Good Morning NUNAverse,
Congressional members in both the Senate and the House today reintroduced Indian Boarding School legislation that seeks healing for “stolen Native children and their communities.” The announcement coincided with the National Day of Remembrance for Indian boarding schools. The legislation, called The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, was first introduced last year by then Representative Deb Haaland, now Secretary of the Interior. The bill was reintroduced by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, with a House version of the bill introduced by the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, Representatives Sharice Davids and Tom Cole.
Hawaii health officials said 23 Native Hawaiians died from COVID-19 last week, accounting for 20 percent of all fatalities among Hawaii’s Indigenous people since the start of the pandemic 18 months ago. Native Hawaiians made up 40 percent of all deaths in the state during the seven days through Friday, KITV reported. Native Hawaiians are one-fifth of the state’s population. COVID-19 vaccination rates among Native Hawaiians have lagged in comparison to the rest of the state. To counter this, Nā’ālehu Anthony, the director of COVID Pau, a collaborative of businesses and nonprofit organizations delivering public health messages during the pandemic, has started a series of public service announcements on the importance of inoculating Native Hawaiians.
A panel of lawmakers putting the final touches on North Dakota’s new legislative map delayed action Tuesday on a proposal to create separate House districts on two of the state’s five reservations. Some members of the 14-member Republican-led committee said they wanted more legal guidance before voting on the motion. A North Dakota legislative district now has one senator and two House members, each elected to represent the entire area. In a subdistrict, the senator would still represent the entire district. It would be split in half for House representation, with one House member representing each half. Some North Dakota tribal leaders appealed to lawmakers this month to split legislative House districts that include reservations, a move they believe will increase the odds for electing Native people to the Legislature.
A stolen panel from a Native art installation at the University of Kansas has been recovered, just weeks after other panels in the exhibit were vandalized, police said Thursday. The panel from the “Native Host” exhibit was reported stolen on Wednesday. It was recovered and police are talking to a person of interest in the case, University police Deputy Chief James Druen said Thursday. The theft is a separate case from vandalism to the other four panels of the exhibit that occurred September 4, Druen told The Lawrence Journal-World. The exhibit by artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds was installed outside of the Spencer Museum of Art on the Lawrence campus. The five aluminum signs name Native tribes who historically or currently inhabit Kansas.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Boarding School:
Indian Boarding School Legislation Reintroduced In Congress
Native News Online, September 30
Congressional members in both the Senate and the House today reintroduced Indian Boarding School legislation that seeks healing for “stolen Native children and their communities.” The announcement coincided with the National Day of Remembrance for Indian boarding schools. The legislation, called The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, was first introduced last year by then New Mexican Representative Deb Haaland, now Secretary of the Interior. The bill was reintroduced by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, with a House version of the bill introduced by the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, Kansa Representative Sharice Davids and Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole.
Remembrance Day Brings New Push For U.S Boarding School Commission
Indian Country Today, Dianna Hunt, September 30
Thousands of Indigenous people across the U.S. and Canada —wearing orange shirts and the weight of their ancestors on their shoulders — turned out Thursday to remember the children who suffered in residential schools during a dark history in North America. The commemorations, on a Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada and a Day of Remembrance in the U.S. came as Congressional leaders re-introduced a bill that would create a National Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that has brought some healing to Canada. The Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition announced support for the bill Thursday, calling for “a full accounting of the devastating impacts of the Indian boarding school policies that tore away generations of Native American children from their families and communities.”
Through The Eyes Of A 6-Year-Old Child, Orange Became A Symbol Of An Indigenous Movement
Native News Online, Neely Bardwell, September 30
Phyllis Webstad (Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation) is a prime example of how one person can make a difference and create an Indigenous movement across North America. Webstad is the force behind the Orange Shirt Day movement that is commemorated each year on Sept. 30 to remember Indigenous people who attended Indian residential schools in Canada and Indian boarding schools in the United States. The color orange was chosen because of something that happened to Webstad when she was only six years old. It was September 30, 1973, the first day she attended St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia. Her grandmother had bought Webstad a brand-new shiny orange shirt to wear, adding to the young student’s first-day-of-school excitement. Unfortunately, when Webstad got to school, the orange shirt was taken from her, and it was never given back.
