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BROWNING, Mont. — “It really is a full circle moment, it feels amazing,” said Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone.
The pride of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Gladstone, who is Siksikaitsitapii and Nimíipuu, returned home to the Blackfeet Reservation March 26 for a day of celebration in her name.
The Blackfoot Confederacy consists of the Kainai-Blood Tribe, Siksika, Peigan-Piikani and Aamskapi Pikuni, and the territory stretches from half of Saskatchewan and Alberta to the northern part of Montana.
More than a thousand people from around the country and even from Canada showed up to the newly remodeled All Event Center in Browning, Montana, to celebrate and see Piiṫǎak̇ii (Eagle Woman), be honored and receive a stand-up headdress. READ MORE — Kolby KickingWoman, ICT
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The Navajo word for “beautiful” is so melodious that in 2018 Dutch fashion designer Kitty van Coesant decided to use it as the name of her company, Nizhoni.
But recently, the company’s name has sparked outrage among Native American fashion and media leaders, who are calling her use of the Navajo word for “beautiful” ugly and an example of cultural appropriation. Sheyenne Sky, a Navajo knitter and entrepreneur, first sounded the alarm about the company’s use of the Navajo word.
“So let’s say a Navajo designer wanted to start a brand called Nizhoni Knitwear, this brand would pop up,” she said on TikTok. “This is the problem. This is cultural appropriation.”
Nizhoni is a Spain-based luxury fashion brand operated by van Coesant and her partner Ben Bosboom. The brand boasts celebrity customers such as model Heidi Klum, fashion influencer Olivia Anna-Catharina T and singer Pink. READ MORE — Kevin Abourezk, ICT
Climate change is literally on the ballot in Washington state.
Two years ago legislators in the state of Washington passed the Climate Commitment Act, a cap-and-invest system that charges oil refiners and utilities a fee for every metric ton of pollution. The investment part of the law is a $1.3 billion fund for community climate projects, including 10 percent directed toward tribal nations.
Some called the program innovative. Others dismissed it as a sneaky tax on consumers for gas and other fossil fuels.
This November voters will have their say. Ballot Measure 2117 would repeal the climate law. READ MORE — Mark Trahant and Stewart Huntington, ICT
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — With a wooden ceremonial staff in hand, Haudenosaunee matriarch Louise McDonald, known as Wa’kerakátste, walked across the surface of cracked marble and crumbling slate in downtown Philadelphia on an overcast February day in 2020.
She had the look of a traveler who had returned home to discover the familiar had changed.
The Mohawk Bear Clan Mother had led a group of six women from the Iroquois Confederacy from upstate New York in search of the Wampum Lot, a plot of land given to the Haudenosaunee in January 1755 by John Penn, William Penn’s grandson.
What they found instead was Welcome Park, a park completed in 1982 for the 300th anniversary of the founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn. They had validated the land their ancestors had told them about, but it was not the bucolic setting they had imagined. READ MORE — Charles Fox, Special to ICT
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Meet the artist behind Lily Gladstone’s beautiful custom gown adorned with quillwork at this year’s Oscar awards. ICT’s Paris Wise exclusive interview with porcupine quillwork artist Joe Big Mountain.
All movies and TV shows begin with a script, and writer Chris Manydeeds hopes to use his pen to challenge cinematic stereotypes, while redefining Indigenous storytelling. ICT producer Shirley Sneve talks with the Standing Rock tribal citizen about his award-winning works.
March is Women’s History Month. To celebrate the women who have made a difference in our lives and the lives of their Native nations, here’s an encore presentation of an interview from our archives. ICT producer Shirley Sneve speaks with Joy Hanley as she reflects on a lifetime of achievements.
WATCH
RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Crow Creek Sioux Tribe are partnering to bring better broadband access to the Lake Traverse and Crow Creek reservations. On March 22, the two Dakota nations released a joint press release detailing a major broadband plan to increase high-speed internet access across both reservations.
The project aims to establish a 5G network, or a faster cellular network through a fiber optic network that improves the speed and quality of the service to connect communities around the reservations with reliable internet access. The partnership between the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in particular has the potential to affect between 5,000 and 10,000 people, according to Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Chairman Garrett Renville.
“We have a lot of new leaders in the Great Plains and one of the things we discussed is working together,” Renville said. “We’re stronger as tribes when we come together and work together. The more tribes that work together, the better.”
The two Dakota nations began working together in the summer of 2023, and have now partnered to apply for a grant of approximately $25 million from the National Telecommunications Information and Administration’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. Renville said he brought the idea of the broadband initiative to Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Peter Lengkeek in the summer of 2023 and they began working together on the grant. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
- A Land Back win for the Yurok Tribe: The Yurok Tribe entered into an innovative agreement in which a U.S. national park will be co-managed by a Native Nation
- Western Shoshone author ‘rewrites’ Native history: Ned Blackhawk, winner of the 2023 National Book Award, has worked to indigenize U.S. history in high schools and colleges
- Lakota woman running for Sioux Falls City Council: Native activist hopes to be first Indigenous Sioux Falls City Council member
- US changes how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity. It’s the first revision in 27 years
- Trump’s team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case
- House Republicans invite President Biden to testify at public hearing as impeachment inquiry stalls
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