Good Morning, NUNAverse,
On Friday, January 14, U.S. Representative Dina Titus announced during a press conference in Las Vegas that she plans on introducing legislation to Congress designated to make an area south of Las Vegas a national monument. In a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Representative Titus wrote, “We have an opportunity to preserve a place of deep sacred reverence filled with natural wonders and vibrant scenery of several mountain ranges. Avi Kwa Ame is the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, the center of creation for Yuman-speaking tribes, and the surrounding landscape. While Spirit Mountain enjoys permanent protection as part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the sacred landscape associated with it is still in need of permanent protection.” The area she hopes to memorialize surrounds Spirit Mountain, a mountain within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Laughlin, Nevada known to some Tribes as Avi Kwa’ Ame (meaning Spirit Mountain in Mojave), which has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Place since 1999 for its cultural significance for Tribes in Southern Nevada.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez addressed the Arizona State Legislature and tribal leaders at the Arizona State Capitol last Wednesday, as part of the 27th Annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day. Nez, joined by First Lady Phefelia Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer, spoke about the contributions of Navajo people during the COVID-19 pandemic, voting rights, efforts to locate missing persons, and the Indian Child Welfare Act, among other topics. Nez called for a moment of silence in the Arizona House of Representatives to honor frontline workers and Navajo people who passed on during the pandemic, including former Navajo Nation President and Arizona Senator and Representative Albert Hale. He noted that 72.5% of people on Navajo Nation are vaccinated against COVID-19 with two doses of a vaccine. Of elders who are 65 years and older, 87% are vaccinated with two doses.
The Maryland Historical Trust will use a $50,000 grant from the National Park Service to document the accomplishments and stories of Indigenous people in Baltimore City. The Historic Trust plans to hire a consultant by February to oversee the project and hopes to complete it by next September. In addition to library and newspaper archives, a key component is the forthcoming Ashley Minner Collection at the University of Maryland Baltimore, County. Ashley Minner is a community-based visual artist serving as assistant curator for history and culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The collection is named after her because her research inspired the collection. Between 2,000 and 7,000 Indigenous people settled in the Upper Fells Point and Washington Hill neighborhoods in Southeastern Baltimore in the 1950s and 1960s. Indigenous people who settled in the city were predominantly members of the Lumbee Tribe and were from Robeson County, North Carolina, Minner said.
Tribal advocates told a Senate panel this week the federal government’s effort to fund expanded broadband infrastructure in Indian Country overlooked a fundamental issue: many tribes did not have the broadband access needed to apply for the funding that would let them improve broadband access. Information about the first round of grants was available only online, and tribes were encouraged to apply online in a 90-day window during the pandemic. The upshot, said Matthew Rantanen, was that only about half of all eligible tribal communities applied for the funding. “Some of the tribes didn’t get enough of the information about it or didn’t have access already, which we know they don’t have access to broadband,” said Rantanen, the co-chair of the National Congress Of American Indians Subcommittee on Technology and Telecommunications.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Health:
Navajo Increases Ability To Do Covid Testing, Vaccinations
AP News, January 18
Health facilities on the Navajo Nation are increasing the ability to test for COVID-19 and vaccinate people as the omicron variant spreads, tribal leaders said. Navajo President Jonathan Nez said the facilities also are working to give out more home testing kits this month while cases are surging. The tribe reported 129 additional COVID-19 cases and 117 delayed reported cases. The death toll remains at 1,600. A full report with total case counts during the pandemic will be available Tuesday, the tribe said. “The Navajo Department of Health has implemented many public health emergency orders, but the trend in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths ultimately comes down to the individual choices we make each day. So, please make the right choices for yourself, your family, friends, and everyone in your community,” Nez said in a statement Monday.
Filmmaker Warns Of Increased Vulnerabilities For Indigenous Women And Girls With Impending Flood Of Methamphetamine To Indian Country In 2022
Native News Online, Ariana Amehae, January 15
Film director Rain is calling for increased vigilance in Tribal communities after Mexico’s Defense Secretary, General Luis Sandoval, issued a report confirming a possible 500 percent increase in drug cartel production of methamphetamine and fentanyl. The filmmaker’s warning comes during National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. This week, President Jonathan Nez designated January as Navajo Nation Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month. Somebody’s Daughter was the first documentary to layout, stage by stage, the nexus between drug cartels, their gang affiliates, and the human trafficking of Indigenous women and girls into modern day slavery. The new version of the film, Somebody’s Daughter (1492), further exposes the connection in a must-see examination of the MMIWR crisis. In the film, Tribal leaders speak forthrightly about the escalation of cartel and gang operations in Indian Country, and that the severity of the emergency continues to elude federal law enforcement due to systemic and institutional failings. Several gangs are identified as operating on reservations in the northwest, including the Mexican Mafia and the associated Sureños.
