Billy Mills, Lakota, breaks the tape in the 10,000-meter run to take gold in the 1964 Olympics. Credit: Official Marine Corps Photo

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It has been 60 years since Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota, won the 10,000 meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He still remembers it vividly and his new book “Wings of an Eagle,” co-authored with Donna Bowman, and illustrated by Lakota artist S.D. Nelson, is telling his story in a new way.

The children’s picture book that is set to be released on July 2 takes readers through Mills’ childhood on the Pine Ridge Reservation, enduring poverty, racism, his severe health challenges and military service, all of which led him to his ultimate goal of becoming an Olympic athlete.

When Mills competed In 1964, the only other American athlete to have medaled in the 10,000 meter was Louis Tewanima, Hopi, who won the silver medal in 1912.

Mills, 85, said Bowman first approached his wife Pat about five years ago about the prospect of having this book made. He said he was impressed by how much knowledge and research Bowman did about the Lakota and culture and what she knew about Mills. READ MORE — Kalle Benallie, ICT

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Graduation season is typically a time for celebrating the success of students making it through their education programs.

For some Indigenous students, part of that celebration includes having tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance as part of their cap and gown during the graduation ceremony.

In Arizona, Indigenous students are protected under state law. In 2021, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2705 into law, barring public schools from preventing Indigenous students from wearing traditional tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance at graduation ceremonies.

Not all states have similar laws to protect Indigenous students. New Mexico’s lawmakers say they passed legislation to prevent incidents like this from occurring, but it’s now unclear if that applies to a case garnering attention in Farmington, New Mexico. READ MORE — AZ Mirror and Source New Mexico

Leona Carlyle-Kakar is considered one of Ak-Chin Indian Community’s greatest leaders and the chairman of the southern Arizona community will forever know her as “Leona Legend.”

Carlyle-Kakar was the first woman to serve as chair of Ak-Chin. She was known as a fierce leader in Arizona tribal water rights and agriculture. She served her community for decades.

Carlyle-Kakar died April 14 at the age of 88.

Ak-Chin Chairman Robert Miguel affectionately called her “Leona Legend.” READ MORE — Kalle Benallie, ICT

About a year into the process of redetermining Medicaid eligibility after the covid-19 public health emergency, more than 20 million people have been kicked off the joint federal-state program for low-income families.

A chorus of stories recount the ways the unwinding has upended people’s lives, but Native Americans are proving particularly vulnerable to losing coverage and face greater obstacles to reenrolling in Medicaid or finding other coverage.

“From my perspective, it did not work how it should,” said Kristin Melli, a pediatric nurse practitioner in rural Kalispell, Montana, who also provides telehealth services to tribal citizens on the Fort Peck Reservation.

The redetermination process has compounded long-existing problems people on the reservation face when seeking care, she said. She saw several patients who were still eligible for benefits disenrolled. And a rise in uninsured tribal citizens undercuts their health systems, threatening the already tenuous access to care in Native communities. READ MORE — KFF Health News

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Dwayne Tomah has been working to preserve, grow and celebrate his Passamaquoddy culture for years. He’s getting an honorary doctorate this weekend and new resources to spread his culture with a year-long fellowship at Colbey College in Maine. ICT‘s Stewart Huntington has the interview.

She’s believed to be the first Alaska Native woman to graduate from Columbia University with a degree in civil engineering. However ongoing protests on campus resulted in her missing her chance to walk across the stage. ICT‘s Renata Birkenbuel reports that while Charitie Ropati may be disappointed that she didn’t walk, she still stands proudly in solidarity with her classmates.

A nonprofit in South Dakota is investing in its future focusing on the youth. The Cheyenne River Youth Project provides programming, events and services to community members. ICT previously spoke to its CEO Julie Garreau about the non-profit’s recent purchase of land. Paris Wise has this follow-up interview.

No matter your background, Saturday or Sunday dinners can be a popular reason to gather with loved ones and relatives. That’s the case in Oklahoma, especially for five tribal nations that have been creating meals, for generations, out of a celebrated main ingredient. ICT‘s Aliyah Chavez explores wild onions.

WATCH

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory that has been gripped by days of deadly unrest and where Indigenous people have long sought independence.

“He will go there tonight,” government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the president said he’d decided to make the more than 33,000-kilometer (20,000-mile) round trip himself to the archipelago east of Australia.

Six people have been killed, including two gendarmes, and hundreds of others injured in New Caledonia during armed clashes, looting and arson, raising new questions about Macron’s handling of France’s colonial legacy.

There have been decades of tensions between Indigenous Kanaks who seek independence for the archipelago of 270,000 people, and descendants of colonizers and others who have settled on the island and who want to remain part of France. READ MORE— Associated Press

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