Good Morning NUNAverse,
To draw attention to the dangers of Enbridge’s Line 5 twin oil pipelines that cross through the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Michigan, traditional Great Lakes canoes and kayaks participated in the Sixth Annual Pipe Out Paddle Up Flotilla at the Straits of Mackinac. One hundred other people remained on shore to lend their support for those who participated in the flotilla. Michigan tribal leaders and environmental allies want to stop the oil flowing through Line 5 because the 68-year-old dual pipelines were built to last only 50 years. Enbridge has proposed to put the pipeline in a tunnel, which the tribes oppose. In June 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will conduct an environmental review of the Line 5 pipeline project proposed by Canada-based Enbridge Inc.
The state of Texas, four tribes, and several parents have filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The petitions stem from U.S. 5th Court of Appeals decision last April in the Brackeen v. Halaand, formerly Brackeen v. Bernhardt, that was originally alleged the ICWA is unconstitutional for discriminating against non-Native families in the placement of Native children. Congress passed ICWA in response to Native children being removed from their homes and placed with non-Native families. Research by the Native Indian Child Welfare Association found that between 25 percent and 35 percent of all Native children were forcibly removed from their home by state child welfare and private adoption agencies. Of them, 85 percent were placed with non-Native families, even when fit and willing relatives were available. ICWA is a safeguard aimed at preventing such a crisis from occurring by enabling tribes and families to be involved in child welfare cases.
Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation), the nation’s first Native poet laureate, has a very clear sense of what she wants to accomplish with her writing. “If my work does nothing else, when I get to the end of my life, I want Native peoples to be seen as human beings,” she says. Her new memoir, Poet Warrior, tells the story of her sixth-generation grandfather who survived the Trail of Tears, the 19th-century forced march in which the U.S. government moved Native people from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast to territory that later became Oklahoma.
In Mexico City, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the Christopher Columbus statue on the Paseo de la Reforma, often a focal point for Indigenous rights protests, would be replaced by a statue honoring Indigenous women. The statue was removed last year supposedly for restoration, shortly before Oct. 12, which Americans know as Columbus Day but Mexicans call “Dia de la Raza,” or “Day of the Race” — the anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. The statue isn’t being discarded, but will be moved to a less prominent location in a small park in the Polanco neighborhood.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Law:
Petitions Filed To Have U.S. Supreme Court Decide On Indian Child Welfare Act Constitutionality
Native News Online, September 7
The state of Texas, four tribes and several parents have filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The petitions stem from U.S. 5th Court of Appeals decision last April in the Brackeen v. Halaand, formerly Brackeen v. Bernhardt, that was originally alleged the ICWA is unconstitutional for discriminating against non-Native families in the placement of Native children. Congress passed the ICWA of 1978 in response to Native children being removed from their homes and placed with non-Native families. Research by the Native Indian Child Welfare Association found that between 25 percent and 35 percent of all Native children were forcibly removed from their home by state child welfare and private adoption agencies. Of them, 85 percent were placed with non-Native families, even when fit and willing relatives were available. ICWA is a safeguard aimed at preventing such a crisis from occurring by enabling tribes and families to be involved in child welfare cases.
Judge Refuses To Block New Sports Betting Law
AP News, Bob Christie, September 7
Monday evening, a judge refused to block a new Arizona law allowing sports gambling to be run by professional sports teams in a decision that will allow the major gambling expansion start as planned later this week. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith refused to issue an injunction barring sports betting from starting Thursday. The ruling came just hours after he held an unusual Labor Day hearing on the request filed by one tribe. The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe wanted the law, which allows professional sports teams to get licenses to run sports gambling, declared unconstitutional.
Manoomin Will Have Its Day In Court
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, September 7
On Sept. 3, a federal judge dismissed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources motion for an injunction against the White Earth Band of Ojibwe tribal court and judge in its lawsuit, Manoomin versus Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “The federal court rightly noted that it has no authority whatsoever to enjoin a tribal court judge from hearing a tribal court law case,” said Angelique EagleWoman, professor and co-director, Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. In a first of its kind legal action, opponents of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline construction project filed a complaint in August on behalf of wild rice, or manoomin in the Ojibwe language, in White Earth tribal court claiming the Department of Natural Resources violated the rights of manoomin as well as multiple treaty rights for tribal citizens to hunt, fish and gather outside the reservation.
MMIW:
MMIW Relay Passes Through Rosebud On Way To Washington
Indian Country Today, Vi Waln, September 7
The Sicangu Oyate ki Iyanka running club escorted a coast-to-coast relay through the Rosebud reservation to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women. After spending time on the Oglala Lakota Nation last week, the #MMIWBIKERUNUSA2021 arrived at the western edge of the Rosebud reservation on Saturday, Sept. 4 and continued on through Sunday, Sept. 5. Several Sicangu citizens joined organizer Duane Garvais Lawrence, a descendant of the Colville and Assiniboine tribes from Washington state, in running relay-style to the Rosebud Fairgrounds, including long-distance runners Daryl Jones, Totes Waln, Almona Kills In Water, LaToya Crazy Bull, Holden Haukaas, Delmar Forgets Nothing and Louie Arcoren.
Other:
Michigan Tribal Leaders Want To Shut Down Line 5 Pipeline Crossing The Straits Of Mackinac
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, September 7
To draw attention to the dangers of Enbridge’s Line 5 twin oil pipelines that cross through the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Michigan, traditional Great Lakes canoes and a couple of dozen kayaks participated in the Sixth Annual Pipe Out Paddle Up Flotilla at the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Michigan. One hundred other people remained on shore to lend their support for those who participated in the flotilla. Michigan tribal leaders and environmental allies want to stop the oil flowing through Line 5 because the 68-year-old dual pipelines were built to last only 50 years. Enbridge has proposed to put the pipeline in a tunnel, which the tribes oppose. In June 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will conduct an environmental review of the Line 5 pipeline project proposed by Canada-based Enbridge Inc.
Indigenous Woman Monument To Replace Columbus Statue
AP News, September 6
Christopher Columbus is getting kicked off Mexico City’s most iconic boulevard. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the Columbus statue on the Paseo de la Reforma, often a focal point for Indigenous rights protests, would be replaced by a statue honoring Indigenous women. She made the announcement on Sunday, which was International Day of the Indigenous Woman. The Columbus statue, donated to the city many years ago, was a significant reference point on the 10-lane boulevard, and surrounding traffic circle is — so far — named for it. That made it a favorite target of spray-paint-wielding protesters denouncing the European suppression of Mexico’s Indigenous civilizations.
‘Poet Warrior’ Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human
NPR, September 7
Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation), the nation’s first Native American poet laureate, has a very clear sense of what she wants to accomplish with her writing. “If my work does nothing else, when I get to the end of my life, I want Native peoples to be seen as human beings,” she says. Her new memoir, Poet Warrior, tells the story of her sixth-generation grandfather who survived the Trail of Tears, the 19th-century forced march in which the U.S. government moved Native people from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast to territory that later became Oklahoma.