ICT staff
ICT worked hard in 2022 bringing you special projects with big-picture perspectives on issues that matter to Indian Country.
We wrote about economy inequities, boarding schools, the Indian Child Welfare Act and unfair taxation. We went to Pine Ridge to dig deeper into one school’s efforts to address its boarding school past. We wrote about green energy, jobs of the future and jobs of the past, and what drives the economy in Indian Country. We formed partnerships and collaborations with other news organizations to combine resources and broaden the reach of our coverage.
Here are some key projects produced by ICT in 2022.
The Indigenous Economics Project
Editor-at-large Mark Trahant spent the entire year examining economic issues in Indian Country as part of the Indigenous Economics Project, funded with a major grant from the Bay and Paul Foundations. He looked at inequities in remote work, how tribal gaming is often overlooked by commercial interests, why so few Indigenous people serve on corporate boards. He wrote about the economics of coal, climate change and job opportunities. And he will be continuing his work into 2023. Read more from the Indigenous Economics Project.
Buried Secrets: America’s Indian Boarding Schools
ICT partnered with Reveal to investigate Indian boarding schools, a seven-month review that resulted in a two-part podcast and a companion digital story. ICT national correspondent Mary Annette Pember — who has covered boarding schools for decades — focused on Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and the Truth and Healing effort it has launched to address its boarding school history. We found details in archived records that had never been publicly revealed and identified at least one unmarked grave on school grounds. Read more about Pember’s findings and listen to the podcasts.
At the Crossroads: The State of the Economy in Indian Country
ICT joined with the Institute for Nonprofit News and nine other news partners to produce a 10-part series that examined jobs and business in tribal communities. ICT took the lead on the project but joined with other nonprofit and tribal news organization to write about renewable energy, the oil and gas boom, uranium contamination, lithium mining, tribal partnerships, whether tribes should diversify beyond gaming, tribal enterprises including cattle and sports teams, and how getting a job can punish some tribal citizens by eliminating important benefits. Read the stories produced for At the Crossroads.
Indian Child Welfare Act
ICT’s Mary Annette Pember also tackled in 2022 the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is facing an important legal challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court that could have broad implications for tribal sovereignty. A ruling is expected in the spring of 2023. Read more.
Tribal Taxation
In another collaboration, ICT worked with the Center for Public Integrity to produce a comprehensive story examining the efforts of state and local governments to encroach on tribal lands with taxes. It cuts tribes out of important revenue and puts an undue burden on tribal business and citizens. ICT’s national correspondent Joaqlin Estus in Alaska contributed to the project. Read more.
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