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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:
A surreal, dark story based on Indigenous tales and imagery plays out in an 11-minute video for rock band Metallica, thanks to a quick encounter between the video’s animators and an Indigenous member of the band.
The recently released video single called “Inamorata,” from the new album “72 Seasons,” shows a Native man stranded in the desert as vultures and snakes descend. He begins hallucinating and wakes up repeatedly in new realities until he reaches a final destination.
The video was written and directed by Jess Cope. It was storyboarded by Mozart Gabriel Abeyta, Taos Pueblo, and illustrated by his wife, Helly March. Abeyta is the son of acclaimed artist Tony Abeyta, Navajo, and Patricia Michaels, Taos Pueblo, who was on Project Runway and recently designed the feather dress worn by Tantoo Cardinal on the Cannes red carpet for the premiere of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT
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When Sam Rivera was a kid, he’d often visit his mom as she worked as a nurse in an emergency room in New York City, his hometown.
She helped all kinds of people during her 40-year career, but Rivera took notice of some of her repeat patients who used drugs.
“I’m like, ‘Why are you gonna keep helping this guy? He doesn’t even want to help himself,’” he remembered asking his mom one day. “And she said, ‘My job is to help him until he’s ready to help himself.’” READ MORE. — Chelsea Curtis, Special to ICT
After nearly seven years as CEO of the Native American Youth and Family Center, Paul Lumley, Yakama, is resigning to head up the Cascade Aids Project. There, he will be the first Native American and Two Spirit person to serve as CEO.
Lumley called leaving NAYA “bittersweet,” but added that he is looking forward to helping the Cascade Aids Project grow.
Lumley steered the organization back from a financial brink. When he came on board, NAYA was deep in debt and nearly had to sell its 10-acre campus along the Columbia Slough. Today, it has an annual budget of over $20 million annual budget, and 50 added staff positions since 2016. The campus itself is transformed, with gardens that emphasize community and first foods. READ MORE. — Nika Bartoo-Smith, ICT and Underscore News
On a recent summer day, Timothy Rhodd fearlessly opened the lid on a box of bees and pointed out the hive’s complicated systems.
“It’s pretty cool once you start learning what these insects do for the whole world. And they’re dying and it’s agriculture that’s causing it,” said Rhodd, the chairman of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.
Not only do the bees produce honey that is sold, but the tribe’s agricultural operation, Ioway Farms, also uses the bees to pollinate its orchard. It’s all part of the work the tribal nation is doing to better farm the land. Rhodd said just a few years ago they used the same row cropping practices as the rest of the Midwest. READ MORE. — Harvest Public Media
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Native American communities are at odds over natural resource development at the sacred site Chaco Canyon. Navajo President Buu Nygren shares his perspective. And an artist is making libraries and museums more accessible.
Watch:
Sariel Sandoval, a citizen of the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d’Oreille, and Diné Tribes and one of 16 youth plaintiffs suing the state of Montana over its contributions to climate change, testified Wednesday that changes to Montana’s environment directly impact her tribal identity.
“The way we identify ourselves as Salish people, sqelixw, the root word translates to ‘flesh and land,’” Sandoval said. “That really shows the importance in our role as human beings and our connection to the land and the natural environment.”
Sandoval testified on the third day of the constitutional climate-change lawsuit against the state of Montana in which the young plaintiffs allege government actions are violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
Currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying mathematics and Native American studies, Sandoval said she “definitely” wants to return home after she graduates to a community that has been essential to her life’s trajectory. READ MORE. — Flathead Beacon
- Montana missing person case hits five-year mark: Jermain Charlo has been missing for a half decade. Police have made no progress in the case.
- Alaska salmon task force to develop science plan: The team, 19 experts appointed by state and federal leaders, will develop a plan to better understand salmon following recent population crashes.
- Australia to vote on adding Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Australia’s Senate voted to hold a referendum within six months. Supporters say its time to give a voice to the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic group, opponents say the position would be powerless.
- An Amazon rainforest rite of passage in threatened territory: The Alto Rio Guama territory is a triangle of preserved forest surrounded by severely logged landscape in the northeastern Amazon, home to 2,500 people of the Tembé, Timbira and Kaapor.
- Federal government to preserve history of boarding schools: The Department of Interior is partnering with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
- Residential school denialists tried to dig up suspected unmarked graves in Kamloops, B.C., report finds.
- Why a Native tribe in Arizona has drafted a roadmap to expedite border crossings.
- Kayah and the Orcas.
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.
