UNITED STATES

Environmental groups said President Donald Trump’s move to issue a new permit for the Keystone XL pipeline does not mean that the Ninth Circuit should dismiss the case and throw out a lower court’s order enjoining construction.

Rena Newell, non-voting representative to the Maine Legislature from the Passamoquoddy Tribe speaks in favor of bill eliminating Native mascots in public schools (Photo: screenshot)

New Mexico is committing more than three million dollars to boost census participation, especially on tribal lands and rural areas. The Maine House of Representatives passed a bill banning the use of mascots or imagery related to Native Americans in schools https://www.nativenews.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/nnn042419.mp3

The post Wednesday, April 24, 2019 appeared first on National Native News, by Art Hughes.

A bullet remains lodged in Micah Taylor's neck after he was shot by a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska.

Rep. Sharice Davids (D-03-Kansas) with MMIW activists Cante Heart, Sunny Red Bear and Nikkote Bostnar.

Published April 24, 2019

PHOENIX — A national campaign to raise awareness and build momentum for meaningful federal legislation to impact the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) tragedy arrives in Arizona on April 25. Backed by members of the US Congress, including Arizona Congressmen Ruben Gallego and Raúl M. Grijalva, the first MMIW billboard will appear in Representative Gallego’s district in Phoenix, near the iconic Heard Museum.

“We need to work in partnership with the communities that have been struck by these tragedies in order to find real-world, tangible solutions to this crisis and end this cycle of violence,” said Rep. Gallego of the MMIW epidemic. As Chair of the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, Rep. Gallego recently held the first Congressional hearing on MMIW.

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-01-New Mexico)

The Urban Indian Health Institute’s 2018 MMIW report identified Arizona as the state with the third highest incidence of MMIW cases, with Phoenix and Tucson eleventh and fourth respectively among US cities most affected by the tragedy.

The MMIW billboard campaign was introduced by the Global Indigenous Council (GIC), the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (RMTLC) and the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association (GPTCA), representing some fifty-tribes across multiple states. The tribal alliance began the campaign in South Dakota in January before it moved north and southwest. Arizona-based KIVA Institute, led by former Hopi chairman, Ben Nuvamsa, has joined the campaign in the 21-tribe state.

Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-NM) was the first lawmaker to publicly endorse the campaign, and MMIW billboards have been raised in New Mexico to coincide with the Gathering of Nations powwow. “The silent crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women has been my top priority since long before being sworn into Congress,” emphasized Rep. Haaland.

The RMTLC-GIC-GPTCA tribal alliance has been influential in securing the introduction of legislation to address the MMIW crisis. Steered by delegates Rain Bear Stands Last and Tom Rodgers, the alliance has generated bipartisan support for its amendments to Savanna’s Act, first sponsored by North Dakota’s former-Senator, Heidi Heitkamp, who described the MMIW billboard campaign as “one of the most powerful and important things” to undertake. “This is a very important campaign and it will bring much needed awareness to the ongoing tragedy,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who has reintroduced Savanna’s Act in the 116th Congress with Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV).

The RMTLC-led alliance worked closely with Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) on the Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act which cleared the House on April 9 and has moved to the Senate. Tester’s Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a full review of how federal agencies respond to reports of missing and murdered Native Americans and recommend solutions based on their findings.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana)

“This billboard campaign is one of the most important things that can be done for the MMIW epidemic, because without awareness there will be no change. People need to know that this has been happening for decades. This is a way to bring it to their attention,” said Senator Tester.

“In 15-years of conflict in Iraq the US suffered 4,541 fatalities. In 2016 alone, there were 5,712 reported MMIWG cases in the US. That should provide pause and spotlight the importance of the billboard campaign,” underscored Tom Rodgers, Vice President of Global Indigenous Council. Updates on the campaign can be found at: www.mmiw-gic.com

Conceptualized for the GPTCA-RMTLC-GIC alliance by Alter-Native Media, the MMIW billboard campaign has been independently funded by non-profit groups, including Nation Unsevered, a Beltway-based organization committed to supporting tribal self-determination.

