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From homework to job applications, the value of high-speed internet access has only become more prevalent in the 21st century.
Now, the Biden-Harris Administration is looking to plug some of the nation’s biggest coverage gaps.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene reports.
With rural and remote Americans often behind the technological curve, and the geographic reality of Native American reservations, high-speed internet has been slow to reach every corner of the country.
PaaWee Rivera (Pueblo of Pojoaque) is the director of tribal affairs for the Biden Administration.
He explains the Presidents’ rationale in pushing for the near billion-dollar investment.
“Access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity to fully participate in today’s society. This second round of funding from the tribal broadband connectivity program will make approximately $980 million available for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities for deployment of internet infrastructure on tribal lands.”
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson says tribal entities have until January to apply for funding.
“These funds will support high-speed infrastructure deployment as well as use in adoption activities. Those activities will include affordable broadband programs, distance learning, telehealth, digital inclusion programs, and broadband adoption.”
Asst. Sec. Davidson was asked about the financial weight of bringing fiber to some of the least-connected areas of the nation.
He says while bearing costs in mind, their goal is to connect everyone in America with high-speed internet.
“In part because of the challenges that are faced by remoteness, rugged terrain, low population densities, that’s very much part of what drives the cost of these programs, and we believe that’s why Congress made sure to make these special allocations. The fact is we know when we push out fiber into some of these communities for example, it provides the infrastructure that will be used for other programs in the future.”
Projections say this investment could bring new connections to nearly 150,000 households on tribal lands.
Officials don’t yet have a breakdown of state-by-state data.
Sean Sherman works a temporary reincarnation of his food truck at the Owamni Falling Water Festival outside his brick and mortar restaurant. (Photo: August Schwerdfeger / Wiki CC)
Indigenous chefs are racking up prestigious awards for their cooking.
But this wasn’t always the case – and there’s still room to grow.
Now, these chefs are working to share their cuisine while highlighting their history.
KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde reports.
Chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) says the absence of Native restaurants resulted from many wrongdoings by the federal government.
Bison were killed at alarming rates.
Federal boarding schools stripped Indigenous peoples of their culture and forcing them onto resource-poor reservations put them in a systemic trap.
He says they haven’t had time to heal yet, let alone evolve.
“The more you dig into it, the more inequality you see in the more racist structures that you can see that are still built into the system.”
Chef Andrea Murdoch (Indigenous Andean) wants to shed light on this through her cooking.
She’s made food for several fundraising dinners that focus on issues like missing and murdered Indigenous relatives and Indian boarding school trauma.
“Yes, I’m a chef, but I’m using that platform to bring awareness to cultural issues.”
This summer, she helped with Denver EATSS, hosted by the American Indian College Fund.
It raises tens of millions of dollars each year for Indigenous students to attend tribal colleges.
Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota), the college fund’s CEO, loves hosting the event.
“Events like this for me are that opportunity for us to showcase the kinds of things that we as Native people contribute to society.”
The dinner portion featured Indigenous chefs preparing dishes with pre-colonial ingredients, like a hen of the woods mushroom soup or a three sisters hors d’oeuvre.
Ben Jacobs (Osage), the co-founder and chef of Tocabe American Indian Eatery in Denver, also cooked for the event.
With each dish, he tries to tell a story and make food for people, not for a profit.
“The point is being able to provide people food that’s meaningful and not worry about, ‘At the end of the day, I’m only here to make money,’ because we’re not. We’re here to make impact.”
Murdoch wants to do the same. By cooking at events like this, she hopes to uplift the cuisine and causes of her community while inviting others into the discovery.
“Food is a common necessity, one of the few common necessities that everybody needs, no matter what. Like, we need it for survival. So why not have a conversation about where your food came from?”
Listen to part one of Emma’s report
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