Professor Answers Call To Find Boarding School Children
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, September 30
Louellyn White (Akwesasne) an associate professor of First Peoples Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, has been conducting research and writing about the Carlisle boarding school for a number of years. Her grandfather, Mitchell Arionhiawa:kon White, and several other relatives attended the school, which became the model for other boarding schools across the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1879, Carlisle was one of the first of about 200 federal Indian boarding schools whose mission was to assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream American society and stamp out their connections to traditional culture and language. White initially pursued the research at her own expense but eventually secured a small grant from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, which helped pay for travel. The coalition included her research in a submission with the U.N.’s Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, calling on the U.S. to provide a full accounting of Indigenous children taken into government custody under the boarding school policy and whose fate and whereabouts are unknown. Soon, it became White’s mission to locate the children’s graves and do everything she could to reconnect them with their families.
COVID-19:
Native Hawaiian Deaths Spike From COVID
AP News, September 30
Hawaii health officials said 23 Native Hawaiians died from COVID-19 last week, accounting for 20 percent of all fatalities among Hawaii’s Indigenous people since the start of the pandemic 18 months ago. Native Hawaiians made up 40 percent of all deaths in the state during the seven days through Friday, KITV reported. Hawaiians are one-fifth of the state’s population. COVID-19 vaccination rates among Native Hawaiians have lagged in comparison to the rest of the state. To counter this, Anthony has started a series of public service announcements on the importance of inoculating Native Hawaiians.
Politics:
There’s A Bipartisan Voting Rights Bill. Yes, Really.
The New York Times, Maggie Astor, September 30
The Native American Voting Rights Act, or NAVRA, was introduced in the House last month by Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole and Kansas Representative Sharice Davids. New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján introduced companion legislation in the Senate. It would let tribes determine the number and location of voter registration sites, polling places and ballot drop boxes on their reservations; bar states from closing or consolidating those sites without tribal consent; require states with voter identification laws to accept tribal ID; and create a $10 million grant program for state-level task forces to examine barriers to voting access for Native Americans.
Panel Tables Idea To Split House Districts On Reservations
AP News, James MacPherson, September 30
A panel of lawmakers putting the final touches on North Dakota’s new legislative map delayed action Tuesday on a proposal to create separate House districts on two of the state’s five reservations. Some members of the 14-member Republican-led committee said they wanted more legal guidance before voting on the motion. The committee is scheduled to meet again Wednesday. A North Dakota legislative district now has one senator and two House members, each elected to represent the entire area. In a subdistrict, the senator would still represent the entire district. It would be split in half for House representation, with one House member representing each half. Some North Dakota tribal leaders appealed to lawmakers this month to split legislative House districts that include reservations, a move they believe will increase the odds for electing American Indians to the Legislature.
Law:
Governor Signs Six Ramos Tribal Bills On California Native American Day
Redlands Community News, James Folmer, September 30
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed six wide-ranging tribal bills introduced by Assemblyman James Ramos. They aid tribal foster youth, create a new monument to Sacramento-area tribes on state Capitol grounds, bolster students’ right to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies, allow a paid holiday for state court personnel on California Native American Day and streamline access to emergency response vehicles on tribal lands. Newsom signed the legislative package on California Native American Day.
Allendale Decides Not To Pursue Charges In Statue Vandalism
AP News, September 30
Officials in a western Michigan community have decided not to pursue criminal charges against people who vandalized a statue of Confederate and Union Civil War soldiers with a Black child kneeling between them. The Allendale Township board on Thursday said proceeding with the case would require time and resources and only create more divisiveness. The board voted in June to keep the statue in a local park, despite a recommendation from a group that the statue be replaced by one with Union soldiers who are Black, Native and white. Calls for the statue to come down began last year following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and anti-police brutality protests around the country.
Other:
University Of Kansas Native American Art Exhibit Targeted
AP News, September 30
A stolen panel from a Native art installation at the University of Kansas has been recovered, just weeks after other panels in the exhibit were vandalized, police said Thursday. The panel from the “Native Host” exhibit was reported stolen on Wednesday. It was recovered and police are talking to a person of interest in the case, University police Deputy Chief James Druen said Thursday. The theft is a separate case from vandalism to the other four panels of the exhibit that occurred Sept. 4, Druen told The Lawrence Journal-World. The exhibit by artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, was installed outside of the Spencer Museum of Art on the Lawrence campus. The five aluminum signs name Native tribes who historically or currently inhabit Kansas.