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Alaqua Cox, Menominee and Mohican Nation, first began her journey as “Maya Lopez” in the TV mini series “Hawkeye” in 2021. It was her first acting gig ever. Now three years later, audiences will see Cox as the main character in Marvel Studios’ “Echo” on Jan. 10.
The mini series “Echo” will follow Lopez being pursued by Wilson Fisk’s criminal empire, which brings her home to Oklahoma where she must confront her own family and legacy. Native actors like Zahn McClarnon will play her father and Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning and Chaske Spencer are appearing in the show as well.
Indigenous representation goes beyond behind the camera too with Steven Paul Judd, Kiowa and Choctaw, appearing as a co-writer on the show and Navajo creative Sydney Freeland directing an episode and being an executive producer.
Cox, who is deaf and an amputee, said her resilience began when she went through surgeries and had parents that were able to give her positive reinforcement growing up. READ MORE — Kalle Benallie, ICT
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New Mexico marijuana regulators on Tuesday revoked the licenses of two growing operations in a rural county for numerous violations and have levied a $1 million fine against each business.
One of the businesses — Native American Agricultural Development Co. — is connected to a Navajo businessman whose cannabis farming operations in northwestern New Mexico were raided by federal authorities in 2020. The Navajo Department of Justice also sued Dineh Benally, leading to a court order halting those operations.
A group of Chinese immigrant workers sued Benally and his associates — and claimed they were lured to northern New Mexico and forced to work long hours illegally trimming marijuana on the Navajo Nation, where growing the plant is illegal.
In the notice made public Tuesday by New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division, Native American Agricultural Development was accused of exceeding the state’s plant count limits, of not tracking and tracing its inventory, and for creating unsafe conditions. READ MORE — Associated Press
Around the world: An Indigenous leader in Colombia dies trying to save two women from drowning, a new program in Canada helps students pursue their musical passions, and a Noongar boxer in Australia wins a top honor
COLOMBIA: ‘He died as he lived’
A revered leader among the Arhuaco Indigenous community in Colombia died on Christmas Day while trying to save two young women from drowning in rough waters near the mouth of the Palomino River in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Mongabay reported on Dec. 30.
The death of Danilo Villafañe, 49, triggered widespread mourning in the South American country, with the nation’s current president, Gustavo Petro, and former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque joining others in expressing their condolences, Mongabay reported.
“Danilo had an almost unique ability to befriend people from all walks of life, and all parts of the economic and political spectrum,” said Mark Plotkin, an ethnobotanist who co-founded the Amazon Conservation Team and worked closely with Villafañe. READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT
LAS VEGAS— Najiah Knight drops her 100-pound frame onto a snorting 1,300-pound bull and adjusts her ropes, warming the sticky rosin. Music blares across the arena, but Najiah can hear only her dad, in the chute with her, and her mom, cheering from the stands. She nods to indicate she’s ready, and a cowboy pulls the door of the chute.
The gate swings open, and Najiah — a 17-year-old gladiator entering a ring where men rule — begins her dance with the bull.
Najiah, a high school junior from small-town Oregon, is on a yearslong quest to become the first woman to compete at the top level of the Professional Bull Riders tour. She can’t join until next year, when she’s 18, and even then, she’ll have to prove she’s good enough to qualify. There’s fierce competition: Only about 30 of the best riders from around the world reach the top. It takes time, travel, money and, perhaps most of all, guts. The sport is undeniably dangerous, with riders frequently injured and even killed.
None of that fazes Najiah. If there’s one quality she doesn’t have, it’s fear. READ MORE — Associated Press
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As chief of police for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York, Matthew Rourke faces some unique challenges. Not the least of which is the international border that runs right through his nation. But Rourke has risen to the occasion. He was named chief of police of the year by the National Native American Law Enforcement Association. ICT’s Stewart Huntington caught up with the chief and asked him about the honor.
ICT’s Paris Wise looks at an upcoming project exploring an animal we talk about often on our newscast–buffalo. “The American Buffalo” is a two-part, four hour film that explores the significance of buffalo, past and present. Julianna Brannum is the consulting producer.
In mid-July, Dawson Her Many Horses was named managing director at Wells Fargo. It marks a rare moment for an Indigenous person to be promoted to such a position at a major U.S. bank. Aliyah Chavez sat down with him recently to talk about his new role, and how tribal communities are being overlooked by investors.
WATCH
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt started his second term aiming for a fresh start with Oklahoma’s tribes, but his past year in office has been a continuation of much of the same state-tribal conflict that shaped his first term.
Throughout the year, Stitt has continued to clash with tribal leaders over intergovernmental agreements and tribal sovereignty in disputes that have continued to spill into the courtroom.
At a Native American celebration at the governor’s mansion in November, Stitt said the state and the tribes should work together. He also expressed optimism that some of the inflammatory rhetoric will die down.
But whether the governor will change his confrontational approach to working with the tribes remains to be seen. READ MORE — Oklahoma Voice
What’s trending on social media:
- How the recovery of a stolen plant helped one nation re-Indigenize tobacco: Tribes in Oregon are once again growing and using Columbian tobacco, a variety native to the Pacific Northwest that was all but wiped out by displacement from white settlers
- Klee Benally, advocate for Indigenous people and environmental causes, dies: He protested police violence and racial profiling, and advocated for the cleanup of abandoned mines where uranium ore was extracted from the Navajo Nation
- Tohono O’odham dam gets federal funding for replacement: The funds come from a $27 million investment from President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda to protect tribal communities
- Harvard president Claudine Gay resigns amid plagiarism claims, backlash from antisemitism testimony
- Trump appeals Maine ruling barring him from ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause
- US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight
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.
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