Native America: An Indigenous Perspective on News and History

Voting rights advocates scored three legal victories last month–and those victories matter for Native votes. The Supreme Court upheld mail ballot grace periods in a landmark ruling last month. Republicans had challenged a Mississippi law that allows ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day, but received up to five days later. The legal victory for voting advocates protects similar grace periods nation-wide.

June was a big month for Native news. From border wall lawsuits to Land Back wins, tribes continue to protect our homelands, our religious freedom, and our futures. Below is a roundup of the biggest stories you need to know. The Tohono O’odham Nation is suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop border wall construction on their sovereign lands. DHS notified them of plans to build on 62 miles of reservation land—without consent.

In my 20s, I lived on the east coast and flew home twice a year for the holidays. One Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I boarded a plane. I was startled to see a child wearing a paper bag. The grocery sack had been crudely cut into a costume vest. It was dotted with crayon-colored, glued-on paper feathers. She wore a matching headband. To teach their children about Thanksgiving, an elementary school had dressed them up like Indians.

It’s Native American Heritage Month! Let’s talk about why we need it, and how you can celebrate! Native American Heritage Month is important because it combats Indigenous erasure. Erasure is one of the main ways anti-Indigenous racism shows up today. When you scroll through your phone, read the news, or watch TV statistically it is very unlikely you will see a Native person. Of the 2,336 regular characters on TV from 1987 to 2009 only two were Native. A recurring character on Northern Exposure.

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Last week the image of a Palestinian mother holding her starving child in the Gaza strip went viral. The child, named Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, is 18 months old, but half the weight of a healthy baby his age. The World Health Organization estimates 100,000 women and children in Gaza need treatment for severe acute malnutrition immediately.

In the summer of 2023, I ran into my back room and stubbed my toe on the bedframe. When I saw the toe deformed to a 90° angle, I got queasy. At the time, I didn’t have health insurance, but that worry didn’t cross my mind. I went to the ER at W.W. Hastings Hospital, which is run by my tribe, Cherokee Nation. There, they took an X-ray, sent the images to a podiatrist, and sent me home with crutches and ibuprofen. A few days later, I received a call from the outpatient clinic that I needed surgery.