In this post:
- Menominee Tribe sues Meta, Facebook, and other tech firms for creating addictive social media, contributing to a surge in Tribal youth’s anxiety, depression, and suicides
- A big win for the Salmon People
- Mashkikii-Boodawaaning’s (Medicine Fireplace’s) Inc. files race/creed discrimination case, triggered by its religious use of peyote
Menominee Tribe sues Meta, Facebook, Tik Tok, and other tech firms
The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin filed suit April 9 in Superior Court in California, suing numerous tech companies for the devastating impacts their products have on their children’s mental health.
In a painful echo to centuries of historical trauma—including forced adoption and compulsory boarding schools—suicide now stands as the second leading cause of death for Native American adolescents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “American Indian/Alaska Native youth and young adults have the highest suicide rates of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S.” …
This lawsuit follows a growing body of scientific research, including Defendants’ own (previously concealed) studies, drawing a direct line from Defendants’ proliferation of “social media” products offered by the Defendants, including platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to the youth mental crisis, including among the Menominee Tribe.
Over the past decade, Defendants have relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth-at-all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children’s mental and physical health and well-being. In a race to corner the “valuable but untapped” market of tween and teen users, each Defendant designed product features to promote repetitive, uncontrollable use by kids.
Menominee court filing
The 161-page filing is filled with examples of problematic content. For instance, it states that: “Even on YouTube Kids, Google’s product designed for children under 13 years old, researchers from the Tech Transparency Project found that the product’s algorithm fed children content related to drugs and guns, as well as beauty and diet tips that risked creating harmful body image issues.” The filing included the following graphic:
Big win for the Salmon People
The Biden administration reached a historic agreement with Northwest Indigenous Tribes in December “that offered $1 billion in new funding for Columbia River salmon restoration, and for the first time grants states and tribes control over how that money gets spent,” ProPublica wrote in a March 19 newsletter.
Salmon is a staple for the diets, economies and religions for Native Nations in the Pacific Northwest. “But over the last century and a half, many forces have eroded Native peoples’ access to salmon. Treaties intended to protect their access to traditional fishing areas were violated. Dams massively reduced the number of salmon that swam in the waters. Environmental contamination further poisoned the well. Now, climate change threatens the salmon’s survival.”
ProPublica and Oregon Public Radio collaborated to investigate the U.S. government’s multiple failures to fulfill its treaty obligations to protect the salmon. Their in-depth data analysis showed — despite a $2 billion investment — hatcheries were not restocking Columbia River salmon in promised numbers.
Team reporters “did what regulatory bodies were failing to do — we tested Columbia River fish for contaminants and found mercury and PCBs at levels with significant health risks for tribes,” the newsletter said.
For more, see the short documentary, “Salmon People,” or lists to a six-part podcast series that tells this story through one Yakama family “that has been fighting for salmon for generations.”
Mashkikii-Boodawaaning files race/creed discrimination claim against Wisconsin bank
In 2022, the Chippewa Valley Bank in Wisconsin refused to issue Mashkikii-Boodawaaning Inc. (also known as “Medicine Fireplace”) a corporate checking account because of group members ‘ ceremonial use of peyote. The group sued for race and creed discrimination.
The bank’s manager said using peyote was illegal under Wisconsin law.
Medicine Fireplace is a nonprofit organization associated with the Native American Church of North America (NACNA).
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin rejected the bank’s motion to dismiss the case. It now will go to trial.
According to the judge’s recitation of the facts and ruling:
Medicine Fireplace conducts rituals using peyote as part of NACNA’s religious and spiritual tradition. Sacramental peyote use allegedly became particularly important as Native Americans were confined to reservations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Later, Congress expressly legalized peyote for these purposes, stating “bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion is lawful.” …
Congress further directed that “[n]o Indian shall be penalized or discriminated against on the basis of such use, possession or transportation [of peyote.],” recognizing that “for many Indian people, the traditional ceremonial use of the peyote cactus as a religious sacrament has for centuries been integral to a way of life, and significant in perpetuating Indian tribes and cultures.” … The use of peyote for bona fide Native American religious ceremonies is also lawful under Wisconsin state law.
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