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On a recent Wednesday night, a conference room at Wildhorse Resort & Casino on the Umatilla Indian Reservation transformed into a runway rivaling that of New York Fashion Week — with all Native models wearing Native-made designs.
Kicking off the second annual Northwest Native Fashion Show at the Northwest Native Economic Summit, a model wearing a lacy black cloak that obscured her face walked slowly down the runway, smudging the audience, as a video showing images of the earth played on a big screen in the background. Smoke filled the room and sounds of a storm cracked through the air as a projected voice introduced this year’s theme, “Revolvelution.”
While some might call the 13 Native designers at this year’s show “emerging designers,” summit and fashion show co-organizer Casey Pearlman, Iñupiaq, clarified that many of these women have been making clothing for family and friends for years. Speaking of designer Dorothy Cyr, Pearlman said: “It’s not her that’s emerging, it’s support for her that’s emerging.”
Growing up seeing his family sew works of art, Jacob Wallis knew he wanted to bring his mom and aunties the recognition, and economic opportunities, for the beautiful designs they create. READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, ICT + Underscore News
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On the Navajo Nation, when an alleged perpetrator of domestic violence is released from detention, there is no guarantee that the victim will be notified promptly by tribal law officials.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Crotty said the issue became evident during the peak of COVID-19, when she heard from domestic violence victims about how their perpetrators had shown up on their doorstep without warning, leaving them terrified or traumatized.
But that is changing, thanks to the Navajo Nation Victim’s Rights Act of 2023, a law that will provide victims of sexual assault and rape, domestic violence and other violent assaults with the protection and support they need as they wait for justice.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren signed the act into law on Sept. 6. It expands the rights of victims and their families and assures victims receive adequate support, proper notice and vital resources. READ MORE — Arizona Mirror
James Parker Shield, Little Shell Chippewa, has gone from being expelled in the ninth grade and sleeping in the streets of Oklahoma City to rubbing shoulders with some of the most famous, powerful and accomplished Native people in contemporary times.
At the 2022 National Native American Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he presented former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and former first director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, W. Richard West, with the signature crystal arrowhead-shaped Native American Hall of Fame award.
He has honored a Who’s Who of Indian Country, including nearly 50 of the greatest Native thinkers, writers, artists, activists, athletes, actors, business people, leaders, performers and trailblazers in modern history. He has bestowed honoring blankets upon Menominee leader Ada Deer, first woman Cherokee Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, actor Wes Studi, Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, scholar and writer Vine Deloria Jr., sculptor and painter Alan Houser/Haozous, environmental and Indigenous rights activist and lacrosse legend Oren Lyons, and many more.
As the CEO and founder of the Hall of Fame, Shield and the all-Native board members have posthumously recognized ballet dancer Maria Tallchief, Olympian Jim Thorpe, civil rights activist Elizabeth Peratrovich, and singer Joanne Shenandoah and others. READ MORE — Leslie Logan, Special to ICT
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws Tuesday intended to compel California’s public university systems to make progress in their review and return of Native American remains and artifacts.
Decades-old state and federal legislation, known as repatriation laws, require government entities to return these items to tribes. Those artifacts could include prayer sticks or wolves’ skins that have been used for ceremonies. But the state auditor found in recent years that many campuses have not done so due to a lack of funding or of clear protocols from chancellors’ offices.
Democratic Assemblymember James C. Ramos, the first Native American in the California Legislature, said campuses’ failure to return remains to tribes has denied “the Indian people the right to bring closure to family issues and historical trauma.”
“We’re still dealing with a state that has not come to terms with its history — deplorable history and treatment towards California’s first people,” Ramos said. READ MORE — Associated Press
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For Indian Country, women’s health is an everyday priority. In May, Santee descendant Sasha Houston Brown joined us to talk about new health guidelines and selfcare.
In 2021, the Water and Tribes Initiative estimated one in ten Indigenous Americans lack access to safe tap water or basic sanitation. That is changing for one Yup’ik village in southwest Alaska. ICT’s Mark Trahant has more.
There’s a sport getting elders back into the gym, and no it’s not pickleball. Last Spring the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community held its annual senior chair volleyball tournament. ICT’s Aliyah Chavez was there.
COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon. Last month, Dr. Loretta Christensen, from the Indian Health Service explained why it’s important for folks to get the updated shots when it becomes available to them.
Indigenous youth in Standing Rock’s Fort Yates district are having fun in new healthy ways. ICT’s Vincent Moniz has all the sights and sounds from the July opening event in a new skatepark in North Dakota.
WATCH
TULSA, Okla. – The opening of “Killers of the Flower Moon” is just days away, and moviegoers across the world will soon know the shocking truth about the “Osage Reign of Terror.”
“It’s been something that I expected was going to happen at some point,” Osage Nation Assistant Chief R.J. Walker told the audience on Monday during Tulsa’s Native American Day Celebration.“It’s a story that was going to be told.”
Walker served on a panel along with Winnie Guess Perdue, Frances Williams, Danette Daniels and Billie Ponca, who acted in or were closely associated with the Martin Scorsese movie that opens Oct. 20.
Based on the book by David Grann, the movie stars Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DeCaprio and Native actor Lily Gladstone and tells the story of oil-rich members of the Pawhuska-based tribe murdered in the 1920s for their headrights. READ MORE — Gaylord News
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