There’s growing concern among Native advocates that rhetoric from our nation’s top leaders is fueling an increase in racially-biased crimes against Native Americans and other people of color. But there’s little evidence other than individual reports to document that. National Native News is joining ProPublica’s Documenting Hate project to collect, analyze and report on hate crimes.

by Daysha Eaton

The proposed Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska will require a number of major infrastructure projects to support the operation. The projects are among the details revealed when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the company’s permit application public.

“The size difference compared to our early estimates of 12.7 square miles is now at about 10.7 square miles, so we’ve been able to make the facilities in and around the proposed mine site more compact,” said Pebble Limited Partnership spokesperson Mike Heatwole. “We are proposing a natural gas pipeline from the Kenai Peninsula across Cook Inlet and then under Iliamna Lake in order to get natural gas to our mine site in order to run our electrical generation.”

In addition, the application shows the company wants to build roads, an ice-breaking ferry and a port on Cook Inlet, to transport minerals out.

The Army Corps will select a third-party contractor to administer the environmental impact statement process, then they will move into the scoping process, which is where the public can weigh in.

Alannah Hurley with United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a group opposing the mine, says the permit application confirms their concerns.

“There is no way that the current application will not impact salmon,” Hurley said. “We are still talking about tons of toxic waste that would have to be stored forever at the headwaters of our watershed. Miles and miles of road and pipeline, a mega-port. It is still a mega-mine.”

She says even as the project moves into the permitting stage the resistance to the proposed Pebble Mine isn’t going anywhere.

“You know this is really a national issue, it is a global issue and we need people from across the nation to weigh in and help us protect this global resource for future generations,” she said.

The permitting process should begin to unfold over 2018.

by Jenni Monet

At the start of the Navajo Nation’s new winter legislative session, President Russell Begaye made it clear which issue sits high on the leadership’s agenda. Begaye signed a proclamation aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking in and around the border-towns of the sprawling reservation.

“We just want to announce and proclaim the month of January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month,” Begaye said as he assembled with other Navajo leaders outside council chambers.

In August, Begaye enacted a tribal council resolution to criminalize the sex slave trade within the reservation borders — what the International Labour Organization estimates is a $150 billion industry worldwide.

“(There’s a perception that) trafficking only happens in places like Asia, or Russia or Eastern Europe — places like that…but it does happen in the United States, and it does happen on Navajo Nation,” Begaye said.

While there are many advocates who pushed for the human trafficking resolution, it was Council Delegate Nathaniel Brown who first formally introduced the measure in April.

On this morning, Brown was among several who turned out to raise awareness about an issue that — for the Navajo Nation — is lacking in any real discernible data and is also difficult to detect.

“The next thing we need to do… we would like to have all our Navjao departments to be educated on what is human trafficking, where to call once they identify it, so we can begin to start saving our children,” Brown said.

The Navajo Nation represents the only federally recognized tribal government to amend its criminal codes to prosecute the international human trafficking trade in the tribal courts.

by Jim Kent

A recent Hate Crimes Forum in Rapid City, South Dakota turned out to be quite a different gathering than Lakota people attending the event anticipated it would be. The law enforcement panel explained the technicalities behind hate crimes laws. Members of the Native American community were hoping for a longer discussion about incidents toward Native Americans and other groups.

Representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, spoke for about 70 minutes on hate crimes, what they are and how they are prosecuted. They noted the difficulty in assigning the hate crimes designation to an offense and added that, collectively, they could not recall a hate crime being prosecuted in the Rapid City area.

After the panel presented, about 25 minutes was given for questions and comments. National Native News was asked not to tape audience remarks, but the vast majority of Native Americans there told us they were not happy with what they witnessed including a Native man, who asked not to be identified over fear for his safety.

“I left here 20 years ago because of this and I come back and it hasn’t changed one bit. What are we doing here? This is all just a show,” he said.

Stacey Low Dog advised the law enforcement panel that two non-Native women were brought to trial in 2009 for assaulting her niece. Both women were convicted of a hate crime.

