Wounded Knee land purchase, Water Protectors court win, and other news

In this post:

• Land purchase preserves Wounded Knee sacred site
• Another win for Water Protectors, court finds law enforcement acted illegally
• Congressional hearing Wednesday morning to address aggressive corporate lawsuits against environmental activists
• A fix is in the works to significantly reduce mining’s wild rice-damaging sulfate pollution
• Still no answers on knife attack in Cree territory that left 10 dead, 18 injured

Indian Country reacts to U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and other news

In this post:

• Healing Minnesota Stories Open Sacred Sites Tours July 30, Oct. 2
• Indian Country reacts to U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing Roe
• Indian Country reacts to U.S. Supreme Court ruling undermining EPA’s ability to address climate damage
• National Congress of American Indians Adopts Rights of Nature Resolution

News and Events: Boarding schools, treaty rights, the importance of Aunties, and more

In this post:

• Webinar Thursday: Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ Resilience: The Legacy and Impacts of Indian Boarding Schools
• Webinar July 20: Tribal Treaty Rights and Energy Infrastructure, July 20
• All My Relations Art presents Noojimo (She Heals) celebrating the importance of Aunties in Indigenous spaces, opens July 19
• Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to vote on blood quantum enrollment rules this summer
• New quarter will honor Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Nation’s first female principal chief

Native Nations to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument with federal government, and other news

In this post:

• Native Nations, federal government, to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument
• Native Alaskans’ priority for subsistence fishing gets a court win
• Latest Payday lender ‘Rent-a-Tribe’ scheme to avoid state usury laws is failing

At Historic Fort Snelling, the Minnesota Historical Society axes the ‘B’ word

In 2019, the Minnesota Historical Society put up a temporary sign reading” “Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote” at the historic site. Some people just lost it.

Defenders of 19th Century sensibilities reacted in horror at the “B” word. One elected official threatened to cut the Minnesota Historical Society’s state funding over “at Bdote.”

Fast forward three years. I had forgotten all about this controversy. On Thursday, I learned the Minnesota Historical Society’s governing board voted to stick with the traditional “Historic Fort Snelling” name, offering a fuzzy explanation why.

MN needs to do better on Indian education, Mpls American Indian Center gets major renovation, and more

In this post:

• Shakopee Mdewanaton research: Minnesota’s K-12 Indian education resources ‘hit and miss’
• Minneapolis American Indian Center getting first renovation since it opened
• Summer solstice event: Dakota Spirit Walk at Bruce Vento Nature Center
• Yellowstone’s ‘Mount Doane’ now named ‘First Peoples Mountain’

News: Creating abortion ‘safe harbor’ zones on Indian Reservations is unlikely, legal scholars say, and more

In this post:

• Idea of creating abortion ‘safe harbor’ zones on Indian Reservations is unlikely
• Leonard Peltier shares his Indian boarding school story
• Navajo Nation water battle a sign of things to come
• U.S. court blocks Red Cliff Nation’s effort to sue a company over opioid crisis in Tribal Court

Why isn’t it a crime for a state government to suppress the Indian vote?

It’s a story as old as the colonial frontier, where state and local governments did everything they could to cheat Native Nations. They only honored treaties or federal laws if and when they were sued in court and lost.

These systemic problems keep happening because states face no consequences for bad-faith actions.

There are many examples, but today we look at a recent voter suppression case in South Dakota. The law is clear, yet the state chooses to be willfully ignorant of legitimate grievances.

Changing racist place names, including the s-word

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland declared the “s-word” (squaw) derogatory and began a process to remove it and other derogatory names from various geographic features around the county.

This is part of a growing effort to remove racist and derogatory place names.

For instance, a federal panel recently approved renaming S-word Mountain in Colorado to Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which honors Owl Woman, an influential translator who mediated between Native people and white colonists. Last fall, the S-word Valley Ski Resort in California renamed itself Palisades Tahoe.

Indigenous leaders speak out on Russia’s Ukraine invasion

Indigenous communities have a unique perspective on Ukraine’s tragic and horrific situation.

They understand what it’s like to be invaded by a colonial power.

They see the war not only as an attack on human rights, but an attack on Mother Earth.

Here is some of what is being said by Indigenous leaders and Indigenous press about the situation in Ukraine.