Native America Calling

A report by the New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ) released earlier this month says Native students are disciplined more harshly and miss more school days (via suspension and expulsion) compared to other students at Gallup-McKinley County Schools.

Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is not optional.

A new 162-page report just released by the White House flags a museum exhibition for what it says is “radical, activist ideology” that “seeks to teach disdain and inspire disgust of our great country.” The report faults Native land acknowledgements, mentions of stolen land, and the use of the term “genocide” connected to an ongoing exhibition by the National Museum of the American Indian.

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though he still helps one of his daughters with her barrel racing from time to time.

A piece by artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee) titled “Yet With a Steady Beat” is part of an exhibit in the brand new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which opened to the public in June. The large, colorful canvas is dotted with political buttons that would’ve been seen in movements for Native rights, farmers’ rights, and civil rights.

As the country commemorates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, several galleries are exploring the enduring strengths of Native Americans through both traditional and contemporary works. “Paper Trails: Unfolding Indigenous Narratives” at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, N.M. aims to stretch the boundaries of the paper medium while also examining Native cultural survival in the face of colonization.

Carol Juneau (Mandan,Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) helped build and shape the foundation of what is now the Black Feet Community College in the late 1970s. Her educational work led her to advocacy and elected office as she served 12 years in the Montana legislature. Juneau is one of six Native leaders in this year’s class of National Native American Hall of Fame inductees.

Fifteen days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the new nation signed its first international treaty with the Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaq Nations of present-day Maine. It’s a history that historian and Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians ambassador Osihkiyol Crofton-Macdonald wishes more Americans knew.

A new café in Vancouver, British Columbia faced mounting criticism from the Indigenous community for its questionable use of Indigenous branding. The incident ignited conversations about the potential harms of cultural appropriation. Santa Ana Pueblo just entered into a partnership with New Mexico’s largest winery. The vineyard on the tribe’s reservation is just one of a handful that are owned and operated by a tribe.

A Swiss private collector is selling a massive collection of thousands of Indigenous pipes, firearms, and cultural items, valued at over $17 million. A group is leading an effort to repatriate the items that are nearly 200 years old. They originated with First Nations and potentially U.S. tribes. The group is hoping to raise millions of dollars to bring these items home before they fall into another private collector’s hands.