“I never felt endangered by the snowstorm per se, but I did realize that I’m not fully prepared for it and so I figured I’m not here to become a burden,” Bercovitch said. “I’m here to support.”

The Crow Creek Spirit Riders were also packing up. Mason Rockwood from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe says they’re leaving not because anyone asked them to, but they’re participating in a memorial horse ride elsewhere. They plan to return to camp in January. Rockwood says bringing the horses to the camp is an important part of showing support to Indigenous people.

“We also knew we wanted to bring our horses because that is how we show our support as Dakota people, Lakota people, Nakota people,” Rockwood said. “The horses are a huge part of our culture and we just felt like they needed to be here to share this journey with us.”

They held a ceremony before riding out with about nine horses.

James Thomas, Paiute from California, was chopping wood inside the camp. He’s been here for about two weeks and says he’s not going anywhere.

“Just because one (tribal) councilor said to leave that’s not all of them and we all have motivations to stay because we’re all accepted here,” Thomas said. “Of course if you’re scared of the cold and are not prepared then by all means leave or if you have other family matters then go home. But we’re all here to stay and be a part of this revolution.”

Thomas is living in a longhouse with about 15 people. He says they’re hunkering down for the winter. Challenges they’re facing include needing more fire wood, and their water and food freezing.

Modern wigwam is a comfort against North Dakota winter

December 8, 2016 By Art Hughes

The sun was out and snow covered the ground in front of Pat Wabashaw’s structure she shares with her husband and four children at the Oceti Sakowin Camp.

“It’s handmade with maple wood and iron wood. It’s covered in tarp and an insulated tarp on the top,” Wabashaw said.

Pat, her husband and four boys who range in age from three to 15,

She and her husband sold their house and belonging before driving the family van to North Dakota. Her four boys range in age from three to 15 years. They had first been to the camp for about a week in October.

“When we left to Colorado we just couldn’t stop thinking about (being back here),” she said.

The family is Winnebago and Santee Sioux. She says they wanted to be among other Native people who’ve been living at the camp for months and opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. Wabashaw says life at the camp is a community atmosphere like it was before settlers came. The family gets up with the sun, works and then goes to bed when the sun goes down.

“Everything was here,” she said. “We had family, our roots, the music, the people, the laughter. I think we have the best jokes, the best punter. Because when we lived in the city we didn’t do those things. We lived in a house, we watched TV, we went out to eat and here it’s different. You have to get up in the morning, you have to collect your wood or you’re going to be cold, you have to cook your food, you have to collect water. It’s different. It’s not the headache it was back home.”

Inside the structure are tents, stoves and a few personal belongings.

“If you see the silver those are survival blankets, so when the heat is in there it bounces off those and forces it back in here.”

A big pot sits on a camping stove near the door with wild rice. She says the rice was gifted to them.

“And it doesn’t take too long. The water just soaks into the rice. I have some beef in here, usually it would be bison. So it’s like a dirty rice.”

Pat says they’re ready to take on the next battle for Indigenous people if and when they leave.

Celebration at Oceti Sakowin; Pipeline backers are undeterred

December 5, 2016 By Art Hughes

By Daysha Eaton and Antonia Gonzales

The self-proclaimed ‘water protectors’ honked horns, hollered and sang on a highway near the Oceti Sakowin Camp in North Dakota Sunday. The celebration came after hearing the news the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a key easement to run the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Kandi Mossett, with the Indigenous Environmental Network calls the decision a victory. “The mood is one of celebration and happiness and relief because we’ve been fighting for so long,” she said. The Army Corps decision calls for an environmental study and an exploration of alternative routes.

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network says he’s cautiously optimistic.

“We have to be prepared to see what Energy Transfer Partners does, whether they are going to file a lawsuit,” he said. “If they do that, we are sure because of the timeline schedule it may take the hearing at district court on something like that into the next administration under Donald Trump.”

