The Wrap: A Little Shell poet’s lesson
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While ICT Newscasts’ daily “Language Break” is a hit with viewers seeking common, realistic ways of speaking in various Indigenous languages, one storyteller reminds us that learning remains “a long game.”
“It has to extend beyond the school day,” said Chris La Tray, Anishinaabe Metis and Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Much in demand, he is Montana Poet Laureate, adding that students need to carry over their lessons to family and elders at home in order to practice and build upon crucial language skills.
If the family isn’t on board, language revitalization and preservation can be a challenge.
“If it's not happening at home, then it's not really happening,” he added. “And, and that … is a long game.” READ MORE. — Renata Birkenbuel, ICT
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It’s a 6 ½-minute song of hope, unity and survival with thundering drums and powerful vocal chants.
Performed in the closing credits by the Osage Tribal Singers, “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from the Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon” is the first Indigenous nominee in the best original song category for the Academy Awards, which will take place March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles and be televised live on ABC.
The song was written by Osage Nation citizen Scott George of Del City, Oklahoma, along with Vann Bighorse,who is the Cabinet Secretary of the Osage Nation Language/Cultural/Education Department, to evoke the Osage Inlonshka dances. In English, Inlonshka means "playground of the eldest son." The dance celebrates traditional masculine values of passing along the drum keeper role while helping to break down factionalism and feuding within the tribe. READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT
Myron Smart remembers stories told by his father and other tribal elders about the connection between Thacker Pass in Nevada, where a new lithium mine is under construction, and a tragic moment for the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone.
In Northern Nevada near the Oregon border, Thacker Pass was traditionally used by Smart’s ancestors to camp, hunt and gather, collect obsidian and medicine, and perform ceremonies. On Sept. 12, 1865, the 1st Nevada Cavalry raided a campsite and slaughtered at least 31 Paiutes.
“The cowboys came to kill everybody – woman, children, all the elders,” Smart said last September to a group gathered at Thacker Pass on the anniversary of the massacre. The deadly encounter was an episode in the Snake Wars, one of many skirmishes with Native Americans in the 19th century West, as white settlers came looking to mine for gold. READ MORE. — Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
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An elderly man on the Kenai Peninsula has died from Alaskapox, making him the first person to be killed by the viral disease that was identified only nine years ago, state health officials reported on Friday.
Aside from being the first fatal human case, it is the documented first human infection outside of the Fairbanks area, indicating that the virus, which is known to be harbored by small mammals, has spread beyond the wildlife populations in that Interior community.
The patient, who had an immune system that was compromised because of treatment for cancer, first reported signs of the infection in September when a tender lesion appeared in his armpit area, according to a bulletin issued by the state Division of Public Health’s epidemiology section. The infection worsened, and after six weeks of emergency-care visits, he was hospitalized locally. As the situation deteriorated and his arm movement became impaired, he was transferred to an Anchorage hospital. There, numerous tests were needed to identify the infection, the bulletin said.
Even with treatment, the patient suffered renal failure, respiratory failure, malnutrition and other problems, the bulletin said. He died in late January, the bulletin said. READ MORE. — Alaska Beacon
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Osage singer gets Oscar nod
On the Monday edition of the ICT Newscast, an Osage man for the first time gets an Oscar nomination – for best original song. The Ho-Chunk Nation and Discover Wisconsin bring you snow snakes. The live-action series, “Avatar the Last Airbender," increases Indigenous voices and culture on TV.
Watch:
Miles below Big Cypress National Preserve, land of elegant cypress trees festooned with air plants, there is oil.
Not a ton of it, but enough to spark a small domestic drilling industry that continues today, decades after the land became the nation’s first national preserve and the federal government bought it all up.
The environmental effects of the drilling, ranging from thousands of gallons of spilled oil to threats to the local water supply, have long prompted buyout offers from the state and federal government.
But a new plan, hatched by the Miccosukee tribe and a nonprofit, might mean the end of future prospecting and drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres of land within Big Cypress, a crucial part of Florida’s Everglades. READ MORE. — Miami Herald
- Apache community finds unity in hoops: The Alchesay Falcons on Fort Apache compete at Chief Alchesay Activity Center in Whiteriver, where nearly 3,400 typically pack into the building for nearly every home game to support the boys and girls teams.
- Public safety commissioner seeks change in Alaska’s MMIP response: As bills to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Alaska move through the legislative process, the state is reckoning with systemic issues that have hindered its response.
- Tribal education trust fund sees resounding victory: The bill passed unanimously in the New Mexico House of Representatives after addressing concerns from Navajo Nation government.
- Reporter’s Notebook: South Carolina’s Native vote: ICT political correspondent Pauly Denetclaw breaks down her story and the winding path to it #NativeVote24
- Canadian journalist’s arrest sparks international outrage: Brandi Morin faces charges for covering Edmonton police dismantling a homeless encampment.
- The Maple Tree's Legacy: Now It's Our Turn to Give Back.
- Energy is a top issue for Native Americans in Nevada deciding how they'll vote.
- Indigenous coach celebrated as a lifetime educator
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