Photos courtesy of Alter-Native Media.

The post Backed by Members of Congress, Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women Campaign Arrives in Arizona appeared first on Native News Online.

A woman challenging a Cherokee Nation determination that she is ineligible to run for office has continued to push a D.C. federal court to grant an injunction preventing the upcoming election, saying opposition to her request from the tribe and federal government is “baseless.”

Both governors need only sign the approved legislation to initiate the October holiday change that many states and cities have already made nationwide

'Intervention Piece' by Edgar Heap of Birds is on display at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Native women have stepped up the plate as residents of Rapid City, South Dakota, elect new leaders.

Warrior women worked within the system, did not advocate for violence, and yet brought about many positive changes in Indian Country.

TAHLEQUAH – With the general election more than a month away, Tribal Councilors Dick Lay and David Walkingstick, as well as former Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. on April 16, participated in the Cherokee Phoenix’s principal chief debate at Northeastern State University.

Preserving Language and Culture

“I don’t really know that we have a full assessment of where we should go yet,” Lay said. “The immersion program is probably the most successful that I’ve seen. The outbound programs that we send out speakers to and teach folks in the community and at-large, seem to work pretty well for words and phrases… We need to figure out where we are going. I think we’ve found now that we have about 2,000 fluent speakers left. How do we keep that number from dwindling down?”
Hoskin pointed to the development of the Master-Apprentice Language Program, which allows adults to spend two years learning Cherokee. He also pointed to needed expansion with more resources, as well as the development of a language program at Sequoyah High School.

Walkingstick said 85 percent of the fluent Cherokee speakers are at least age 65, and that language should be a funding priority, and that immersion efforts needed to be available throughout the tribe’s jurisdiction.

Officials with the tribe’s Community and Cultural Outreach said its current list of fluent speakers numbers just below the 2,000 mark and that 62 percent of the fluent speakers are 60 or older. 

Gaming Compact Negotiations in 2020

“The state of Oklahoma is not going to balance their budget on the backs of the Cherokee people,” Hoskin said. “We have to protect the compact, and if there are opportunities to expand it and bring in more gaming and revenue, we’ll do that. We are partners with the state of Oklahoma. It’s a win-win situation.”

Walkingstick said he was worried about “leveraging” – whereby the state plays hardball in negotiations with the tribe as a pretext to establish state regulation of gaming – and that the Cherokee Nation relied too heavily on gaming revenue.

Lay said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is a CN citizen, which he believed might hold some benefit. He also said it was important to consider the State Legislature’s composition and formulate an approach that accounted for their different perspectives.

More Than $6 Million for Gaming Efforts in Arkansas

“It’s not a good decision when we aren’t taking care of our people back home,” Walkingstick said. “I see many of our elders living in dilapidated homes…When I see those things, I think about re-prioritizing our money – being financially responsible with the Cherokee people’s money. We need to take care of our people first and stop taking care of political elites…. A lot of that money didn’t come back, and I feel like those people in Arkansas didn’t really have our best interests in hand.”

Lay said he understood the concerns of each side. He took issue with the passing of such information to the Tribal Council, claiming he and other councilors were not informed or voted on the “done deal.”

Hoskin defended Cherokee Nation Businesses’ efforts as a defense against Arkansas building state-run casinos along the Oklahoma border and impacting $25 million in revenue and 1,200 jobs at Cherokee casinos in Roland and West Siloam Springs. He further said the tribe “won” by keeping Arkansas gaming development farther east.

Retaining Doctors for CN Health Services

“The (Hastings Hospital) staff we have is doing a lot of (recruitment) now,” Lay said. “I have suggested not only because of the doctors we’ve lost but because of the health care load of doctors we are going to need at the new clinic, that we form a ‘super staff’ of recruiters, to go out and recruit these doctors. We can’t sit in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, at our desk waiting for a call from a doctor who needs a job. The (Oklahoma State University) program will help six years from now, but we need the help now.”