The pipeline is nearly complete. The 1,000 feet across the river is one of the last remaining obstacles for Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the nearly 1,200-mile oil pipeline. In a written statement late Sunday, Energy Transfer Partners said the decision does not change the company’s plans and they expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting. The company lashed out at the Obama Administration, which they say “abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.” The advocacy group, Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now went further, saying Donald Trump’s inauguration day, January 20th, “can’t come soon enough.”

Standing Rock responds to Army Corps notice

November 28, 2016 By NNN

By Daysha Eaton

A snowstorm blanketed the plains of North Dakota Monday bringing winter to the main camp for people demonstrating against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the fast-approaching winter is one reason it issued an eviction notice to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on Friday. In a letter, the Corps states demonstrators need to move the main camp south of the Cannonball River, due to safety concerns.

Tribal leaders say they’re disappointed in the Corps’ decision and adds it’s “unfortunate and disrespectful” that the announcement came right after Thanksgiving.

On a hill overlooking a sea of tents, teepees and yurts, Native leaders gathered Saturday to respond to the notice. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II says people are there for peaceful and prayerful ceremony.

“What they gave us was a notice, that these lands are no longer available for hunting and for fishing and for recreation and recreation can include camping but what we are doing here is exercising our First Amendment right – and we are not breaking any laws, we’re not violating any laws,” Archambault said.

People have been occupying Corps land along the path of the pipeline since April, claiming tribes are the rightful owners under an 1851 treaty.

Nick Tilsen, Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge, is among those who do not plan to leave the camp.15

“Indigenous people are here to stay and we’re not going to leave unless it is on our own terms because this is our treaty land, this is our ancestral land,” Tilsen said. “This is where our people have been for thousands of years.”

Camp organizers estimates the number of people at the main camp, Oceti Sakowin, at somewhere between five-thousand and eight-thousand people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is preparing a place to move campers if it gets too cold. The Army Corps does not plan to forcibly remove people from the camp, but may issue citations.

Athabascan witnesses fault law enforcement overreaction at Standing Rock

November 24, 2016 By NNN

Demonstrators against the Dakota Access Pipeline say they endured rubber bullets, water hoses, tear gas and concussion grenades from law enforcement officers during protests Sunday, Nov. 20. (Photo-Tracy Peterson)

By Daysha Eaton, Cannon Ball, ND

Two Athabascan men from Alaska are among the estimated 2,500 people now gathered near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and witnessed the confrontations with law enforcement officials. They came to support the Oceti Sakowin in the efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline from crossing under the Missouri River.

Some people participate in direct actions– protests near the path of the pipeline. Samuel Johns, an Anchorage resident who is Ahtna and Gwich’in Athabascan, originally from Copper Center, says that’s where the trouble comes in.

“They are unarmed,” Johns said of the protesters. “They just want to protect the water and they are being maced, they are being shot by rubber bullets.”

Fred John Jr. an Ahtna Athabascan elder from Delta Junction, also traveled to the camp. John says he is concerned that local law enforcement are overracting.

“They come with their stick, they come with their mace against peaceful protectors,” John said. “It doesn’t seem right to me. We have more right to be on that land. It’s tribal land, plus contested treaty land.”

Both men say they hope to return to Standing Rock soon with a group to help with construction and winterization projects before the bitter North Dakota winter sets in.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is building the $3.7 billion, nearly 1,200-mile long pipeline across four states.

The tribe says the pipeline is a threat to their water supply and that construction threatens sacred sites. The federal government has halted construction, but the companies building the pipeline have asked a federal court to let them complete the project. Demonstrators have been occupying privately-owned land in the path of the pipeline, claiming that they are the land’s rightful owners under an 1851 treaty with the U.S. Government. Demonstrators report being shot by law enforcement with rubber bullets and water cannons in below freezing temperatures on Sunday, Nov. 20. Several went to the hospital for treatment.

The National Native News Election Project

November 8, 2016 By NNN

The National Native News Elections Project aims to shine the spotlight on elections and how they relate to Native American and Alaska Native voters. The news reports will air up to and after the Nov. 2016 election in the National Native News newscasts.