“I expected a dialogue with the community,” said Low Dog. “I thought they would at least bring up this (her niece’s case), we successfully prosecuted this one hate crime. How they weren’t gonna’ tolerate this, it wasn’t even mentioned.”

Low Dog believes it is because of a lack of acknowledgement or interest in crimes against Lakota people that there is distrust of law enforcement in South Dakota by the Native community.  U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler, who retires December 31, acknowledged the concerns expressed by Low Dog and others, noting there will be other forums in the future.

by Antonia Gonzales

Members of the Washington, D.C. based-grassroots Rising Hearts group say they were behind Wednesday’s online campaign aimed at the Washington football team’s name.  Fake articles on website parodies of The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, the Bleacher Report and the Washington football team showed an updated logo and mascot noting the team ditched its R-word name and changed it to the Washington Redhawks.

Rising Hearts released a statement taking claim for the action, crafted as a culture jam.  Culture jamming is a tactic used in social activism creating fake or hoax stories, logos and products to draw attention to an issue and/or critic it.

Website parodies show updated logo and team name of the Washington football team.

“One of the reasons we used this tactic is because we feel as Native people we face this giant wall of erasure and invisibility where it is really difficult to get accurate representation of ourselves in mainstream media,” said Rebecca Nagle, Cherokee Nation, a member of Rising Hearts.

The group said the action was a way to show the NFL team how easy it would be to change the name, a move Native advocates, many tribes and national Native organizations have long asked team owner Dan Snyder to do, calling the R-word a racial slur.

“In the first 12 hours of the website launching all our websites received over a half million visitors, the people who visited our websites Wednesday could fill FedEx Stadium five times over,” said Nagle. “Beyond the visitors to our website, people saw the culture jam on social media and in the news.”

The Washington football team released a statement Wednesday in response to the websites. The team said the name remains the Washington R******* and will remain for the future.

Reaction on social media included comments from people celebrating. Others expressed confusion or were upset over the dupe. Nagle believes there is support for the group’s Redhawks action in Indian Country, but acknowledges there are people who are not pleased.

“We’re open for dialog and feedback with people,” said Nagle. “Our goal is to take this platform this culture jam created to shed more light on this issue and in this moment of that sort of vail of invisibility being lifted really use it to get our message across to the non-Native world.”

The proposed copper and gold Pebble Mine could bring needed jobs for Native people in southwest Alaska. The open pit mine plan stalled during the Barack Obama Administration because of its size and its threat to the environment, including a prolific and fragile salmon fishery. Now, a new administration and a company promising a smaller, safer project are giving the mine renewed momentum. That also revives worries among Native commercial fishers and others who want to preserve the important and pristine resource. Go here to read and listen to Daysha Eaton’s five-part series Alaska Water Wars.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

This story is a part of the series, Alaska Water Wars about the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska. You can find longer versions of the entire series, photos and additional information by going here. Below is audio for the series that aired on National Native News. 

Financial support for reporting on the series was provided by the Alaska Humanities Forum and KNBA public radio. 

By Daysha Eaton

Communities near the fishing industry of Bristol Bay are larger and often have more seasonal and year-round work opportunities than those inland, near the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska. Some residents, despite concerns about possible impacts to water quality, are eager to take jobs on related infrastructure projects that would be the mine’s foundation.  In the village of Kokhanok, a “man camp” was built this summer to house people working to develop the mine.

“It’s hard work but hey it’s a job,” said Clint Hobson as he plugged exploration drill holes, which are leaking water at the Pebble Mine site. The surrounding area is rolling tundra, streams and lakes as far as the eye can see.

Hobson is Athabaskan and lives about 50 miles across Lake Iliamna from the mine site in the tiny village of Kokhanok.

“I got bills to pay,” said Hobson.

Jobs are scarce in the area and Hobson is happy to have the work.  He makes $19.75 per hour on the seasonal job.  Outside Kokhanok, Brad Angasan, works for the Alaska Peninsula Corporation and describes the project.

“This is the Kokhanok man camp, said Angasan. “There’s approximately about 12-15 tents here.”