Hoskin said the Hastings expansion would bring $100 million into the tribal health system over the building’s life, which he said would aid recruiting. Hoskin said compensation needed to be enhanced because the tribe was competing for resources and talent against other health care providers.

Walkingstick said doctors must be “paid what they’re worth,” to recruit and retain professional personnel, and suggested that if the tribe was having trouble paying then it should stop “giving money” to Arkansas or Northeastern State University and to utilize third-party billing such as Medicare.

CNB Under Tribal Council Control

“We can amend the Corporations Act, where CNB comes to the Tribal Council and gives a financial report, or an annual budget,” Walkingstick said. “We have CN advisory members on the Tribal Council, but they are advisory. When they make decisions that are outside the control of the Tribal Council. We vote the CNB board in, but they are appointed by the chief. Unfortunately, we need more oversight, and I think the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council needs to be in the budget planning over the Cherokee people’s money at CNB.”

Lay said the CNB should not be placed under council control but said the CEOs for CNB and Cherokee Nation Entertainment should be CN citizens who are knowledgeable about the tribe and live among Cherokees, which he believed would enhance transparency.

Questioning whether successful business ventures should be controlled by politicians, Hoskin said he supported CNB oversight but added that the board of directors is made up of CN citizens. Hoskin said CNB has grown and increased revenue during the previous eight years.

Changes to Absentee Balloting

“I certainly oppose anything that makes voting harder,” Hoskin said. “I think the Cherokee people consider their right to vote precious. Generations before us, the United States government took away our right to vote for chief or council…. I oppose anything that would suppress the absentee ballot because the absentee ballot helps elders, people who are disabled and people who work on Saturday.”

Walkingstick said at-large voting should be accessible online, but suggested too many votes are being cast absentee and tend to fall disproportionately toward a single candidate in a race. He also said rural candidates can’t cultivate absentee voters as easily as candidates in more populated areas. Walkingstick said he supported requiring voters to state a reason for voting absentee.

Lay said he had been part of council discussions to add rules to absentee balloting but had been advised of legal issues “and nobody wants to do that.” He suggested possible requirements to send ballots to the Cherokee Nation Election Commission or have it hand-delivered by a designee with assurances that voters’ rights were being protected.

Protection Against Poultry Industry

“I don’t know why we didn’t jump on the idea of suing the poultry industry for polluting our Cherokee lands,” Walkingstick said. “Our administration and attorney general’s office were not sensitive to what they were doing to our culture and our own lands…. (The Cherokee Nation) will go to the state, and we will regulate the poultry industry so that they will not be polluting our lands.”

Lay said it was important to hear the arguments of farmers and residents, but suggested lawsuits would not fix the problem. He wanted the Oklahoma Legislature to tighten regulations to put more distance between production and water resources.

Hoskin said he worked with the state to put a moratorium on new poultry farms and said the new chief needs a strategy to deal with the concentration of chicken producers and to extend the moratorium, along with continuing to assist in the areas already dealing with the impact of an overabundance of poultry houses.

RED OAK – In southeastern Oklahoma, Red Oak residents on April 10 were treated to a pageant of country music celebrity, including a rising star from their ranks.

Cherokee Nation citizen Ava Rose Johnson, 12, was onstage for the release of the music video for her single, “Heaven’s Window,” which was shown before a large crowd inside the First Baptist Church Life Impact Center.

While the ceremony was intended to introduce the video, much of the focus was kept on the inspiration for Johnson’s song, written in remembrance of her friend, Behr Place, who died on March 13, 2017, in an ATV crash at age 10.

“People are gathered here because they were impacted by the love that Behr shared every day with everyone he knew or didn’t know,” said Johnson, whose eyes frequently swelled with tears as she spoke of her friend to the crowd, which included the Place family. “We knew him a short time, and look at the impact he made.”

