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President Biden signed the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act Wednesday at the White House. Native women’s advocates and tribal leaders are celebrating the reauthorization to help protect women, children and families in Indian Country. Provisions in VAWA strengthen safety in Native communities including a pilot program to allow some Alaska Native villages to exercise tribal jurisdiction over non-Indian offenders. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. will be among attendees at the White House signing ceremony. Tribal leaders will discuss tribal provisions during a virtual town hall next week. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization was included in the bipartisan Omnibus Spending Package for Fiscal Year 2022 recently approved by Congress.
Watch President Biden’s Speech About VAWA
Photo: Will Marlow
The Blackfeet Nation dropped its mask mandate for the reservation Tuesday, as Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.
The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council along with the reservation’s incident commander announced that masking on the reservation will be optional and that tribal offices will reopen to the public. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Glacier County, which encompasses the Blackfeet reservation, is experiencing medium COVID-19 transmission levels. At that level, the CDC says most people don’t need to wear masks indoors but people who are vulnerable or immunocompromised should talk to their health care provider about it.
On Tuesday, there were five cases of COVID-19 on the reservation, according to tribal health officials. The coronavirus has killed a little over 60 people on the reservation. During the height of the pandemic, a CDC study showed that restrictions imposed by Blackfeet officials likely reduced transmission of the virus and saved lives.
The Haines Sheldon Museum in Haines, Alaska will feature a new exhibit of Lingít miniatures, showcasing not only the artistic works, but also stories of Lingít people forced to adapt to the rapidly changing times of the late 19th and 20th centuries, as KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports.
The new exhibit will feature a variety of Lingít miniatures. That includes small-scale totem poles, canoes and dolls. Items were both artistic and practical, says museum collections coordinator Zachary James.
“There’s some small spiritual figures, like small talismans like objects, amulets… And then halibut hooks too.”
James is Lingít, with ancestry in the Chilkat Valley, Wrangell, and Stikine Basin.
“Within the old traditions, they would take these new ideas and make new things.”
The massive influx of missionaries and settlers to Southeast Alaska, starting in the 1800s, decimated salmon runs and harmed traditional Native livelihoods. Later came steamship tourism. So, Lingít artists began producing miniatures for tourists.
“We have a lot of old photographs from steamship travelers, and it’s almost always women who would be selling their wares. And amongst the baskets that the women weave, they would have small totem poles and small carvings that the men made.”
The exhibit on Lingít miniatures opens at the Haines Sheldon Museum in Haines, Alaska on Friday March 25. For more information, visit hainesmuseum.org.
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