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Showing posts from 2021

Spirited Sundays — Links to Day 1, 2, and 3

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Hear Native Americans discuss their communities’ vital issues and innovative solutions in three videocasts. Links below. If a link doesn’t take you immediately to YouTube , paste it into your browser. For more on topics like this, see my book, American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle.... Day 1  www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMP05hTUWnQ Leading-edge yet traditional housing and food-sovereignty projects, with Anahkwet/Guy Reiter of Menikanaehkem and Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Wizipan Little Elk of Sicangu CDC and Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  Day 2  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh3rj_BMzx0 Creative, pandemic-safe children’s programs, with Julie Garreau of Cheyenne River Youth Project and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Tahlia Natachu of Zuni Youth Enrichment Project and the Pueblo of Zuni. Day 3  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMYEuvXqfmo  Voting rights, with Barb and OJ Semans of Four Directions voting advocacy group and Rosebud Sioux Tribe and jingle dancer and powwow yoga cr

Pandemic-Safe Tribal Youth Programs—Innovative and Traditional

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This article was published in August 2021 by Yes! Magazine .  For more on topics like this, look for my book  American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle for Self-Determination and Inclusion.    Today, Native nations are creating vibrant children’s programs, using the most up-to-date and culturally appropriate means to keep their youngsters involved in tradition and community—while still ensuring their safety in these dangerous pandemic times. Young tribal members have virtual links with top-notch artists and teachers; distanced heritage activities such as running, archery, dancing, and storytelling; and much more. The imaginative programs support ancient communities in dynamic contemporary ways. Even more, tribal programs enhance local food systems and create housing that allows residents to more easily support each other. And yet, all of this vital, culture-affirming work occurs at a painful and historic moment for Native America. Impassioned Indian-Country support for its futur

Native Americans on Police Response to Capitol Insurrection

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A version of this story appeared in Yes! magazine in January 2021. For more on topics like this, see my book, American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle.... “We are unarmed” was the cry of water protectors at Standing Rock. Photo by Joseph Zummo. On Jan. 6, while Congress was certifying the 2020 election results, hundreds of Trump supporters, seen here, stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They smashed windows, broke through doors, breached the building, and ran through it, snapping photos of themselves carting off documents and artifacts. No attacking force has rampaged through the Capitol since 1814, when British soldiers torched it during the War of 1812. Tasked with protecting lawmakers and the building, responses of Capitol Police, seen here, ranged wildly—from great bravery to shooting a protester dead to taking a selfie with a rioter. Officers were pepper-sprayed and hit with projectiles; at the end, seven people died as a result of the assault. The Capitol Polic

Online Powwow Rallies Georgia Native Vote

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“M ake the vote. Catch the vote. Make the change,” rapped acclaimed hip hop performer  Supaman   (Apsaalooke Nation), seen left. With control of the Senate hanging on Georgia’s two January 5 run-off elections, Supaman, also called Christian Takes Gun Parrish, joined other Native artists and activists in a January 3 online event. Organized by Four Directions voting-rights group, the event was aimed at energizing the state’s indigenous voters.  An estimated 100,000 strong, this bloc has a chance to be as influential in Georgia as the Native vote was across the country in November 2020. Though indigenous people make up a small portion of the US population, they are clustered in states—Alaska, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, and numerous others—where for decades they have had the final word in a range of federal, state, and county races.    “We have Joe Biden as President because Indian country came out to vote,” said Congresswoman and Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland (D-NM; Laguna Pueblo)