Credit: This undated photo shows the Carlisle Barracks cemetery, formerly the site of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of Office of Army Cemeteries)

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Hiding in the shadows of the U.S. government’s boarding school investigation is an obscure agency with broad control over the remains of about 180 Native children who died at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

The final investigative report from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative makes only passing reference to the U.S. Office of Army Cemeteries. The small agency oversees all graves at Army installations across the United States as well as the graves of children buried at the Carlisle Barracks Main Post Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

The office is now at the center of a legal battle, however, between tribal nations and the U.S. government over whether the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, known as NAGPRA, should apply to the military.

The dispute pits tribal sovereignty — and a tribe’s right to claim the remains of its own citizens — against military regulations designed for deceased soldiers and their families. It also has raised questions about the handling of archeological sites identified on military property. READ MORE — Mary Annette Pember, ICT

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Creed Humphrey has had quite the start to his National Football League career after being drafted in the second round of the 2021 draft by Kansas City.

Playing center, the 25-year-old from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a two-time Super Bowl champion and has also been selected to two Pro Bowls during his first four seasons.

Now, Humphrey can call himself the highest paid center of all time after signing a four-year, $72 million deal first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Pro Football Focus, one of the preeminent analytic sites for professional football, has ranked Humphrey as the best center in the league for consecutive seasons.

The new contract surpasses former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce as the largest for a center and during a press conference Monday, Humphrey said he’s exactly where he needs to be. READ MORE — Kolby Kickingwoman, ICT

Filmmaker Ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby wanted his filmmaker to address a tough issue facing Indigenous communities today – who gets to be an American Indian? Time and time again, individuals who claim to have Native ancestry have been exposed.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 5, “The Beguiling” is a 16-minute short film that starts innocently enough as a romance, but quickly turns sinister. It blends dark comedy and horror.

“Shout out to Jeff Barnaby, the late great Jeff Barnaby, who for me was so inspirational and talking cultural things while using genre and really pushing the narrative,” McSauby said. Barnaby’s films, “Rhymes for Young Ghouls” and “Blood Quantum” defined the genre of Indigenous horror. He died in 2022 of cancer. READ MORE — Shirley Sneve, ICT

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Wákwahst unę́hkwát, meaning “good medicine” in the Tuscarora language, will serve as a guiding light for the United Katehnuaka Longhouse which will host an International Overdose Awareness Day event on Thursday. The nonprofit organization led by Native individuals, located in eastern North Carolina, is dedicated to fostering cultural connections and revitalization as a means to address the historical, intergenerational, and lifelong traumas that lead to substance use disorders within Native communities.

To promote community support and outreach, the event aims to bring together Native people from the region spanning from South Carolina to Virginia. The event will take place at the Coharie Tribal Center in Clinton, North Carolina. It will include traditional songs and dances, speakers addressing the overdose crisis in their communities, and a special tribute to loved ones who have passed away due to overdose. Although Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day , the community social reflects the heavy impact that Indigenous people have faced from the overdose crisis.

Kaya Littleturtle, program manager, shares that the awareness day event is, “… one of the big ways that we promote our sovereignty, being able to take back control of our tribal communities, to be able to help our people that are being so negatively attacked by this spirit of substance abuse, by these, these things that are hurting our people.” READ MORE — Shondiin Mayo, ICT

WASHINGTON — Indigenous delegates and digital content creators represented Indian Country at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Kamala Harris officially accepted her party’s presidential nomination.

There were more than 100 Indigenous delegates present at the convention, as well as a handful of Indigenous influencers after the Democratic National Committee announced in June it would offer credentials to digital content creators.

The committee ultimately credentialed over 200 creators for the national convention. READ MORE — Kadin Mills, ICT

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