Onstage with Johnson were country artists Lainey Edwards and Billy Dawson, Florida Georgia Line drummer Sean Fuller and videographer James Rayner.

Johnson wrote the song with the help of Fuller, Dawson, and Edwards, all of who performed “Heaven’s Window” with Johnson at the release. Dawson sang a couple of songs and spoke to the crowd, while Johnson added her rendition of the gospel hymn “How Great Thou Art.”

“I’ve seen a lot of different artists. I’ve never seen a girl at 12 years old with pipes like hers,” Fuller said.

Johnson already has some national exposure, including an appearance on Good Morning America. But it was during Dawson’s “Nashville to New Mexico” event in Eagles Nest, New Mexico, that he met Johnson. He invited her to Nashville in January to write a song, and she expressed her wish to Dawson, Edwards, and Fuller to write a song about Behr.

The song, along with some other projects developed by Dawson for Johnson, involved a three-day recording session totaling more than 40 hours, and Rayner, a filmmaker with international credits, shot the video.

“It was a complete pleasure to work with Ava,” Dawson said after the recording session. “She is so talented and hard working. I met her a few years ago whenever they were opening for my ‘Nashville to New Mexico’ event and her voice just blew me away. I knew that we would be working together at some point. She is definitely on the right path.”

Johnson has also been named the year’s outstanding performer at the American Kids Dale Awards and took first place in her age bracket at the 2017 National Competition in Branson, Missouri, in the musical theater group, gospel, solo vocal, musical theater, country, and gospel categories. She also won gold with honors in gospel, music theater, music theater group and solo vocal.

She has been singing since age 4 with Oklahoma Kids, which counts Brian White, Carrie Underwood, Kristen Chenoweth, and Blake Shelton as alumni.

Her GMA appearance arose when she was with Oklahoma Kids at age 10 in New York City. The group had priority seating for the Labor Day taping. When she told an announcer she was from Oklahoma, he challenged her to sing the Rodgers and Hammerstein song. 

Johnson so impressed the announcer, he stood her before the anchors and asked what song she would sing if auditioning for “American Idol.” She belted out “Broadway Baby” and got a standing ovation.

Clips of Johnson and the “Heaven’s Window” video are on Facebook @avarosejohnsonmusic.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Yesterday the Navajo Nation Council celebrated Sovereignty Day. In 1985, the Navajo Nation prevailed at the US Supreme Court in the Kerr McGee Corp. v. Navajo Tribe of Indians case challenging the Nation’s sovereignty and ability to levy taxes.

The case reaffirmed the Navajo Nation’s sovereign status and paved the way for the creation of the Permanent Trust Fund.

To commemorate the victory and reaffirmation of Navajo sovereignty, the council passed CMY-35-85 designating April 16 as Navajo Nation Sovereignty Day. Later the council moved the holiday to the fourth Monday in April.

“Our sovereignty predates the founding of the United States. It is not enough to be a sovereign in the abstract. As a Nation, we must exercise our sovereignty in order to demonstrate the power we as a people and government hold,” Navajo Nation Council Speaker Seth Damon (Bááháálí, Chichiltah, Manuelito, Tsé Lichíí’, Rock Springs, Tsayatoh) stated. “We stand on the shoulders of our former leaders to reach new heights in the development of our Nation and the exercise of our sovereignty.”

“Three decades ago, outstanding leadership submitted a novel idea, the Permanent Trust Fund, to the Navajo people,” said Speaker Damon. “Thirty-four years later – in this spring alone – council delegates opened multiple communities and economic development enterprises partially funded by the Permanent Trust Fund’s income. On behalf of the 24th Navajo Nation Council, we look forward to setting the foundation for future generations of economic and community development.”

Red Lake Tribal Council, Chiefs, Program Managers, and School Board members wait to meet with Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan in the Governor’s ornate Reception Room.

