Good morning, NUNAverse:
The U.S. government has agreed to provide emergency and in-patient care at a hospital on tribal lands in New Mexico at least through next February after patients were forced to travel to other hospitals, including those about an hour away, during the height of the pandemic. The Indian Health Service reached an agreement with the Pueblo of Acoma to keep the hospital open while officials determine what resources will best meet the surrounding communities’ health care needs going forward. The pueblo announced the court-approved agreement Thursday. A federal judge signed off earlier this week but noted the case could be reopened if the deal is violated.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given the green light for SpaceX’s satellite-beaming internet service Starlink to fly 2,814 of their satellites at lower orbit, making them useful to internet users in places like rural Alaska. Ten additional satellites were approved in January and will specifically fly in polar orbit to cover Alaskan communities along the Arctic Circle. SpaceX promises a flat rate of $100 a month for its unlimited broadband services, plus a one-time equipment fee of $500 for their self-installing equipment, including a dish receiver to fit on a user’s roof.
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and environmental groups are praising a decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court upholding a decision reversing a critical mining permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. The high court’s decision on April 28 affirmed the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ decision that the permit should not have been issued without further review. The decision is considered a resounding victory for downstream communities that would bear the brunt of pollution and other risks from the proposed mining project in St. Louis County, including the Fond du Lac Band, according to a statement released by the tribe.
Statues in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that honor English colonist Hannah Duston who, legend has it, killed her Native captors after they killed her child, are being reconsidered by local governments as Native activists, historians, and even some of Duston’s descendants argue Duston’s 17th century tale became propaganda for European colonists as they systematically removed New England’s Indigenous population. In Massachusetts this week, the Haverhill City Council voted to keep the city’s memorial but remove Duston’s hatchet and update the statue’s inscription, which tells her tale and calls Natives “savages,” and an advisory committee in New Hampshire continues to weigh changes to a memorial on a small island in Boscawen at the alleged site of Duston’s killings.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Covid-19:
Thursday Navajo Nation covid-19 Update: 6 New Cases & 3 Deaths
Native News Online, April 29
On Thursday, the Navajo Department of Health reported 6 new covid-19 positive cases for the Navajo Nation and three recent deaths. The total number of deaths is 1,276 as of Thursday. Reports indicate that 16,570 individuals have recovered from covid-19, and 265,029 covid-19 tests have been administered. The total number of positive covid-19 cases is now 30,491.
Law:
Polymet Mine Project Goes ‘Boom’
Indian Country Today, April 29
The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld a decision reversing a critical mining permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, in what was hailed as a win by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and environmentalists in their long-running battle over the $1 billion project. The high court’s decision on April 28 affirmed the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ decision that the permit should not have been issued without further review. The decision is considered a resounding victory for downstream communities that would bear the brunt of pollution and other risks from the proposed mining project in St. Louis County, including the Fond du Lac Band, according to a statement released by the tribe, WaterLegacy, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Other:
Minnesota Reimburses More Than $750,000 To Law Enforcement On Line 3
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, April 29
A Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) expense account has dispersed more than $750,000 to reimburse law enforcement agencies in Northern Minnesota for policing Line 3 protests since construction began on December 1, 2020 according to a report by the Minnesota PUC. The account is an escrow account funded by Enbridge, set and managed by the PUC as part of the approval of the pipeline. Out of anticipation that the construction of Line 3 would cause increased protest activity, the PUC directed Enbridge to help defray added costs by creating, funding, and administering a Public Safety Escrow Trust. In other words, make Enbridge pay for increased law enforcement costs rather than Minnesota taxpayers.
New Mexico Tribe, US Agency Reach Agreement Over Hospital
AP News, Susan Montoya Bryan, April 29
The U.S. government has agreed to provide emergency and in-patient care at a hospital on tribal lands in New Mexico at least through next February after patients for weeks were forced to travel to other hospitals, including those about an hour away, during the height of the pandemic. The Indian Health Service reached an agreement with Acoma Pueblo to keep the hospital open while officials determine what resources will best meet the surrounding communities’ health care needs going forward. The pueblo announced the court-approved agreement Thursday. A federal judge signed off earlier this week but noted the case could be reopened if the deal is violated.
A Prayer Answered: SpaceX To Expand Internet Coverage In Rural Alaska With FCC Approval
Native News Online, April 29
Since 2019, business magnate and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sought FCC approval for SpaceX Starlink, the upcoming satellite-beaming internet service, to offer high-speed internet to remote tribal areas in the U.S., where broadband is notoriously spotty, throttled and expensive. The satellites will beam high-speed broadband connectivity to remote areas through a one-time purchase of Starlink’s self-installing equipment, including a dish receiver to fit on a user’s roof. In early January, the FCC approved the launch of 10 satellites to travel into polar orbit, covering Alaskan communities along the Arctic Circle for the first time ever. Now, a total of 2,814 of those SpaceX satellites have the green light to fly at lower orbit, making them useful to internet users in the polar region. Flying satellites at a lower orbit allows SpaceX to deliver latency, or the time it takes for a computer to communicate with its server and back, at around 30 milliseconds, less than half of the current speed throughout the Arctic region.
Statues To Hatchet-Wielding Colonist Reconsidered
AP News, Philip Marcelo, April 29
A pair of fierce monuments honor an English colonist who, legend has it, slaughtered her Native American captors after the gruesome killing of her baby. But historians and Native Americans say the monuments to Hannah Duston obscure a grim truth: most of the Indigenous people she killed and scalped likely weren’t warriors who killed her baby, but instead were children. The statues — one in Massachusetts where Duston grips a hatchet and another in New Hampshire where she clutches a bundle of scalps — are being reconsidered amid the nationwide reckoning on racism and controversial public monuments. Historians, Native Americans and even some of Duston’s descendants argue Duston’s 17th century tale became propaganda for European colonists as they decimated New England’s Indigenous population.
Rick Santorum And His Critics Are Both Wrong About Native American History
The Washington Post, Michael Leroy Oberg, April 29
This week, former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) spoke at the Young America’s Foundation “Standing Up for Faith and Freedom” conference. America, Santorum argued, was settled by people “who were coming to practice their faith.” “We birthed a nation from nothing,” he said. “I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” On Twitter, enough people responded with the old argument that the United States Constitution was patterned upon that of the Iroquois League (or the Haudenosaunee) to get “Iroquois Confederacy” trending. But both Santorum and his critics got the history wrong. They both whitewashed American history, ignored the violence of the new nation and downplayed the thoroughness of its campaign to dispossess Indigenous peoples, including the Iroquois.