Government:
Navajo Nation President Addresses Arizona State Legislature On Issues Facing Navajo People
Native News Online, January 15
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez addressed the Arizona State Legislature and tribal leaders at the Arizona State Capitol last Wednesday, as part of the 27th Annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day. Nez, joined by First Lady Phefelia Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer, spoke about the contributions of Navajo people during the COVID-19 pandemic, voting rights, efforts to locate missing persons and the Indian Child Welfare Act, among other topics. Nez called for a moment of silence in the Arizona House of Representatives to honor frontline workers and Navajo people who passed on during the pandemic, including former Navajo Nation President and Arizona Senator and Representative Albert Hale. He noted that 72.5% of people on Navajo Nation are vaccinated against COVID-19 with two doses of a vaccine. Of elders who are 65 years and older, 87% are vaccinated with two doses. “This shows that our elders continue to lead the way and set a great example for our people,” he said. Nez also urged state lawmakers to support Native people’s voting rights.
Tribal Chairman Gives South Dakota Lawmakers History Lesson
AP News, Stephen Groves, January 14
The chairman of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate offered South Dakota’s Legislature a history lesson on Thursday during the annual State of the Tribes address, as he emphasized tribal sovereignty and government-to-government relations. Chairman Delbert Hopkins Jr. entered the House chamber to a beating drum, Dakota songs and with an honor guard of tribal veterans. After leading the chamber in a moment of silence for the people who have died from COVID-19, he reminded lawmakers that treaties between the U.S. government and tribal nations have always been a part of the country’s history, starting with George Washington and the Constitution. State and tribal governments have long had an uneasy relationship in South Dakota, and the annual State of the Tribes address, which is delivered by one of the nine tribal leaders in the state, is meant to foster cooperation. Hopkins named several areas where the state and tribes could work together better, including education, economic development and law enforcement.
Law:
Pima County Works To Reduce Overrepresentation Of Native Americans In Its Jails
Cronkite News, Kylie Cochrane, January 17
There is a disproportionately large group of American Indians held in southern Arizona jails. Data from the Safety and Justice Challenge – which is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation – shows that Native Americans are 1.8 times as likely as white Americans to be booked into a Pima County jail. very year in the United States, more than 10 million people are jailed, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice. The Safety and Justice Institute says about 75% of them are behind bars for nonviolent offenses related to traffic, property, drug or public order offenses. And, since 2000, the Native American jail population nationwide is up 85%, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The vast majority of people in jail are awaiting trial, meaning they haven’t been convicted of any crime. And jail time for any reason can have a cascading effect. But he also made sure to remind lawmakers that they owed even the state’s name to the tribes. Peri Pourier, a Democratic representative who is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, slammed the governor for not attending the event.
Other:
Bay Area Native Americans Oppose Replica Mission Bell Installation, Say It Represents Dark History
ABC 7, January 18
The indigenous community in the Bay Area is fighting the installation of a replica mission bell approved more than a year ago. It’s set to be installed in the City of Gilroy. Despite the opposition, the city council has not decided to bring it back for further discussion. Mission bells have been a site seen on Highway 101 or El Camino Real for more than a hundred years now. Long before they lined the highway, Valentin Lopez, chair of the Amah Mutsun tribal band, says bells like them were used by missions to order oppressed Native American people around. “If you didn’t follow that bell, they would punish you and oftentimes that punishing was with a whip,” Lopez said of the history, “That’s what the bells represent, nothing but brutal control and domination of indigenous people.” The dark history of the bells have been brought to the headlines in recent years.
Indigenous Girl Says Lakeville, Minn. Tutor Referred To Native Americans As ‘Savages’
FOX 9, Babs Santos, January 17
Ana Nagrete’s daughter River goes to McGuire Middle School in Lakeville; and the family says it’s here, after school, that a tutor has left a permanent scar on River’s seventh-grade year. “I was like confused at first, and like shocked,” River said. She says it all started before Thanksgiving, when an after-school tutor scolded her, saying her family should celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. River is Native American, and she says the conflict with the tutor heated back up on or around Jan. 5; with her tutor confronting her after school and referring to Native Americans as “savages who had killed her people.” “River said, ‘Hey, you know that’s racist right?’ And she said something to the effect of, ‘Well, there’s a city named Savage, so it can’t be that bad,” Nagrete said. Her mother spoke out about it at a Lakeville school boarding meeting on Jan. 10.
