The Fairbanks Four were released, and well, compared to that, not much else happened. But still. Some things did. Read about them all below.
FINALLY FREED: The wrongly imprisoned quartet known as the Fairbanks Four were released after 18 years behind bars. George Frese, Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts and Eugene Vent are free men, after being jailed for a crime they and another friend paroled earlier did not commit.
Superior Court Judge Paul R. Lyle ordered the men, known as the Fairbanks Four, released from state custody on December 17, after accepting an agreement negotiated by attorneys for the Four and the state. Under the agreement, the state threw out the indictments and murder convictions of the Four, and the men agreed to not sue the state and other agencies involved in their arrests and convictions. Under the terms of the deal, the crime will be removed from their records. The State of Alaska dismissed its 1997 indictment of the men after a five-week evidentiary hearing left the state admitting it would likely not win conviction in a retrial. The hearing examined new evidence in the case and reexamined earlier evidence and testimony.
WRONGLY EXONERATED? While the Fairbanks Four spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime they say they had no part in, a police officer who was videotaped Tasering a Native man 28 times or more was exonerated. The officer—charged with repeatedly using a Taser on allegedly intoxicated Jeffery Eagle Bull while he was lying unresponsive on the ground—was found not guilty by a federal jury. The officer, 33-year-old Rebecca Sotherland, was fired from the Oglala Sioux Tribe police force in 2014 after a cell phone video surfaced of the incident. A 12-person jury found Sotherland not guilty of three criminal charges, including deprivation of Constitutional rights, assault with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of a federal investigation by filing a false report.
TRUDELL TRIBUTES: Tributes continued to pour in for John Trudell, the iconic activist, poet and actor, among many other roles in this life, who walked on earlier this month. “His words were a gift to the Earth,” wrote Mike Mease, founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign. Trudell was also remembered in his own words, via five videos featuring interviews with him. Sarah Sunshine Manning gave a poignant account of growing up with her Uncle John, and her growing awareness of his importance and what he had sacrificed. Suzan Shown Harjo reminisced about working with JT, as he was known, and detailed how he found a new path after the death of his family by fire. He was also lionized at numerous memorial services, including one at the InterTribal Friendship House in Oakland, California, where many of his closest friends came together on December 13 to honor and celebrate his life.
WORLDWIDE RODEO CHAMPS: Aaron Tsinigine (Navajo) captured his first world roping title in dramatic fashion on December 12. The 29-year-old snared his steer in 4.1 seconds in the 10th and final round, earning $227,672 to edge Luke Brown in the standings ($224,987) and win a world title as a header in team roping. The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas showcases the top cowboys from around the world, competing in a variety of staple events.
MOONSHOT AWARD: Also in the winning category was the stereotype-smashing graphic novel Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection (AH Comics, 2015), which was named on the School Library Journal’s prestigious Best Books list for 2015. It was chosen for its ability not just to entertain, but also enlighten, as it is a great teaching tool.
EXCLUDED FROM CLIMATE: The global Paris agreement struck by nearly 200 countries on December 12 is heralded as the first climate agreement to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions. But when it comes to key points that the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) came to Paris to negotiate, it fell far short of their goals. The wording agreed to “was far weaker than what we had called for,” said Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council.
WILDFIRE AFTERMATH: Sacred sites, homes, wildlife and timber were just a few of the casualties of summer 2015, which produced the largest fires in recorded history on the Colville Reservation in Washington State. The Colville Indian Reservation is still rebuilding after fires decimated more than 600 square miles, most of it on or adjacent to tribal lands.
“Many families have gathered in specific places for generations,” said Cody Desautel, natural resource director on the Colville Reservation. “Many of those areas are now lost.”
RECONCILIATION ON THE TABLE: Newly minted Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau continued to win Native hearts with his presence at the unveiling of the final, six-volume report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission studying the country’s residential school era. He also promised to ask Pope Francis for an official apology, which is one of the commission’s 94 recommendations.
RIDICULOUS CONTROVERSY: Four of the several Native actors who walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s movie The Ridiculous Sixhave made a video showing the diversity of Native cultures and urging anyone watching to “respect our culture.” Later, Adam Sandler discussed the incident with the Washington Post.
HEALTH ALERT: The Trust for America’s Health issued its 2015 report on obesity in the U.S., and there’s no good news for the American Indian/Alaska Native community. Fifty-four percent of AI/AN adults are obese and 81 percent are overweight or obese, compared with 32.6 percent and 67.2 percent respectvely for whites and just 10.8 percent and 38.6 percent for Asian Americans.
EDUCATION WIN: Congress passed the first major federal overhaul of elementary and secondary education in nearly 15 years. The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 quashed most of the provisions of President George W. Bush’s highly controversial—and for American Indian students mostly unproductive—No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.