Fighting the good fights

We’ll hear from the only Native American serving in Nebraska's state legislature. Plus a break down of the American Rescue Plan funds tribes will soon get to spend.

Author:
ICT
Updated:
Jul 7, 2021
Original:
Jul 7, 2021

State Senator Tom Brewer, Oglala Lakota, is the only Native American serving in the Nebraska state legislature. Brewer says he is a strong advocate for Native American and rural issues. In 2017 Brewer was part of an effort to make sure liquor licenses in White Clay, Nebraska, were not renewed. He joins the show today.

John Tahsuda, III joins us every other week to bring context to policies that impact Indian Country. He’s worked as the staff director for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and he is also a former principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. Today he is a partner with Navigators Global, providing political services to several industries including tribes.

A slice of our Indigenous world

Catholic Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is denouncing the burning and vandalism of Catholic Churches.
Preparations are being made to bring home children from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who died and were buried at the Carlisle Indian School.
Haunani-Kay Trask, a legend who fiercely advocated for Hawaiian self-determination and sovereignty, has died.
In Rapid City, South Dakota the NDN Collective staged a protest march dubbed “The Fourth of You Lie.”
New York University and Yale are teaming up to create the American Indian Sovereignty Project.
Families affected by the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Florida are getting help from The Seminole Tribe of Florida.

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The 2024 feature film, "Aberdeen," co-written and co-directed by filmmakers Eva Thomas and Ryan Cooper, stars Gail Maurice, left, as the title character, along with Billy Merasty, center, and Liam Stewart-Kanigan. It tells the story of an Indigenous climate refugee forced to relocate to Winnepeg. Thomas, Ojibway of the Walpole Island First Nation, is also working on a new film, "Nika and Madison," that she says will be an "Indigenous Thelma and Louise." (Photo courtesy of Eva Thomas)

The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service has assigned an investigator to the 1977 slayings of three Girl Scouts at Camp Scott near Locust Grove. Marshal Service Director Shannon Buhl told the Tribal Council that his agency became involved following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling in 2020. (Photo by Chad Hunter, Cherokee Phoenix)

Left to right: A.B., 31, White Earth Nation citizen, LACY ARMSTRONG, 37, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, JULIE WILLIAMS, White Earth citizen who co-founded the MOMS program, CASSIE PERSON, 36, White Earth Nation citizen, TEAH LOVEJOY, 35, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, Photo by Sheila Mulrooney Eldred for The Imprint.

Mark Trahant, Shoshone-Bannock, is editor of Indian Country Today. On Twitter: @TrahantReports Trahant is based in Phoenix.

Patty Talahongva, Hopi, is executive producer of Indian Country Today. Follow her on Twitter: @WiteSpider.

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