Leah Mesquita
ICT
Kadin Mills still remembers the moment he decided to pursue journalism. The 22-year-old Northwestern University alum had felt drawn toward reporting as early as elementary school.
“I remember we were moving from an apartment to a house across the street and there was this factory in my hometown that was getting demolished,” Mills said. “I wrote a story about it.”
Although he was only 9 or 10, Mills was a serious journalist. He even crafted his own newspaper, selling copies to his relatives as though it were an actual publication.
“I abandoned that idea for several years, and then my senior year of high school came around and I was like: ‘I want to be a writer,’” Mills said. “I thought: ‘Maybe I’ve always been destined (for journalism).’”
Mills, a first generation descendant of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of Lake Superior Ojibwe, grew up in Buchanan, Michigan, a small town 10 hours from his homelands. Although his mother and grandmother are both tribal citizens, he was disconnected from that side of his family for most of his life, he said.
“When I was 13, or 14, my mom took me to my (and her) first powwow,” Mills said. “We started meeting some of our family who neither of us knew on the reservation like her cousins and stuff she never had the opportunity to meet.”
Since then, Mills’ relationship with his heritage only grew stronger. After moving to Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mills attended the Medill School of Journalism where he pursued a minor in Native American studies. Having previously worked for WBEZ as an Indigenous history reporter, he understood the value his perspective holds.
“I don’t like traditional journalism,” Mills said. “I think it’s pretty extractive and problematic. When I would bring that up in other job interviews, they (the company) would be like, ‘Oh, we don’t want you.’”
But according to Mills, ICT was different. After applying for a 2024 internship through the Scripps Howard Fund, he immediately felt welcomed by the organization and that he wasn’t alone in thinking the world of journalism could be improved.
“I just really love getting to tell contemporary stories through historical analysis,” Mills said. “Indian Country is so shaped by policy and history. And then also just using (those stories) to perpetuate that Native people are still here.”
Mills, who reports from the Washington, D.C., Bureau, has produced several stories that combine those exact topics including the Kānepō’s homecoming, Indigenous takeaways from the Republican National Convention and how Supreme Court rulings directly affect Native people.
“I’m really interested in writing empowering stories about harm reduction and community care specifically, as it relates to recovery, addiction and homelessness,” Mills said.
Although he’s still adjusting to ICT’s workload, Mills loves to search for second hand furniture, listen to jazz music and play Minecraft in his spare time.
“There’s a (Minecraft) world I’ve been working on literally since probably my freshman year of high school,” Mills said. “It looks like a server because I’ve had it for years and have had several different devices backing it up.”
Mills is working as a political reporting intern for ICT until November.
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