Native News Online covers the impact that COVID-19 has had on Alaska Native villages, including infection 326 out of the 1,075 residents of Chevak, and infection 2,312 residents while killing 12 in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, where Chevak is located.
Meanwhile, Indian Country Today covers Kristina Gonzales-Wartz (Diné), and her work on an antibody cocktail that can be administered to COVID patients to help them fight the disease. It’s still in the research and development stages but has been used by volunteer patients around the country, including President Donald Trump, with promising results.
Minnesota regulators approved the final permit for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement across northern Minnesota, giving the company the green light to begin construction on the $2.6 billion project. Two tribes — the Red Lake and White Earth Bands of Chippewa — asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission last week to stay its approval of the project, saying the influx of construction workers would put residents along the route at higher risk of COVID-19. A consolidated appeal by environmental and tribal groups is also pending before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) has awarded $1 million to 25 grantees to invest in Indian Country’s agriculture future. This wide array of grants provides direct funding to organizations serving Native American youth, and will directly benefit youth from 83 unique Tribal Nations in 12 different states serving more than 4,000 youth.
Keep reading for a full news update.
COVID-19:
On The Front Line: Diné Scientist Working Toward COVID Cure
Navajo Times, November 30
Kristina Gonzales-Wartz could have been a poster child for why there are so few Natives in the STEM fields.
‘We’re No Longer Safe’: The Coronavirus Rages Through Alaska Native Villages
Native News Online, Tamara Ikenberg, December 1
In a remote Alaskan village, it’s easy to feel like nothing can touch you, not even Covid-19.
“Before the virus came, we were kind of skeptical of it and didn’t really believe in it. We were isolated from the city, from everybody else. We are in our own little bubble. We felt very safe in our village,” said lifelong Chevak resident Mary N. Marvin, who is Qissunamiut. “But we weren’t. We were no longer safe in our little bubble.“
Native Mascots:
Native American Students, Alumni Emotional As Bountiful High Plans To Drop Its Braves Mascot
The Salt Lake Tribune, Courtney Tanner, November 30
Lemiley Lane, one of the few Native American students at Bountiful High, was so happy that she cried Monday when she found out she’d no longer be graduating as a “Brave.”
Shawnee Mission Schools Under Pressure To Change Mascot
AP News,November 30
The Shawnee Mission school district is looking at making changes to mascots that use Native American imagery after thousands of people — including current and former students — signed a petition seeking to have the Shawnee Mission North High School drop its Indians name and mascot.
Politics:
An Indian Country Wish List For Day 1 Of The Biden Administration
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, November 30
Now that the presidential transition from the current administration to the incoming Biden administration is officially underway, there is a lot of work to be done from now until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2021.
What a Joe Biden Cabinet Pick Might Mean For Native Americans—And Democrats
Politico, Jason Grow, November 30
On a chilly mid-November Saturday—after I had played phone tag with her chief of staff for half a week, and after she had met up with a couple members-elect about her Democratic Caucus vice chair bid—I finally sat down with Deb Haaland for dinner at a Thai restaurant tucked between mostly empty glass buildings in downtown D.C.
Other:
The Native American Agriculture Fund Distributes $1 Million Dollars To 25 Organizations Serving Native Youth
Red Lake Nation News, December 1
The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) has awarded $1 million to 25 grantees to invest in Indian Country’s agriculture future. This wide array of grants provides direct funding to organizations serving Native American youth.
Minnesota Gives Final Green Light To Disputed Oil Pipeline
AP News, Steve Karnowski, November 30
Minnesota regulators approved the final permit for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement across northern Minnesota, giving the company the green light to begin construction on the $2.6 billion project. But two tribes — the Red Lake and White Earth Bands of Chippewa — asked the PUC last week to stay its approval of the project, saying the influx of construction workers would put residents along the route at higher risk of COVID-19. A consolidated appeal by environmental and tribal groups is also pending before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
History On A Plate: How Native American Diets Shifted After European Colonization
History, Lois Ellen Frank, November 30
Native people pass down information—including food traditions—from one generation to the next through stories, histories, legends and myths. Native elders teach how to prepare wild game and fish, how to find wild plants, which plants are edible, their names, their uses for food and medicine, and how to grow, prepare and store them.
Salmon People: A Tribe’s Decades-long Fight To Take Down The Lower Snake River Dams And Restore A Way Of Life
Seattle Times, Lynda Mapes, November 29
The Nez Perce are at the center of a decades-long battle to remove the Lower Granite Dam and three others in Washington on the Lower Snake River. In many tribal members’ lifetimes, dams have transformed the Columbia and Snake from wild rivers to a hydropower behemoth and shipping channel — despite fishing rights reserved by their ancestors guaranteed in the treaty of 1855.