Published April 24, 2019

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A delegation from Red Lake Nation traveled to St. Paul on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 to meet with Governor, Walz, State Commissioners, Senators and Representatives in the areas of Education, Health, Human Services, Housing, and Chemical Health, concerns of the Red Lake Band.

Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan is a tribal citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She and Gov. Tim Waltz were elected last November. Flanagan holds the highest elected position at state government level of any American Indian woman.

Members of the Red Lake delegation include the Tribal Council, Hereditary Chiefs, Program Managers in the areas mentioned above, and Red Lake School Board.

The Band started off the day with a drum/prayer ceremony at 8:15 am, at State Capitol front steps (Aurora Promenade) with the celebrated Drum, Eyabay.

In the evening the Band hosted a Banquet/Reception at Best Western Plus Capital Ridge, between 5:00-7:00.

The post Red Lake Day at the Minnesota State Capitol: Tribal Council, Chiefs, School Board Participate appeared first on Native News Online.

Sherry Rupert

Published April 24, 2019

Board Member Emerson Vallo has been elected Board President. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —  The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), the nation’s leading national Native tourism orgranization, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sherry L. Rupert as the new executive director. Ms. Rupert replaces Camille Ferguson, who announced she is stepping down from her position to return to her family and home community of Sitka, Alaska, where she will focus on growing tourism and economic development opportunities for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska as the Economic Development Director. Ms. Ferguson will continue to serve as an advisor to AIANTA during the transition period. AIANTA is a tourism association charged with extending the voice of tribal tourism in the United States. Ms. Rupert, the Executive Director of the State of Nevada Indian Commission and former Board President of AIANTA, is an American Indian of Paiute and Washoe heritage. Her appointment comes after careful consideration by the board and reflects the leadership’s commitment to expanding AIANTA’s impact in working with tribes to develop, sustain and grow tourism programming in Native American communities. With extensive experience in tribal tourism, economic development, marketing, tribal relations and legislative advocacy, Ms. Rupert is the ideal candidate to assume the position of executive director of the organization. In her former position, she managed Nevada’s Indian Territory, the state’s official arm for promoting Native American tourism, and created and produced the annual Nevada Tribal Tourism Conference for more than a decade. Her work at the national level includes serving on the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (US TTAB) and AIANTA’s Board of Directors since 2010. She is also the recipient of multiple awards for her work in tourism and economic development and she was also instrumental in passage of the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act during her tenure as AIANTA Board President. “I have served the state of Nevada and Nevada’s tribes proudly these last 15 years as their Indian Affairs Director and now look ahead to serving all of the nation’s tribes,” said Ms. Rupert. “I believe strongly in AIANTA’s mission and in the provisions of the NATIVE Act and was proud to be a part of the Act’s passage. I am equally proud to now be able to have a hand in implementation of the Act. I would like to thank Camille Ferguson for her leadership and for building a strong foundation with which to move forward.”

Camille Ferguson

Ms. Ferguson spent six years building, growing and stabilizing AIANTA as a national organization. Her work has contributed to the awareness of the importance of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian tourism nationally and internationally. Her testimony before Congress led to the funding of the NATIVE Act and her efforts also resulted in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce and AIANTA, and finalizing a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to implement provisions of the Act.

“I am excited for AIANTA as Sherry Rupert takes over leadership of the organization,” said Ms. Ferguson. “With the structures in place, the path will be much easier to navigate, especially with Sherry’s institutional knowledge and history with AIANTA. I am confident and know I will see great things happening in Indian Country, especially with stable funding secured this year through the NATIVE Act.” Replacing Ms. Rupert as AIANTA Board President is Emerson Vallo (Pueblo of Acoma), the Chief Executive Officer of the Isleta Business Corporation, where he oversees and manages all company assets, existing businesses and future business development opportunities. ”I have been serving on AIANTA’s Board of Directors for several years now and have seen the positive progress in AIANTA’s mission,” said Mr. Vallo. “The leadership Ms. Ferguson exhibited propelled AIANTA to the next level. Our Board President Ms. Rupert, with her strong leadership and extensive experience in tribal tourism and legislative advocacy, has been the catalyst for the Board to make tough decisions in bringing AIANTA to the forefront. With Ms. Rupert’s appointment as Executive Director of AIANTA, we will continue on this progressive road to build AIANTA and to continue to advocate for all of Indian Country tourism.”

