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Greetings, relatives.
A lot of news out there. Thanks for stopping by ICT’s digital platform.
Each day we do our best to gather the latest news for you.
Okay, here’s what you need to know today:
It’s been a busy, wild year for Indigenous creatives with major films, retrospective art shows, hit TV series, a crippling strike, and cover story fashion.
Film news was dominated by the Osage murder drama, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and breakout star Lily Gladstone, whose appearances in other films provided a boost to them as well. Elvis’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, made her directorial debut with the film, “War Pony,” about two boys on the Oglala Lakota reservation.
Artists made huge strides with Nicholas Galanin’s large-scale public sculpture, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s museum retrospective, and Jeffrey Gibson’s selection as a featured Venice Biennale artist. READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT
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Three years ago on May 5th 2020, multimedia Indigenous artist, Nayana LaFond painted a portrait of an Indigenous woman from Canada as an emotional outlet for processing her own trauma, and posted it to a Facebook page. Her inbox was flooded with family members and friends who had loved ones go missing or murdered and wanted LaFond to share their loved ones’ story too.
As a way to honor, remember, and bring healing to Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, LaFond created, “Portraits in Red: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples,” a traveling exhibit that is currently on display at Yakima Valley Museum through mid January, before continuing on its Pacific Northwest tour.
Today, the project has grown to more than 110 portraits of Indigenous women, men and Two Spirit individuals who have gone missing, been murdered, victims of violence. The show also includes portraits of activists working to raise awareness to the issue. READ MORE. — Underscore News
So far this year 49 homeless people have died on city streets, more than twice as many as all of 2022. That’s according to the Anchorage Daily News, which is tracking outdoor deaths of individuals with no fixed address.
The 49 included two people who used wheelchairs who died after heavy snowstorms hit the area in what is already expected to be a tough cold season.
The federal count of homeless people reached 580,000 last year, according to the Associated Press. In the Lower 48, cities are cracking down on homeless encampments. At the same time, some homeless Native people in the West have been targets of widespread Medicaid scams. At least two tribes have declared public health emergencies, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana and Navajo Nation in the Southwest. READ MORE. — Joaqlin Estus, ICT
They came together as they hadn’t in years, gathering in the darkest of winter in the heart of Ojibwe country to revive a tradition that had been slipping away.
They played snow snake at Madeline Island, the latest effort to return to a winter game once widely celebrated by the Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, Oneida and other northern tribal nations, a competition in which wooden poles up to 10 feet long resembling snakes are hurled down a channel cut through a mound of snow. The distance traveled by the snake determines the winner.
Frank Vandehei, Oneida and Menominee and a lifelong resident of Oneida, Wisconsin, came to the gathering to learn, clutching the handmade snake he designed in the shape of a javelin. READ MORE. — Dan Ninham, Special to ICT
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On the weekend edition of the ICT Newscast, an Indigenous woman is showing off her skills in the kitchen of a popular TV cooking competition. A tribal leader welcomes the growing Abenaki presence in Vermont, A new tribal judge didn’t always dream of the law–he first wanted to be a journalist.
Watch:
As a child, Christine Begay knew it was time for string games when the first snow arrived in Shiprock.
The traditional stories told with string were a highlight of the winter season. Manipulating the string between two hands, the designs told of coyotes going in different directions, of a cat’s cradle, or the sun and the moon.
Some were humorous, and some, she knew, were warnings to be patient and pay attention.
“String games hold stories that are passed down from generation to generation,” said Begay, Diné, who now lives in Bemidji, Minnesota. “Some are funny interpretations, while most are significant in culture as they tell the origin of an array of objects and characters pertinent to Navajo culture.”
No one knows for sure the origins of string figures, but they once were known to nearly all Native inhabitants of East Asia, Australia, Africa, the Arctic, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands, according to the International String Figures Association. READ MORE. — Dan Ninham Special to ICT
- Lakota teacher wins national education award: Todd County Middle School’s Albert Her Many Horses honored as national model of educational excellence.
- Stories from Wounded Knee 133 years later: Chief Spotted Elk/Big Foot descendants gather to discuss Wounded Knee.
- Yakama nation unveils new justice center: After seven decades, Yakama Nation has the justice center its community needs.
- Agreement gives tribe more say over ancestral sites: Memorandum of Understanding will give the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh more say in deciding what happens on federal land that is sacred to the tribe.
- Oil threatens Indigenous-led conservation in Amazon: Ecuador’s Socio Bosque project has been key to safeguarding the rainforest. Now, the country’s state-owned oil company is exploiting its many loopholes.
- Climate change impacts could lead to more severe drought in Montana.
- How Christmas Is Celebrated Across Indian Country.
- Ryan Walters announces plan to ban diversity, inclusion efforts in K-12 schools.
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.
