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Photo: Oregon State University – Cascades hosts the First Peoples of Central Oregon Cultural Experiences event on Indigenous Peoples Day Oct. 7, 2023. (Courtesy Oregon State University)
Across the country, many communities and organizations are celebrating the second Monday of October as Native American Day, also known as Indigenous Peoples Day.
More than 30 years ago, the South Dakota Legislature unanimously approved making this a holiday to celebrate the culture and history of Native Americans, replacing Columbus Day.
According to Pew Research, under a third of U.S. states still observe Columbus Day, following criticism of Christopher Columbus’ role in exploiting and enslaving Indigenous people beginning in the late 1400s.
Many Native activists say the explorer didn’t “discover” them, as much as he paved the way for further exploration and colonization of the continent.
While observed as a federal holiday beginning in 1937, resistance to honor Columbus has resulted in changes.
For example, the city of Columbus, Ohio has observed Indigenous Peoples Day since 2020, and uses the occasion to honor veterans.
Watch Reimagining Columbus moderated by Antonia Gonzales
Water hauling station in Ganado Chapter. (Courtesy US EPA)
Basic water infrastructure is something some Indigenous communities still lack.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez has this report on a possible settlement that could bring water to some communities for the first time.
The Navajo Nation says a third of its people on the reservation don’t have access to water. Hauling bottled water is common.
So the Navajo Nation, along with the Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes, wants the government to authorize the country’s largest Indian water rights settlement.
It would provide water infrastructure to hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people.
Navajo Spokesperson Justin Ahasteen says settling this decades-long dispute will be a positive step forward for Native and non-native communities.
“It provides that certainty as we continue to look at ways to conserve the existing water usage and it helps promote the Navajo Nation to be more self reliant.”
The Water Rights Settlement must be approved by Congress.
If passed, the $5 billion in federal funding would allow the infrastructure effort to begin, with a projected completion date of 2040.
It also solidifies the Navajo Nation’s water rights to the Colorado River’s Upper and Lower Basins.
(Photo: C.J. Keene / SDPB)
A collection of regional nonprofit organizations is working to center Indigenous perspectives in fundraising.
The Good Relatives Collaborative hosted one of the sessions at a recent Rapid City tribal relations meeting.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.
The Good Relatives Collaborative seeks to connect grantmaking with an explicitly Indigenous-oriented lens.
Lakota Vogel is the executive director of the Four Bands Community Fund, based on the Cheyenne River Reservation. She says the collection of organizations seek to create new opportunities.
“We are a group of Native nonprofits through the regions of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota who have received Bush Foundation funding to uplift Native nonprofits within those three states. We like to think that people who are approximate to the opportunities have the solutions for their communities, and oftentimes that is Native-led. Oftentimes, as Natives we’re entering spaces where our viewpoints are not centric, so this is an opportunity to put them first, lift up their values, and use that as a starting point.”
Alongside Four Bands are the North Dakota-based Sacred Pipe Resource Center and Minnesota-based Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI).
Alissa Benoist is the director of programming with Four Bands.
She says any group seeking assistance can find it with these groups.
“The work that they do is phenomenal. It’s not outside entities coming in and telling them what to do, they’re finding their solution that best suits their needs at the time. We’re here to support them along their journey and finance the solutions they may need.”
Associated grantee groups attended the luncheon with Vogel and Benoist, along with their Sacred Pipe and NACDI counterparts.
Today’s National Native News was read and written by Brian Bull. Antonia Gonzales is on assignment in Anchorage, Alaska.
Tune into this year’s “Alaska’s Native Vote” series hosted by Antonia from the AFN Convention.
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