Emerson Vallo

Mr. Vallo, who has served on AIANTA’s Board of Directors for more than six years, was appointed to the New Mexico Tourism Department (NMTD) as a Commissioner by then Governor Susana Martinez and is the current Native American representative to the NMTD.

He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Acoma Business Enterprises, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Haak’u Museum and Director for Sky City Cultural Center and Museum. He actively participates in the Junior Achievement program of New Mexico and has taught several classes around the State of New Mexico. His efforts are focused on the economic development of his Pueblo, the welfare of his native lands, and the promotion of cultural tourism in New Mexico and all of Indian Country.

The post AIANTA Welcomes Sherry L. Rupert as Executive Director appeared first on Native News Online.

Published April 24, 2019

ATTAWAPISKAT, Ont. via WINNEPEG, Man. — Canadians from coast-to-coast took part in National Canadian Film Day yesterday, and are celebrating films all week… so it’s the perfect week to announce that Midnight Shine’s music video for Heart of Gold (Cover) is up for an award at the prestigious Yorkton Film Festival, North America’s longest running film festival! 

The Golden Sheaf Awards will be handed out on Saturday, May 25, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, with Midnight Shine nominated in the following category:  PERFORMING ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Midnight Shine – Heart of Gold (Cover) Director(s): Cliff Hokanson, RoseAnna Schick
Producer(s): RoseAnna Schick, Cliff Hokanson, Adrian Sutherland
Production Company: RAS Creative / Too Much Fun Pictures Inc. / Midnight Shine Music
Music Publisher: Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. Heart of Gold (Cover) is one in a three-pack of videos shot in Adrian Sutherland’s home community. In October 2018, a production crew of three traveled to Attawapiskat in remote Northern Ontario with 14 cases of gear and one ambitious plan: making two music videos in five days. Getting the job done in only four, they made the last-minute decision to use remaining time to shoot one more, and that’s how the Heart of Gold (Cover) video came to be – spontaneously, magically, and with a little help from some little friends. The video has been viewed more than 190,000 times on YouTube since its release in January 2019. 

The post Midnight Shine’s Music Video Nominated for Golden Sheaf Award appeared first on Native News Online.

In this demonstration at the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit in September 2016, wild rice is hand parched over a wood fire, a key step in the traditional processing of wild rice.

Published April 24, 2019

Summit includes indigenous food producers, harvesters and chefs

DOWAGIAC, Mich. —Tribal leaders from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, including Chairman Matt Wesaw; representatives from the Intertribal Agriculture Council and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance and native food advocates are co-hosting the 2019 Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit this week.

The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit is a regional, traveling summit brings together several hundred Native farmers, ranchers, gardeners, chefs, businesses, policymakers, tribal agriculture staff, Native non-profits working in agriculture, food producers and tribal leaders to share and learn together around traditional food and agriculture, and food sovereignty.

Four of 15 Onondaga Nation tribal citizend who came to share their culinary talents at the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit in Hopkins, Michigan at previous summit.

The event is open to the public, and begins Thursday, April 25 with immersive, hands-on workshops on topics such as sustainability, food security, production practices, traditional harvest and meal preparation. Additional workshops run through Friday, April 26. On Saturday, a day-long Intertribal Foods Festival includes small group demonstrations and food-tasting stations with interactive activities for all ages. On Sunday, a presentation and lunch will round out the program. A concurrent Youth Summit will also run throughout the event, open to high school-aged youth.

For more information on the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit, the youth summit, cost to attend, schedule of events or to register, visit https://iacgreatlakes.com/summit.