National Monument Proposed By Congresswoman And Tribes In Nevada
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, January 17
On Friday, January 14, U.S. Representative Dina Titus (D-Las Vegas) said during a press conference in Las Vegas that she plans on introducing legislation to Congress designated to make an area south of Las Vegas a national monument within the next few days. In a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday, January 12, U.S. Rep. Titus wrote, “We have an opportunity to preserve a place of deep sacred reverence filled with natural wonders and vibrant scenery of several mountain ranges. Avi Kwa Ame is the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, the center of creation for Yuman-speaking tribes, and the surrounding landscape. While Spirit Mountain enjoys permanent protection as part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the sacred landscape associated with it is still in need of permanent protection.” The area she hopes to memorialize surrounds Spirit Mountain, a mountain within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Laughlin, Nevada known to some Tribes as Avi Kwa’ Ame (meaning Spirit Mountain in Mojave), which has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Place since 1999 for its cultural significance for Tribes in Southern Nevada.
Maryland Historical Trust Seeks To Record Indigenous History
The Washington Post, Billie Jean Louis, January 15
The Maryland Historical Trust will use a $50,000 grant from the National Park Service to document the accomplishments and stories of Indigenous people in Baltimore City. These stories are important, said Heather Barrett, administrator of architectural research of the Historical Trust in Crownsville. The Historic Trust plans to hire a consultant by February to oversee the project and hopes to complete it by next September. In addition to library and newspaper archives, a key component is the forthcoming Ashley Minner Collection at the University of Maryland Baltimore, County, she said. Ashley Minner is a community-based visual artist serving as assistant curator for history and culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The collection is named after her because her research inspired the collection. Between 2,000 and 7,000 Indigenous people settled in the Upper Fells Point and Washington Hill neighborhoods in Southeastern Baltimore in the 1950s and 1960s. Indigenous people who settled in the city were predominantly members of the Lumbee Tribe and were from Robeson County, North Carolina, Minner said. They came to Baltimore seeking work in construction and factories as well as to start their own businesses.
National Monument Proposed For Nevada Site Sacred To Tribes
AP News, Ken Ritter, January 14
A Nevada congresswoman and several elected and tribal officials announced support Friday for national monument designation over a broad area south of Las Vegas they say is biologically diverse and rich with Native American cultural significance. The site would be called Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and encompass a rugged and dry mostly undeveloped landscape dotted with Joshua trees between mountain ranges generally between the Colorado River and the Mojave National Preserve in California. It would include Spirit Mountain, a peak northwest of Laughlin called “Avi Kwa Ame” by the Fort Mojave Tribe and listed in 1999 on the National Register of Historic Places as a place sacred to Indian tribes. U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat from Las Vegas, said she intends to introduce legislation in Congress in coming days for Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. She traced the process to 1999, when Spirit Mountain received National Register listing.
Vicious Circle: Tribal Broadband Program Hindered By Lack Of Broadband
Cronkite News, Camila Pedrosa, January 14
Tribal advocates told a Senate panel this week the federal government’s effort to fund expanded broadband infrastructure in Indian Country overlooked a fundamental issue. Many tribes did not have the broadband access needed to apply for the funding that would let them improve broadband access. Information about the first round of grants was available only online, and tribes were encouraged to apply online in a 90-day window during the pandemic. The upshot, said Matthew Rantanen, was that only about half of all eligible tribal communities applied for the funding. “Some of the tribes didn’t get enough of the information about it or didn’t have access already, which we know they don’t have access to broadband,” said Rantanen, the co-chair of the National Congress Of American Indians Subcommittee on Technology and Telecommunications. Access is not the only issue dogging the program faces: Government agencies cannot agree on the scope of the problem.
Hundreds Gather For Clyde Bellecourt’s Funeral Services In Minneapolis
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, January 14
Leaders and hundreds of supporters attended the wake service Thursday evening for Clyde Bellecourt (White Earth Ojibwe), one of the original founders of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who passed away on Tuesday morning due to complications with cancer. He was 85. The wake service for Clyde Bellecourt began for the general public at 7:00 pm at the East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center on Minneapolis’s Southside, near the Little Earth neighborhood. A wake service is also scheduled for Friday evening on the White Earth Indian Reservation followed by a traditional Ojibwe funeral service and burial Saturday morning. Community leaders spoke of Bellecourt’s bravery and tenacity to fight for causes not popular to society. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke of his presence at City Hall.