Good Morning NUNAverse,
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes legislation to address the hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children killed at the Wounded Knee massacre a century ago. Included in the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 is an amendment that comes from the ‘Remove the Stain Act’ (H.R. 2226), which calls for revoking the Medal of Honor from members of the U.S. 7th Calvary who killed hundreds of Lakota people at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The Remove the Stain Act was reintroduced in March of this year by Hawaii Representative Kaiali’i Kahele (Native Hawaiian) along with several co-sponsors including Kansas Representative Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation).
A sea of more than 150 people — many dressed in orange shirts and waving signs — marched through Minneapolis Friday to remember the victims of Indian boarding schools. The rainy morning ended just before the Boarding School Survivor and Victim Memorial March began about 1 P.M. on Friday, September 24, at the Little Earth Residents Association. The march continued through the heart of the Native community to end at the Powwow Grounds coffee shop along Franklin Avenue. Many remembered family members who attended boarding schools, including those who never returned home.
Fossilized footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans were walking across North America around 23,000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday. The first footprints were found in a dry lake bed in White Sands National Park in 2009. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey recently analyzed seeds stuck in the footprints to determine their approximate age, ranging from around 22,800 and 21,130 years ago. Most scientists believe ancient migration came by way of a now-submerged land bridge that connected Asia to Alaska. Based on various evidence — including stone tools, fossil bones, and genetic analysis — other researchers have offered a range of possible dates for human arrival in the Americas, from 13,000 to 26,000 years ago or more.
A woman from the Lummi Nation in Washington has been found alive in Las Vegas after her family filed a missing persons report with various law enforcement agencies. Reatha Finkbonner was on vacation while in Las Vegas with her fiancé and friends when she went missing on September 3, 2021. Reatha’s disappearance came before nationwide coverage of the killing of Gabby Petito, a young white woman, in a National Park in Wyoming. National media coverage of Petito caused many advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous people to question the fairness in reporting as Indigenous women are reported to go missing at a rate 10 times the national average, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.
Law:
Native American Voting Rights Act Needed To Protect Our Sacred Right To Vote
Native News Online, Chuck Hoskin Jr., September 26
The cornerstone of our democracy is the right to vote. However, for most of our country’s history, Native people were denied that right. To this day, barriers prevent Indian Country from fully making our voices heard and our votes count. Many Natives live in remote, rural locations with poor road conditions and no easy way to reach distantly placed polling locations. Many tribal lands have limited access to post offices and nontraditional mailing addresses, which makes it extremely difficult to register to vote or mail in a ballot. Fortunately, new legislation recently introduced in Congress can fix many of these issues. The Native American Voting Rights Act (NAVRA) … gives tribes a say in where and how many polling places are located on tribal lands, as well as requiring tribal consent before a state or precinct reduces our access to voting. It would ensure that tribal ID cards are allowed as identification for voting, which is already the case in Oklahoma. Additionally, it establishes a Native voting task force to address the unique issues faced by voters on tribal lands.
‘Remove The Stain Act’ Moves Forward As House Passes Defense Bill
Native News Online, September 24
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes legislation to address the slaughter of hundreds of Lakota men, women and children at the Wounded Knee massacre a century ago. Included in the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 is an amendment that comes from the ‘Remove the Stain Act’ (H.R. 2226), which calls for revoking the Medal of Honor from members of the U.S. 7th Calvary who killed hundreds of Lakota people at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The Remove the Stain Act was reintroduced in March of this year by Democrat from Hawaii Representative Kaiali’i Kahele (Native Hawaiian) along with several co-sponsors including Kansas Representative Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation).
Muscogee Nation Voters Pass Press Protections
Indian Country Today, Kolby Kickingwoman, September 24
Freedom of the press, it’s guaranteed in the first amendment of the United States Constitution. However, many tribal nations across the country with tribal newspapers do not have such language codified in constitutions of their own. That recently changed for the Muscogee Nation. In its most recent election held on September 18, Muscogee citizens overwhelmingly voted to amend the tribe’s constitution to include such protections and mandated tribal funding for its news enterprise, Mvskoke Media. Needing two-thirds approval, the referendum was passed with 1,914 (76.25 percent) voting yes to 596 (23.75 percent) voting no, according to the unofficial results on the tribe’s website. It had been a long and arduous road for the tribe to get to this point. In 2015, the tribe passed the “Free Press Act,” establishing independent media. It would last three years before the National Council, during an emergency meeting, voted 7 to 6 to repeal the law.
Tribe Wins Major Step Toward Resuming Whaling Off Washington
AP News, Gene Johnson, September 24
An administrative law judge has recommended that a tribe in Washington state once again be allowed to hunt gray whales — a major step in its decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice. On Thursday, nearly two years after he presided over a hearing on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ proposal to approve the waiver, administrative law judge George Jordan issued his 156-page recommendation to the U.S. Department of Commerce. He found that the tribal hunts would have no effect on the healthy overall population of the whales, despite an unexplained die-off that has caused hundreds of the whales to wash up on the Pacific Coast since 2019, and which is believed to have lowered their numbers from about 27,000 to 21,000-25,000. The recommendation, along with a public comment period and further environmental analysis, will inform the department’s final decision, though no timeline for that has been set. As proposed, the waiver would allow the tribe to land up to 20 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years, with hunts timed to minimize the already low chances of the hunters accidentally harpooning an endangered Western North Pacific gray whale.
