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If history is documented by footnotes, then the legal citations naming John Echohawk and the Native American Rights Fund will be found in virtually every Indian law case since the 1970s.
Pick a legal question: Treaty rights? Voting rights? Sovereignty?
Check. Check. Check. The record of action is deep.
Echohawk, a Pawnee citizen, has led the Native American Rights Fund, or NARF, for 53 years creating a public interest, nonprofit legal firm dedicated to Indigenous rights.
Saturday, the American Bar Association awarded Echohawk the Thurgood Marshall Award at its annual convention. Lawyers, Indian leaders, and family members from across the country joined the celebration of Echohawk’s career. In probably a first for the bar association, Echohawk was wrapped in a robe and then dozens of people lined up to shake his hand. READ MORE. — Mark Trahant, ICT
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The Mayan people need the Melipona bees. Ecologically, medicinally and spiritually, this special species of bee has been sacred to Mayan people for generations.
“There is a god for the bees that is located in Tulum,” said Ivana Carolina Canol Pech, a student studying tourism at the Mayan Intercultural University of Quintana Roo, Mexico. This god is named Ah Musen Kaab.
Melipona bees, called Xunan-Kab in the Yucatec Mayan language, are different from the bee species found in the United States, Pech said. Unlike American and European bees that typically live in box hives made by human beekeepers, the Melipona bees live in the trunks of fallen trees. Mayan families that keep Melipona bees provide them roughly three-foot-long tree trunks laying in their backyards and patios, typically in rural areas that are closer to the plants the bees like to pollinate. READ MORE.— Grace Finnell-Gudwien, Special to ICT
During the annual Oglala Nation Wacipi and Rodeo, money is a barrier for youth looking to enjoy the celebration. One woman, Yvonne “Tiny” DeCory, Oglala Lakota, is working to make sure all youth are included, regardless of cost barriers.
On Pine Ridge, 44 percent of residents live below the poverty line with an unemployment rate of nearly 70 percent, according to 2021 census data. Many young people can’t afford carnival rides, food or merchandise.
DeCory, who leads the BEAR (Be Excited About Reading) Project, frequently organizes free events for youth to enjoy.
“(The kids are) given an opportunity to socialize with other kids who are probably going through similar things, and it’s good for everybody’s mental health,” DeCory said. “It gives the kids a chance to just be kids. Anytime a 14-year-old has the chance to just be 14, we’ll let them because a lot of them are taking care of their families at home and they’re struggling, too.” READ MORE. — Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
The beginning of the pandemic was devasatting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours, including one headlining across North America, were canceled and she feared her ascending music career might be over.
She got a day job at a nonprofit and returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in Western Washington. But as Paul, or KP to her friends, spent time in the cedar forests and walked along the Skagit River, she turned to her guitar to deal with the isolation and stress. Those snippets, recorded on her phone, provided the foundation for what would become songs on her powerful, grunge-soaked new record “The Land, The Water, The Sky.” READ MORE. — Associated Press
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On the Monday edition of the ICT Newscast, the University of Virginia’s newly hired tribal liaison outlines his goals to bring more Native students to campus. Organizers in Washington are working to support Indigenous candidates and voting ahead of the next election. The Phoenix Indian Center helps urban Native children express pride in their culture.
Watch:
A 70-year-old man’s feet sink into the soil as he passes abandoned boats where there used to be the water of Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake in the world has receded to what Bolivian authorities say are critically low levels due to a persistent drought.
“It’s completely dry,” Jaime Mamani said in exasperation while walking along the new shoreline in Huarina, a farming town 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of La Paz where he is a community leader.
The National Service of Naval Hydrography declared an alert in July for the iconic lake after its surface fell 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) below the drought warning stage, or 3,807.8 meters (12492.7 feet) above sea level. But the agency says this is just the beginning of a situation that is worrying Indigenous Aymara communities that rely on the lake for their livelihoods and fear the dry spell could permanently impact the region’s flora and fauna. READ MORE. — Associated Press
- Traditional elm bark lodges return to Minnesota: Indigenous communities join forces to build traditional lodges in Minnesota and Ontario.
- Red Lake Nation moves to reclaim lake shore: Tribe seeks return to tribal borders negotiated in 1889 Treaty.
- Study: Native appropriation prevalent, hurtful: Study surveyed 600 Native people, finding most oppose appropriation of their culture and identities and feel angry and sad when they encounter it.
- Work begins on dam removal project: But in some ways, removing the dams is the easy part. The hard part comes after.
- ‘Our way of life has been totally destroyed’: Mercury pollution is worsening a mental health crisis in this Indigenous community.
- Oppenheimer’s test site wasn’t remote. It was populated by Hispanos and Native Americans.
- RCMP cited Standing Rock protests as ‘evidence’ to create controversial B.C. unit.
- Tribes Call For Feds To Ban Chemical In Car Tires That Is Linked To Salmon Deaths.
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.
