ICT is working to shape the future of journalism and stay connected with readers like you. A crucial part of that effort is understanding our audience. Share your perspective in a brief survey for a chance to win prizes
Greetings, relatives:
We are only a month into 2024 and Indigenous newsmakers remain busy. Let’s take a moment to catch up on the news that made headlines in January.
Boarding school policies covered up hidden deaths from tuberculosis and other diseases far beyond those students buried in school cemeteries. Mary Annette Pemberhas more.
After her historic Golden Globes win earlier this month, Lily Gladstone became the first Native American to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress. Read more from Felix Clary.
From organizing marches, to using social media to spread information, to paddling in traditional Nisqually canoes to block docked military ships, Indigenous organizers from across Turtle Island have been actively speaking up and speaking out against what they all agree is a genocide currently taking place in Gaza. Nika Bartoo-Smith has more details here.
After 87 years at the Smithsonian museum, ancestors reburied on Aleutian Islands. Joaqlin Estus has more details here.
We finally got to see a show dedicated to Maya Lopez and “Echo.” Alaqua Cox, Menominee and Mohican Nation, stars in the new origin story by Marvel Studios. Kalle Benallie has the details.
Also, be sure to watch our daily newscast, “ICT Newscast with Aliyah Chavez.” Replays and highlights of each show can be found there.
Here are ICT stories you should read up on and share in your network.
NEWS
Entire Kansas-based Kickapoo tribal police force resigns: Three Kickapoo tribal police officers resigned when BIA officials arrived to conduct a departmental assessment.
‘The gift of song’: Knowledge keeper Jerry Morgan comes full circle by sharing drum, dance, songs and stickball with local communities.
TikTok, immersive learning revitalizing Cherokee language: Cherokee Nation reauthorizes legislation that supports continuing language revitalization efforts indefinitely.
Bacone College’s troubles lead to transfer assistance: Northeastern State University and Connors State College have offered transfer assistance to Bacone students for the upcoming semester.
University celebrates alumna Sara Hill’s judicial appointment: The Cherokee Nation citizen is the eighth Native American in U.S. history appointed to a lifetime judge position.
‘Sending them home to die’: Boarding school policies covered up hidden deaths from TB and other diseases far beyond those students buried in school cemeteries.
Tribes get $24.1M for high-speed internet, education: Most of the funding will help deliver high-speed internet throughout the Choctaw Nation.
Professor uses ‘many coups’ to promote healing: Harvard professor Joseph Gone uses a traditional Native storytelling practice called ‘many coups’ to help people heal from trauma.
Louisiana tribe files civil rights complaint over relocation: Forced to move by climate change, the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation wants fair treatment from the state.
Muscogee college details plans for $334,000 award: The College of the Muscogee Nation plans to use federal funds to expand its stadium and to build a maker’s space lab and clock tower plaza.
‘We did it’: Birch bark scrolls recovered from auction: Tribes unite to purchase historic Ojibwe scrolls from a New York auction house.
Chiefs present plan to search landfill for missing Indigenous women: Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs demand action from city, province and Canadian government.
50 years of stolen heritage: A media professor has been campaigning against the practice of using Native names and imagery to sell products. We ask him about a particular car name, the Jeep Cherokee.
Cherokee, Muscogee leaders reject governor’s task force: They say the task force, which Gov. Kevin Stitt created following a December jail fracas, will erode public safety.
Albuquerque Public Schools has first Indigenous board member: Ronalda Tome-Warito, Navajo, was sworn into office on January 3.
Oklahoma’s Five Tribes reject governor’s McGirt task force: The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole tribes called for one representative for each of the state’s 38 tribes on task force.
Starting the fire again: Indigenous cultural burning: The Indigenous Peoples Burning Network is unifying over a dozen tribes in their efforts to reclaim traditional fire practices that have been ignored for hundreds of years.
Osage Nation grieves former Chief Red Eagle: John Red Eagle served as Osage chief from 2010 to 2014 and was the third of his family to serve as chief.
USDA Leader: ‘We are actively looking at how we serve tribal nations’: US Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torrres Small joins the ICT Newscast to highlight Tohono O’odham nation trip and other federal initiatives.
WASHINGTON DC BUREAU
IndigiPolitics: A look ahead to 2024: Elections, Indigenous candidates, another partial government shutdown, a divided House and reauthorization of the Farm Bill are all on the table.
#NativeVote24: Ignored and forgotten in South Carolina: The Native vote in the state isn’t a priority for congressional and presidential candidates this election cycle.
IndigiPolitics: ‘We have a front runner in the Republican party’: ICT’s political correspondent Pauly Denetclaw introduces our newest regular contributor Michael Stopp.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BUREAU
Closed juvenile detention facility may be returned to Chinook: A task force created by the Washington State Office of Financial Management may soon recommend the return of nearly 23 acres to the Chinook Indian Nation, including buildings that could support the cultural survival of the first people of that land.
Choctaw geologist and beadworker teaches at Whitman College: Whitman College welcomes first Choctaw visiting educator, Roger Amerman, as he is fresh off of working on Marvel’s new show, “Echo.”
Portlanders shut down city council meeting, demanding ceasefire: Following an Indigenous-led sunrise ceremony in solidarity with Palestine, community members attended the Jan. 24 city council meeting to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
ALASKA BUREAU
After 87 years at the Smithsonian museum, ancestors reburied on Aleutian Islands: ‘You have grief; you have joy .. you just also have that confusion…and anger.’