Angasan is Sugpiaq and Alutiiq. His mother’s family is from Kokhanok, a community of about 170 Yup’ik, Sugpiaq, and Athabaskan people.  The unemployment rate fluctuates from a low of around nine percent in summer to a high of 16 percent in mid-winter.

If residents don’t want to work directly for the mining company, many are desperate for jobs to help them stay in their villages. The village corporation that Angasan works for represents Kokhanok and four other villages. Some of those villages are on the verge of disappearing.

“Alaska Peninsula Corporation has villages that are, what I consider, nearing the brink of abandonment,” said Angasan.

The camp employed 15 residents this summer. Twenty-seven-year-old Nicholas Mike, who is Yup’ik, took one of the jobs.

“It means a lot. I get to stay home close to family and I don’t have to deal with traffic in Anchorage (laughs),” said Mike.

Others in the region fiercely oppose the project citing environmental concerns and possible impacts to their subsistence way of life.  Angasan does think developing the mine is a risk to the area’s pristine waters, but he hopes it can be done safely, and dramatically change the economic outlook for the region.

Dec. 4, 2017: Alaska Water Wars series examines resource development and Native communities

Dec. 5, 2017: As the Pebble Mine proposal picks up momentum in Southwest Alaska, Native Tribes keep up pressure against it

Dec. 6, 2017: Native people divided on development of Pebble Mine

Dec. 7, 2017: Some Alaska residents eager to take Pebble Mine jobs

Dec. 11, 2017: Native salmon fishers are skeptical of mining company’s promises of smaller, more environmentally friendly mine.

by Jim Kent

Having a positive role model is often seen as one of the major factors young people have in making positive choices in life and finding success. Some Lakota teenagers on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are working to make a difference in the lives of students at the Red Cloud Indian School.

The reservation covers more than two million acres in southwestern South Dakota.  Statistics on the school’s website indicate Pine Ridge faces high unemployment and high rates of disease. Young people are at risk for substance use and attempting suicide. Yet, resiliency is found across communities on the Oglala Lakota Nation, which include grassroots efforts to encourage young people.

Mentor Alejandro Rama (Photo-Jerry Matthews)

Alejandro Rama loves basketball and is a mentor with Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation’s mentorship program. When Rama was growing up he would frequently turn to his coach for answers about the game, school, or whatever was on his mind. At 16, Rama now understands how important it is to have a role model when you are young.

“I always want to be there for these little kids…’cause I know that they have problems at home,” said Rama. “Running the PE class, something positive for them to get away from the situations at home.”

Those kids are the students Rama mentors in grades K through 8. Being there for the boys and girls is not only good for them, but Rama finds a positive in it for himself when he is having his own doubts and difficult days.

“When I like start to struggle and just don’t really want to try as hard with school or sports or everything, I just remember I have kids looking up to me. And I still need to go hard for them,” said Rama.

The youth mentorship program includes different activities including Native culture.  This student illustrates a Lakota stories. (Photo-Thunder Valley C.D.C)

Kenith Franks is the on-site director for the mentorship program, which is now two-years-old.

“We’re almost like a tier system of mentors almost where you have middle schoolers that the elementary kids are looking up to,” said Franks. “And then the high school kids that work for us kind of instill that whole, I guess, paradigm–that whole viewpoint of mentors all throughout the high school and all throughout the school here at Red Cloud.”

Franks believes the key to the program succeeding is to find others who are as passionate about mentoring as he is. Ensuring the mentorship does not just focus on sports is also important to him. There is a cultural component to the program, from elders teaching students about their traditions to talks about women’s rights.  What Franks would like all the students to learn is what helped him succeed when he moved off the reservation to attend college, is that in the end the most important part of who they are is their cultural identity.

State of Change is a project in collaboration with High Country News and the Solutions Journalism Network. Ten New Mexico news organizations are examining the challenge of building resilient rural communities, and are looking at what some communities are doing to address a number of issues they face. National Native News is taking a look at how one group is building economic resiliency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota through the grassroots community development corporation Thunder Valley. We’re also exploring what other rural communities across New Mexico, and the United States may learn from the organization’s programs.