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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Meander through the entrance to the Powwow Grounds coffee shop and past the office of the Native American Community Development Institute to find the All My Relations Art Gallery.
It’s located on the “Ave” — Franklin Avenue — in the heart of Minneapolis’ urban Indigenous community.
Inside the gallery, Courtney Cochran moves easily among painted boards lined up along the walls, as blank boards sit atop of tables waiting to be finished. She’ll soon be joined by more than a half-dozen community members to finish out another piece of art.
The boards will eventually form a temporary art installation spelling out the letters, “Never Homeless Before 1492,” at the site of “The Wall of Forgotten Natives,” a former homeless encampment that drew national attention to Minneapolis and the nation’s housing problems in 2018.
Cochran, Anishinaabekwe, the lead artist on the project, wants to re-focus attention on the issues of homelessness in Indigenous communities… READ more. — Dan Ninham, special to Indian Country Today
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A virtual meeting Thursday will decide whether a California state park will be restored to its original name.
Patrick’s Point State Park, known originally by the Yurok people as Sue-meg, is located in Northern California along the coast.
Advocates are telling decision makers they want the place’s original name restored.
“The name change is asserting that we have always been here. We are going to remain here and we’re going to tell our story now. We’re not going to be overwritten or overshadowed by, oftentimes, oppressive names or ideas.” Skip Lowry, Yurok Tribe descendant, said.
On Thursday, the California State Park and Recreation Commission will vote whether or not to rename the park. If it is successfully renamed, it will be the first time state-owned land will be renamed in the state.
The state park is currently named after Patrick Beegan, a homesteader who is accused of murdering numerous Native people in the mid-1800s.
The renaming was spurred by California Gov. Gavin Newsome’s initiative called “Renaming our past” which aims to take a look at contest place names and monuments in the state. — Aliyah Chavez, Indian Country Today
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Yaqui people have been hit by a wave of killings and coronavirus deaths, so the country’s long-awaited public apology for centuries of abuses Tuesday rang a little hollow.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had hoped the ceremony would mark a turning point in the woes of what he has described as Mexico’s most persecuted Indigenous group, which suffered a government campaign to exterminate or exile its members around 1900.
“We are here to try to repair, to the extent possible, the damages that were done to the Yaqui peoples,” López Obrador said, calling the war against them “one of the most shameful chapters in our country’s history.”
In the 1960s, the Yaquis became known abroad for the mystical and visionary powers ascribed to them by writer Carlos Castañeda.
The somber ceremony Tuesday was marked by a moment of silence for a Yaqui leader who died Sunday of COVID-19… READ more. — The Associated Press
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SEATTLE — An administrative law judge has recommended that a tribe in Washington state once again be allowed to hunt gray whales — a major step in its decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice.
“This is a testament to what we’ve been saying all these years: that we’re doing everything we can to show we’re moving forward responsibly,” Patrick DePoe, vice chairman of the Makah Tribe on the remote northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, said Friday. “We’re not doing this for commercial reasons. We’re doing it for spiritual and cultural reasons.”
DePoe was in high school in the late 1990s when the Makah were last allowed to hunt whales — occasions that drew angry protests from animal rights activists, who sometimes threw smoke bombs at the whalers and sprayed fire extinguishers into their faces.
Since then, the tribe’s attempts have been tied up in legal challenges and scientific review… READ more. — The Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. — The northern border of the Spirit Lake reservation in northeastern North Dakota includes a large swath of Devils Lake, the state’s largest natural body of water that began to expand greatly during a wet cycle that began in the 1990s.
State transportation officials on numerous occasions have raised roads in areas that were swallowed up by the lake and each time moved signs that marked major ports of entry to tribal land. In the years since, while serving as housing director, vice chairman and now chairman of the tribe, Doug Yankton has tried unsuccessfully to have the tribe’s boundaries remapped and restored as dictated by treaty.
With help from the state Department of Transportation, the signs are back in their rightful place, along with a message from the chairman about tribal sovereignty… READ more. — The Associated Press
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The Navajo Nation on Tuesday reported 37 more COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths for the second consecutive day.
The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 33,840 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The known death toll remains at 1,442.
Based on cases from Sept. 10-23, the Navajo Department of Health issued an advisory for 40 communities due to an uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.
Navajo officials are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel. — The Associated Press
NAMBÉ, N.M. — Carmaker Tesla has opened a store and repair shop on Native land for the first time, marking a new approach to its yearslong fight to sell cars directly to consumers and cut car dealerships out of the process.
The white-walled, silver-lettered Tesla store, which opened last week, sits in Nambé Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, on tribal land that’s not subject to state laws.
The electric car company can only sell and service its vehicles freely in about a dozen states, while it faces restrictions in others. Some, like New Mexico, ban Tesla from offering sales or repairs without going through a dealership… READ more. — The Associated Press
- Drought-hit Colorado River projections grow more dire: The river serves 40 million people.
- Reaction to developments in Indian Child Welfare Act review: The Cherokee Nation, the Oneida Nation, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians of California and the Quinault Indian Nation are petitioning the Supreme Court to request that the bill remain intact.
- Digital Smoke Signals founder Myron Dewey dies in tragic accident: Dewey was known for his iconic drone footage of Standing Rock that gained international attention.
- Canadian Catholic bishops apologize for residential schools: The apology comes as Pope Francis prepares to meet with Indigenous leaders at the Vatican later this year.
- Watch: Two decades of progress: The director of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous film program is parting ways with the organization.
- Marilyn Vann becomes the first Freedman in Cherokee Nation government.
- Boston Marathon to pay tribute to 2-time Indigenous champion ahead of 2021 race.
- Wearing orange shirtson September 30 is a great start—but you can do more.
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. Email dwalker@indiancountrytoday.com.