WHAT: Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit

WHERE: Pokagon Band’s Rodgers Lake campus, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac, Michigan

WHEN: Thursday, April 25 through Sunday, April 28, 2019. Opening ceremony takes place at 8:30 am ET on Thursday in the dining tent, with workshops beginning at 9:30 am ET in assorted locations on campus.

The post Pokagon Potawatomi Co-hosts Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit appeared first on Native News Online.

Photo: University of Greenland graduate student Randi Sørensen Johansen looks at objects collected by Lewis Lindsay Dyche in Greenland in 1895. Credit: Ryan Waggoner/Spencer Museum

Published April 24, 2019

LAWRENCE. Kan. — Objects made by Greenland Inuit people and collected by the so-called “Dashing Kansan,” naturalist and adventurer Lewis Lindsay Dyche, in the 1890s will return to their place of origin – or at least three-dimensional copies of them will – as the result of a visit last week by Greenlandic researchers to the Spencer Museum of Art.

Two graduate students from the University of Greenland, Aka Bendtsen and Randi Sørensen Johansen, accompanied by curator and archaeologist Hans Harmsen of the Greenland National Museum and Archives, arrived on April 14 and spent a week making 3-D digital images of a group of objects including dolls dressed in authentic, highly detailed, miniature Inuit clothing, points from harpoons and lances and a knife with a stone blade known as an ——-ulu. ——

The national museum has only a single stone-bladed ——– ulu, ——- Bendtsen said.

“I almost cried to see these objects,” said Bendtsen. “To me, they are rare. Before, I had not seen any arrows, real ones, in one piece like this.”

Harmsen explained that the two students began a project to digitally reunify Greenlandic objects held in museums around the world in 2016. Other than the Smithsonian, the Spencer Museum is the only North American institution with which they have collaborated.

Harmsen said the first goal of the project – called Ersersaaneq, meaning “creating knowledge through images” in Greenlandic – was to create 3-D images of objects from the famous collection of 19th-century Danish explorer Gustav Holm. Holm visited the east coast of Greenland at about the same time as Dyche traveled to the west coast. Holm’s collection was split among museums in Denmark, Greenland and the Smithsonian Institution.

“They originally wanted to do this because the collection was split among various institutions, and they wanted to digitally reunite them in a context that was unavailable before – in three dimensions,” Harmsen said.

Bendtsen and Sørensen Johansen have taught themselves to make detailed 3-D images using some fairly basic photographic techniques and software that knits the images together into what look like 3-D copies of the originals. They’ve obtained grant funding to support the work, which also has the backing of Greenland’s government through its national museum.

“We are just there to support them when they need it,” Harmsen said.

It was Harmsen’s connection to Jay T. Johnson, professor of geography and atmospheric sciences and an affiliate of KU’s Indigenous Studies Program, that brought the Greenlanders to Lawrence. Harmsen met Johnson while attending a National Science Foundation conference in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, last year. They discussed the existence of the Dyche collection, and later learned that officials of the two museums had corresponded about it decades ago.

Dyche is the namesake of Dyche Hall on the KU campus, which houses objects from his collection in its Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum. His life was the subject of the 1990 biography titled “The Dashing Kansan.” Dyche donated his collection to the university, which once held part of it in the former Museum of Anthropology and, since 2007, in the Spencer.

When the team from Greenland arrived this month, they set up their photographic equipment in Spencer’s photography studio and went to work, aided by curators, collections and photography staff.

“Photogrammetry is a very time and labor-intensive process, with the cameras and methods they are using,” Harmsen said. “Each object can take an hour to an hour and a half, depending on its complexity.”

The group was hoping to create at least five and hopefully more complete 3-D images of Dyche collection objects to take home with them.

Those images will eventually reside on a web-based platform designed using a content management system called Mukurtu. —- link to mukurtu.org ——— Mukurtu calls itself a “free mobile open-source platform built with indigenous communities to manage and share digital cultural heritage.”

The Greenlanders said they were pleased to be able to bring knowledge of their nation’s heritage home in this way.