Alaska Native mutual aid network tackles climate crisis: The Smokehouse Collective invests in ‘our resilience as Native peoples to persevere in our cultures despite the global impacts we are facing.’
How 3 Indigenous women are leading the way on climate change: These experts bring knowledge and justice to the climate conversation.
Groundbreaking journalist Gary Fife dead at 73: The award-winning storyteller from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation ‘risked asking tough questions of tribal officials with no legal protection for his job.’
Ambler road decision expected soon for Alaska mining project: Native Alaskans, environmental groups fear damage to habitat, interruption of wildlife migration if roadway approved.
MOUNTAIN BUREAU
Voting rights at center of tribal dispute with city: The Oglala Sioux Tribe, with help from the South Dakota ACLU, is seeking records related to voting rights from the City of Martin.
Wounded Knee descendants decide not to burn artifacts: Two tribes called on the group of descendants of Wounded Knee Massacre survivors to not burn repatriated artifacts as planned on the massacre’s 133rd anniversary.
City closes shelter for Natives amid arctic freeze: Local Native nonprofits in Rapid City, S.D., are serving Indigenous homeless people unwilling to stay at other local shelters.
Following in their ancestors’ footsteps: Northern Cheyenne youth run to remember ancestors who escaped Fort Robinson.
Keeping hearts and minds healthy during the winter: Oyate Health Center plans hand games night and round dance to bring community together.
New program seeks to boost Native student success in languages: Fort Peck Tribes collaborate with Montana Digital Academy to help reduce barriers for students, to offer free Dakota and Nakoda courses open to adults separately.
ENTERTAINMENT
Marvel Studios spotlights Indigenous antihero in ‘Echo’: Audiences will learn more about Maya Lopez’s, aka Echo, origin story on Disney+ and Hulu.
Drama, wildlife and horror star at 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Eight Indigenous films among the highlights of the festival’s 40th anniversary.
INDIGENOUS A&E: Farewell to a beautiful ‘ugly’ dog and more.
Lily Gladstone wins historic Golden Globe for best actress: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ starring Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio, received seven nominations.
Indian Country celebrates historic day for Native film: Across the country, Native leaders and organizations congratulated Lily Gladstone on becoming the first Native woman to win a Golden Globe.
‘Exploding Native Inevitable’ exhibition features 15 Native artists: Contemporary show emulates Andy Warhol’s 1960s happenings.
Owamni: Decolonizing culinary arts: At Owamni, Sean Sherman, aka The Sioux Chef, and staff introduce diners to a world of Indigenous cuisine.
Marx Cassity releases album promoting Two-Spirit resilience: Osage artist Marx Cassity’s fourth album was funded by a Native nonprofit and tribal foundation.
‘First We Bombed New Mexico’: New documentary exposes what ‘Oppenheimer’ left out about the impact of nuclear testing on Native, Hispanic people.
Film industry experts predict Lily Gladstone Oscar win: Two film industry experts, as well as dozens of other industry analysts, say Gladstone will beat Emma Stone for the Oscar’s best actress.
INDIGENOUS A&E: Comedy theater debuts in NYC, beyond ‘Killers,’ and music breaks the ice.
Indigenous and deaf representation on red carpet: ICT has exclusive red carpet interviews with the cast of Marvel’s new series ‘Echo.’
Coming Soon: ‘Star Wars’ in Ojibwe: Plans for a new dubbed version of the 1977 film draws praise from language warriors.
Indigenous authors rack up Youth Media Awards: ‘It kind of felt surreal, like a dream.’
‘Long overdue’: Lily Gladstone’s historic run continues: Gladstone became the first Native American nominated for an Oscar for best actress.
Wes Studi discovers his roots: An award-winning Cherokee actor discovers some surprising facts about his ancestry on ‘Finding Your Roots.’
Making history in Hollywood and Indian Country: ICT shares this monumental nomination by Lily Gladstone.
SPORTS
‘Elite of the elite’: Seventy-seven athletes and seven teams included in the 2024 class for the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.
Disabled Native golfer works to bring others to the game: Jimmy Squire is winning tournaments and advocating for disabled Natives and veterans.
MMIP advocate becomes first Native member of Oregon women’s football team: Kola Shippentower, Umatilla, is the first Native American player for the Oregon Ravens, the state’s tackle football team for women and nonbinary players.
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS NEWS
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS: Activist dies as a ‘fearless hero.’
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS: An Aboriginal community’s first graduate in 36 years.
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS: Report slams Australia over prisons.
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS: Renewed calls for academic’s release.
GLOBAL INDIGENOUS: Indigenous leaders respond to suicide crisis.
WATCH: ICT NEWSCASTS
Cultural connection and tradition: Stories to honor the traditions, history and people of Indian Country. Two students talk about culture connections and growing up in the city, as they explore what it means to be Native American.
AI assists with language revitalization: Aliyah Chavez talks policy with Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small after her recent visit to the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona. A pair of Grand Ronde citizens take a new look at historical documentation of a Two-Spirit ancestor. Artificial Intelligence employed for language revitalization.
ICT’s producers recap this week’s top stories: Our producers are diving even deeper into their stories, adding their personal experiences to some of the key stories we covered this week.
Landback for the Upper Mattaponi: We travel east to the land of the People of the Dawn and check in on the annual Passamaquoddy Days celebration. Another east coast tribe is growing its land base. Hokulea’s voyage over 43,000 nautical miles uses only ancestral wayfinding. A young Native fashion designer thriving in New York City.
Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.