The project is funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It’s aimed at increasing the diversity and scope of elections coverage and building the capacity of reporters reporting on voting issues in their respective communities. For more information on voting in your community, go to the non-partisan NativeVote.org, organized by the National Congress of American Indians.

Meet the reporters for the National Native News Elections Project

Montana’s Denise Juneau ponders what’s next after failed congressional bid

(Photo: Juneau for Congress campaign)

Just a month after losing her hard-fought congressional bid, Montana’s Denise Juneau is looking to turn defeat into a new opportunity. “We just lost,” Juneau said. “People believed in this race, they believed in my candidacy and you can’t ask for more than that.” She’d hoped to be the first Native American in Congress. Now, Juneau confirms she’s interested in the top post at the University of Montana.

Environmental leader predicts fights with incoming Trump administration

(Photo: screen capture from Vine)

The head of a Native American-focused environmental initiative is gearing up for a fight with the incoming Trump administration. Honor the Earth Executive Director Winona LaDuke has strong words about the president-elect’s views on energy development. LaDuke can claim a victory after the company behind the controversial Sandpiper Pipeline through northern Minnesota – Enbridge Energy Partners – ended that project in September 2016. But there’s no time for her to rest on her laurels. “None of us expected Donald Trump would be elected,” LaDuke said.

Concern and hope facing Donald Trump’s first 100 days

Some tribal leaders in the U.S. are expressing concern following last week’s election of Republican Donald Trump. They worry some of Trump’s plans for his first hundred days in office could negatively impact Indian Country.
Trump has vowed deep federal spending cuts after he takes the oath of office in January. But some tribal leaders say that could threaten education, housing, healthcare and family service programs that benefit Native Americans. Some of those are protected under federal treaties.

Left out by candidates’ support for northern Minnesota mining proposals

Candidates for Minnesota’s 8th District largely support controversial mining proposals, including reviving this facility idled in 2001 (Photo: Polymet Mining)

The close race for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District has focused largely on jobs and the connection each of the candidates has to the presidential contenders. Neither of the candidates–Democrat Rick Nolan and Republican Stewart Mills–has directly addressed Native American issues. One of those issues is the proposed PolyMet Mining open-pit copper-nickel mine.

Montana likely to retain strong Native American representation

Montana Senator Jonathan Windy Boy (Photo: Montana Legislative Information Office)

In all but a small handful of states, Native Americans are elected at a rate that falls well short of their percentage of the population. And there are only two Native American members of Congress. But Native Americans living in Montana have some of the best representation at the state level in the country.

Enough Native Americans are running unopposed or even against other Native Americans that tribal members are guaranteed eight of the 150 seats in the House or Senate.

Appealing to the conservative Native American voter

As a group, Native Americans traditionally vote Democrat. Their economic status and views on environmental issues, among other things, tend to align more with established democratic ideals. President Obama helped solidify that support by actively reaching out to tribes during his two terms in office. But there are significant pockets of conservative Native voters, most notably in Oklahoma. Two conservative leaders there are working to attract more Native American voters

Alaska ballot measure aims to improve Native voter access

A ballot measure in Alaska would automatically register residents to vote. Alaska Native groups are lining up in favor of Ballot Measure One which aims to increase voter participation among people who are often left out of the political process. It enjoys support from Republicans and Democrats alike. But some conservatives are now speaking out, bringing up the specter of voter fraud.

Reducing barriers to the polls

Northern Minnesota is known for lakes, iron mining and low turnout among Native voters (Photo: Roy Luck via Flickr/CC)

Northern Minnesota is home to seven Anishinaabe reservations. But the Native turnout is typically low. The Native communities are less politically organized than unions and other groups in the traditionally blue-collar mining area of the state.