“It’s absolutely an important collection, and one that the Greenland National Museum has little knowledge about,” Harmsen said. “It’s actually filling in some important gaps for us in terms of understanding during this period of exploration.”

The post Inuit Objects Headed Home after a Century appeared first on Native News Online.

Patricia Hibbeler, Chairman Ernest L. Stevens, Jr., Cheryl Stevens, Roylynne Bilagody, Governor Stephen R. Lewis, Traci Morris

Published April 23, 2019

PHOENIX —The Phoenix Indian Center’s key fundraising event, Silver & Turquoise Ball, took place earlier this month (April 6) at The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. With more than 500 in attendance, the event raised well-over $300,000 dollars to benefit programs and services provided by the Center; supporting American Indian families and children in Maricopa and Coconino counties, and rural communities across Arizona.

“What a tremendous night we had,” said Patricia Hibbeler, CEO of the Phoenix Indian Center. “This year’s event was record-breaking for us with the largest attendance and dollars raised in 36 years. We are truly thankful for the generous support and contributions from our attendees, sponsors, committee members, and our American Indian artist community who donated beautiful artwork to both our silent and live auctions,” Hibbeler added.

Brooke Simpson receives the honorary Leon Grant Spirit of the Community Award from Joy (Grant) Manus, daughter of the late Leon Grant, and actor Rodney Grant.

The 2019 event chairs were Governor Stephen R. Lewis from the Gila River Indian Community and Chairman Ernest L. Stevens, Jr., with his wife Cheryl, representing the National Indian Gaming Association. Auction chairs were renowned American Indian artists, Rykelle Kemp and Jacob Meders. With more than 100 silent and live auction items to bid on, attendees enjoyed a musical-themed evening highlighted by painted vinyl records, as art centerpieces, created by American Indian artists from communities throughout the United States.

Each year, the Phoenix Indian Center highlights an American Indian chef who creates an Indigenous-inspired menu. Chef Freddie Bitsoie, from the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., offered a 3-course plated for attendees, and in addition, offered his culinary talents to a live auction package, with one lucky winner bidding on a private dinner for 6 prepared by the Chef at a private home.

Brooke Simpson, who was a top finisher in NBC’s vocal talent competition, The Voice, was honored by the family of Phoenix Indian Center’s first executive director and contributing founder, the late Leon Grant, with the Leon Grant Spirit of the Community Award. Simpson, who is from Haliwa-Saponi Tribe in North Carolina, was recognized for her work as a young American Indian female who continues to use her success to engage American Indian youth by sharing her personal story of struggles, determination, and commitment. “We want our youth to know they don’t have to be in their later years to be recognized and honored for the work they are doing right now. We want to encourage and support our young people,” said Joy (Grant) Manus, daughter of Leon Grant. The evening was capped-off with a riveting 30-minute musical set by Brooke Simpson and her four-piece band, leaving attendees in awe of her talented vocal ability.

Sponsors of the 2019 event included APS, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Desert Diamond Casinos, SRP, Gila River Indian Community, National Indian Gaming Association, Cox, Discover, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Complete Health, Burch & Cracchiolo, CopperPoint, Freeport-McMoRan, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, Navajo Transitional Energy Company, Wells Fargo, and Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort.

The Phoenix Indian Center is in its 72nd year directly serving more than 7,000 people each year, and reaching more than 20,000 annually through the Center’s many grassroots educational activities provided to the community at large.

The post Record-breaking Fundraising Event for Phoenix Indian Center 36th Annual Silver & Turquoise Ball Raises $300k Plus for the Center’s Programs & Services appeared first on Native News Online.

Navajo Technical University (NTU) faculty member Mark Trebian was selected by the students of the university as faculty of the year. Trebian has designed, and teaches courses in,

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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last month signed legislation opening the lottery scholarship to students attending tribal colleges in New Mexico.

The post Tribal Scholarships Broaden appeared first on Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education.