Good Morning, NUNAverse,
Last week, the Federal Register published a proposed rule to rewrite the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in order to expedite and simplify the process for tribal nations seeking their relatives’ return. Passed by Congress in 1990, NAGPRA is a human rights law that legally compels museums and federal institutions that possess Native human remains and associated funerary objects to catalog and return those ancestors and belongings within five years.
The Maine Department of Education is not doing enough to enforce a decades-old law requiring students to be taught about Native history, leading most schools to fall short, according to a study. The study, released is Indigenous Peoples Day, concluded most school districts are failing to cover all required areas of Wabanaki studies.
The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program has issued more than $1.35 billion in funding, according to a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announcement Wednesday. The latest round of funding awarded $602 million to 23 tribal projects, the largest single distribution yet from the program’s $1.98 billion pool of funding.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Boarding Schools:
Native Americans Recall Torture, Hatred At Boarding Schools
AP News, Matthew Brown, October 15
Native Mascots:
Native American Group Blasts Chiefs For ‘Mocking Our Culture,’ Calls Team’s ‘End Racism’ Message ‘Ironic’
Fox News, Scott Thompson, October 1
Board Likely To Push Kansas Schools To Remove American Indian Mascots, Other Offensive Imagery
CJOnline, Rafael Garacia, October 12
Law:
Department Of Interior Proposes Overhaul Of NAGPRA
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, October 13
Study: Most Maine Schools Fall Short On Wabanaki History
AP News, David Sharp, October 10
Politics:
Tribal Leaders Pepper New Mexico Candidates With Questions
AP News, Susan Montoya Bryan, October 14
Arizona’s CD2 Could Decide Congressional Delegation Makeup
AP News, Felicia Fonseca, October 13
Georgia GOP Senate Candidate Herschel Walker: “I’m Native American”
Native News Online, October 12
Other:
For Decades, This Paper Failed To Take Native American Issues Seriously
Seattle Times, Michele Flores, October 16
Ute Indian Tribe Criticizes Biden Monument On Ancestral Land
AP News, Brady McCombs, October 13
Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program Crosses $1b Funding Threshold
Native News Online, Chez Oxendine, October 12
FEMA Announces First National Tribal Affairs Advocate
Native News Online, October 12
Hopi Curator To Lead New Mexico’s Native American Art Museum
AP News, October 12
Mass. Museum Returns Sacred Native American Items From Its Collection
MassLive, Ryan Mancini, October 11