“Indigenous people – they just don’t care – because they don’t feel like their vote counts,” Renee Van Nett said. She lives in Duluth and is from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. She tried—and failed—to win a Duluth School Board seat last year. She wants the predominant tribes of northern Minnesota to return to their roots of being participants in the political sphere.

“I try to talk to them about that but they just don’t care,” she said. “There’re a lot of us. And we do not vote in high numbers, so that needs to change.”

Navajo Nation officials put their weight behind Clinton

Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez campaigning for Democrat Hillary Clinton (Photo: courtesty DNC)

Recent polls show Arizona is one of a handful of toss-up states in the U-S presidential election. That could give increased prominence to the Native American vote in the historically red state. Endorsements of Hillary Clinton by Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez could be a deciding factor.

Minneapolis voting drive targets urban Native American participation

Minneapolis Minnesota has one of the largest Urban Indian populations in the country. Native people make up between 2 and 3 percent of the city’s population. For some races, that’s a make-or-break number. One organization hopes to improve Native voter turnout by talking about issues important to them, like the protests against the oil pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservations.

Montana GOP platform wording: a change in recognizing sovereignty?

A one-word change in the Montana state Republican Party platform is leaving some tribal members confused about how the party sees them. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a clarification or chipping away at tribal sovereignty. The Native American Affairs platform plank used to say: “The Montana Republican party supports American Indian Tribal nations and their treaties with the Federal Government.” It now reads “…American Indian Tribal peoples.”

Three months after losing nomination, Bernie Sanders still appeals to Native American voters

Bernie Sanders at a presidential campaign event in New Mexico (File photo: Antonia Gonzales)

Some Native American voters feel they’re being left out in the cold in the presidential election. Former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was the only one who routinely spoke about issues important to them. Now he’s campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

One family at a Sanders event in Duluth remain hopeful the other candidates will take Sanders’ lead.

Arizona’s 7th Legislative District race is all but decided

Jamescita Peshlakai is the unopposed candidate for the Senate seat in Arizona’s 7th Legsilative District being vacated by Carlyle Begaye (Photo: Peshlakai for Senate)

Arizona’s Seventh Legislative District is gearing up for a new direction. The outcome of the election was all but certain from the beginning. That’s because Democratic state senate candidate Jamescita Peshlakai is running for the seat without any opposition from a major party. The district covers much of the northern and eastern parts of the state that includes several tribal nations.

AFN breaks with tradition by endorsing Clinton for president

By National Native News staff

For the first time in its 50-year history, Alaska’s largest statewide Native organization has endorsed a presidential candidate.

In a statement, the Alaska Federation of Natives said Hillary Clinton is the best choice for president because of her long record of support for native priorities and her “commitment to continued and authentic engagement.”

“The question came down to: do we move forward and continue to build our rights as native people, or do we accept being marginalized as native people and put on the back burner?”, said AFN President Julie Kitka during a joint meeting between leadership from the AFN and the National Congress of American Indians. AFN represents nearly 80,000 people. The organization’s statement never mentions Republican candidate Donald Trump by name.

NCAI’s constitution prevents that organization from endorseing candidates. But, when it came time for the organization’s executive director to speak about work with Alaska Native people, Jacqueline Pata used words that echo the Clinton campaign.

“We’re better when we are together and we’re stronger,” Pata said. She said the organization will not endorse any candidate, but top NCAI leadership personally endorsed Clinton earlier this year.

Coal comes up as a campaign issue in the congressional district with the highest proportion of Native American Voters

Republican Paul Babeua (left) and Democrat Tom O’Halleran are both vying for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District seat.

Native Americans from the Hopi, White Mountain Apache and other tribes make up a quarter of Arizona’s sprawling, mostly rural 1st Congressional District. It’s the district with the largest Native American population in the country. Republican Paul Babeu and Democrat Tom O’Halleran are competing for the district’s open seat. It also includes much of the Navajo Nation, where unemployment is nearly 50 percent. Both candidates have campaigned in the traditionally Democratic-leaning area, and have focused largely on economic issues and job creation.