MMIW:
The Media Needs To Get Past The “Missing White Woman Syndrome”
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, September 26
In July, Gabby Petito, 22, began a four-month trip across the country with her fiancé to visit national parks along the way. By September 1, something had obviously gone amiss when Petito’s fiancé returned to his home in Florida without her. Ten days later, Petito’s mother filed a missing person report. Last Sunday, human remains believed to be those of Petito were discovered in a remote area of the Grand Teton National Park. On Wednesday, September 22, an autopsy positively identified Petito’s remains. The events described above may already be familiar to you because, for the last several weeks, Petito’s disappearance and death have drawn national media attention. Her death was tragic. So are the stories of hundreds of Indigenous people who have gone missing and murdered in the state of Wyoming and across Indian Country. Only 30 percent of Indigenous homicide victims had newspaper media coverage, as compared to 51 percent of White homicide victims. Indigenous female homicide victims had the least amount of newspaper media coverage (18 percent).
Lummi Nation Woman Reported Missing While Vacationing In Las Vegas, Found Alive
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, September 24
A woman from the Lummi Nation in Washington has been found alive in Las Vegas after her family filed a missing persons report with various law enforcement agencies. Reatha Finkbonner was on vacation while in Las Vegas with her fiancé and friends when she went missing on September 3, 2021. Reatha’s disappearance came before nationwide coverage of the killing of Gabby Petito, a young white woman, in a National Park in Wyoming. National media coverage of Petito caused many advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous people to question the fairness in reporting as Indigenous women are reported to go missing at a rate 10 times the national average, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.
Boarding Schools:
Minneapolis Marches In Remembrance Of Boarding School Victims
Indian Country Today, Dan Ninham, September 26
A sea of more than 150 people — many dressed in orange shirts and waving signs — marched through Minneapolis Friday to remember the victims of Indian boarding schools. The rainy morning ended just before the Boarding School Survivor and Victim Memorial March began about 1 p.m. on Friday, September 24, at the Little Earth Residents Association. The march continued through the heart of the Native community to end at the Powwow Grounds coffee shop along Franklin Avenue. Many remembered family members who attended boarding schools, including those who never returned home.
In Minneapolis, A March For Boarding School Victims And Survivors
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, September 25
On Friday, hundreds of people marched in solidarity as part of the boarding school survivor and victim memorial event in Minneapolis. Crowds marched through Southside neighborhoods to raise awareness of the legacy of boarding schools that is still felt in the American Indian community today. The march was organized by the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center and sponsored by the Minneapolis American Indian Center, Tiwahe Foundation, Ain Dah Yung, the Lower Phalen Creek Project, and other American Indian community organizations in the Twin Cities area. Prior to the march, crowds met in the Little Earth neighborhood on Minneapolis’s Southside and listened to speakers share their experiences attending boarding school.
COVID-19:
Inside Of Alaska Native Medical Center’s ICU
Alaska Public Media, Lex Treinen, September 24
On Monday morning at a wing of Alaska Native Medical Center’s ICU, workers in masks and scrubs darted in and out of hospital rooms. But it was relatively quiet except for the pings of medical machines and the ringing of telephones at the main desk. The morning before was different: a code blue. Somebody’s heart had stopped beating. Workers rushed to the doors of a negative pressure room where the patient, suffering from COVID-19, was on a ventilator. But workers couldn’t just rush in to start CPR right away. Instead, they had to put on fit-tested powered air purifying respirators, isolation gowns, gloves and goggles to protect them against the virus. Only a few workers entered the patient’s room, while the others stood outside and passed supplies through the doors or gave treatment advice. One of them had to position a medical cart outside the glass window with an iPad on top of it, so a loved one could catch a last glimpse of the patient. Nurses say they’re working overtime — often 18-hour days — to provide the care their patients need. And they’re also dealing with the emotional trauma of deaths, almost every days. It’s exhausting and frustrating, staff said, especially since most of the suffering is preventable through vaccination.
Other:
Oldest Human Footprints In North America Found
AP News, September 24, Christina Larson
Fossilized footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans were walking across North America around 23,000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday. The first footprints were found in a dry lake bed in White Sands National Park in 2009. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey recently analyzed seeds stuck in the footprints to determine their approximate age, ranging from around 22,800 and 21,130 years ago. Most scientists believe ancient migration came by way of a now-submerged land bridge that connected Asia to Alaska. Based on various evidence — including stone tools, fossil bones and genetic analysis — other researchers have offered a range of possible dates for human arrival in the Americas, from 13,000 to 26,000 years ago or more.
Local Indigenous Groups Worry Bears Ears Monument Will Limit Access To Ritual Space
The Washington Post, Joseph Hammond, September 24
Like nearly 65% of Utah, Bears Ears stands on federal land, though their current status is likely to change. The Bears Ears National Monument was created by President Obama in 2016, encompassing some 1.3 million acres. Under President Trump, the site was reduced to 201,876 acres. The Biden administration is believed to be mulling the restoration of Obama-era boundaries to the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, both in Utah. While the Bears Ears National Monument received broad support from a coalition of Native American groups across the nation, some Native Americans in the immediate area oppose the monument, with religious freedom issues being a primary concern. Indeed, Betty Jones appeared on stage with President Trump in the Capitol in 2017 to announce the reduction of the monument.
California To Replace Toppled Statue With Memorial To Tribes
AP News, Adam Beam, September 24
More than a year after protesters toppled a statue of a Spanish missionary on the grounds of the California Capitol, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Friday to replace it with a memorial for the state’s Natives. A statue of Father Junipero Serra had stood in Capitol Park since 1967. He was a Roman Catholic pries who established a string of missions from San Diego to San Francisco in the late1700s and used them as centers to convert members of nearby tribes to Christianity. But many Natives were forced to live and work at the missions and subjected to beatings and other abuse. Thousands died. Assemblyman James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla tribe) a Democrat from Highland, authored a bill to replace the statue on the Capitol grounds with a memorial for Natives in the Sacramento area. It’s one of several laws Newsom signed on Friday dealing with Native issues.