Good morning, NUNAverse:
Earlier this morning, Moderna announced that their COVID-19 vaccine is safe and appears effective in adolescents. While the vaccine has not been approved for use in adolescents by the FDA, in phase 2 of a trial of 3,732 children ages 12 to 17 in the United States, blood tests showed that the vaccine produced an immune response that was equivalent to earlier findings in adults. Initial observations found that none of the children who received the vaccine got sick with COVID-19 starting 14 days after their second dose. Four of the children who received the placebo tested positive for COVID-19, which Moderna says is “consistent with a vaccine efficacy of 100%.”
Yesterday, President Joe Biden signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act into law, which allows cruise ships to visit Alaska. U.S. maritime law requires international stops on ships flagged in foreign countries, which includes many major cruise lines’ ships. The law will allow cruise ships to sail to Alaska without requiring a stop in Canada, which currently has a ban on cruising prohibiting such a stop, relieving an ongoing challenge to Alaska’s tourism industry and the cruise industry.
Gambling on sporting events and online fantasy sports betting became legal in Arizona on Monday, along with a host of new gambling options at tribal casinos, after the U.S. Department of the Interior approved an updated tribal gaming compact with the state. The deal that Governor Doug Ducey signed with the tribes allows them to expand their casino gambling offerings and offer sports and fantasy betting. Outside of the reservation casinos, major professional sports groups will be able to offer wagering on pro sports like the NFL and NBA. The approval by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs was the last step for the gambling options to be fully legal in the state.
In Nevada, a bill that would direct local school boards to adopt policies that ban “racially discriminatory” mascots, logos, and names unless groups such as local tribes consent to their use passed on Thursday through the state Senate. Assemblyman Howard Watts, the proposal’s sponsor, added amendments to prohibit former “sundown towns” from sounding sirens during the evening to herald curfew for non-white residents. Towns like Minden and Gardnerville in northern Nevada for decades had ordinances to stop Native people and other non-white people from being in public after sundown. The ordinances were long ago repealed, but the sirens continued.
Keep reading for a full news update.
COVID-19:
Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe And Appears Effective In Adolescents
CNN, John Bonifield and Lauren Mascarenhas, May 25
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe and appears to be effective in adolescents, the company said Tuesday. In a Phase 2/3 trial of 3,732 children ages 12 to 17 in the United States, blood tests showed that the vaccine produced an immune response that was equivalent to earlier findings in adults.
Navajo Nation Passes 1,300 Covid-19 Deaths
Native News Online, May 23
On Sunday, the Navajo Department of Health, in coordination with the Navajo Epidemiology Center and thfe Navajo Area Indian Health Service, reported two more deaths from Covid-19. Sunday’s report put the Covid-19 death toll one over 1,300 at 1,301 on the Navajo Nation since the largest American Indian nation began reporting Covid-19 on March 17, 2020. Navajo Nation leaders believe getting more of its citizens vaccinated and the continued wearing of facial masks will help the keep the curve flattened among its citizenry.
Stark Racial Disparities Persist In Vaccinations, State-Level CDC Data Shows
Kaiser Health News, Hannah Recht, May 23
Black Americans’ covid-19 vaccination rates are still lagging months into the nation’s campaign, while Hispanics are closing the gap and Native Americans show the highest rates overall, according to federal data obtained by KHN. The data, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to a public records request, gives a sweeping national look at the race and ethnicity of vaccinated people on a state-by-state basis. Yet nearly half of those vaccination records are missing race or ethnicity information. While 45% of Native Americans have received at least one dose, stark differences exist depending on where they live.
Law:
Feds OK New Arizona Tribal Casino And Sports Betting Deal
AP News, May 24
Gambling on sporting events and online fantasy sports betting became legal in Arizona on Monday, along with a host of new gambling options at tribal casinos, after the U.S. Department of the Interior approved an updated tribal gaming compact with the state.
The approval puts into effect emergency legislation Gov. Doug Ducey signed in April that was a counterpart to the new tribal gambling agreement. The deal the Republican governor signed with the tribes allows them to expand their casino gambling offerings and offer sports and fantasy betting. Outside of the reservation casinos, major professional sports groups will be able to offer wagering on pro sports like the NFL, and NBA. And online fantasy sports operations like DraftKings can piggyback on the licenses. The approval by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs was the last cog needed for the gambling options to be fully legal in the state.
Lawmakers Focus On Justice Reform, Racist Mascots
AP News, Sam Metz, May 24
A bill that would direct Nevada school boards to adopt policies that ban “racially discriminatory” mascots, logos and names unless groups such as local Native American tribes consent to their use passed on Thursday through the state Senate. Assemblyman Howard Watts, the proposal’s sponsor, added amendments to prohibit former “sundown towns” from sounding sirens during the evening to herald curfew for non-white residents. Towns like Minden and Gardnerville in northern Nevada for decades had ordinances to stop Native Americans and other non-white people from being in public after sundown. The ordinances were long ago repealed, but the sirens still blare.
MMIW:
Funeral Held For Turtle Mountain Woman Found Dead In Storage Unit
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, May 24
Melissa “Missy” Poitra, the 38-year-old woman found dead in a storage unit in Durham, North Carolina, was laid to rest today by her family in North Dakota. At her funeral Monday, nearly three dozen friends and family filled Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota and remembered a family member filled with happiness and love. Missy Poitra was a tribal citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and was found dead in a storage unit in Durham, North Carolina on October 22, 2016. Native News Online reported that Durham Police Department notified Missy’s father Cary Poitra, Sr. on April 27, 2021 through a DNA swab test.
“I See Them In My Dreams” Says Joy Harjo Of MMIW Victims After Screening Of “Say Her Name” & “Somebody’s Daughter” By The Coushatta Tribe
Native News Online, Jessica Prah, May 24
“I was writing down the names of all the young women and I’m haunted by them. I read them, and I see them in my dreams,” said Joy Harjo (Muscogee Nation), the twenty-third Poet Laureate of the United States, after viewing the MMIWG documentaries Say Her Name and Somebody’s Daughter on the big screen. The Poet Laureate joined the Coushatta Tribe for two pivotal events this past weekend. The first, to acknowledge the tribe’s historic achievement of securing the United States’ most expansive Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Executive Order, which was signed May 5 by Governor John Bel Edwards. The second, to honor the tribe’s 2020 and 2021 graduates. The events coincided with Coushatta Chairman David Sickey being appointed by Gov. Edwards to chair Louisiana’s MMIW task force which was mandated by the executive order.
Other:
President Biden Signs Alaska Tourism Act To Allow Cruise Ships To Visit The State This Year
USA Today, Morgan Hines, May 24
President Joe Biden signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act into law, which allows cruise ships to visit Alaska.
Vote Delayed On Renaming Columbus Day After Accusations Of Racism
Patch, Eileen O’Gorma, May 24
Cook County’s vote to rename Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been postponed while committee members hear arguments from organizers, many calling on Native Americans to recognize their own role in American slavery before the national holiday can be renamed. Commissioner Stanley Moore, a descendant of Black people enslaved by Native Americans, called to delay the vote on Monday. While the 4th District commissioner said he doesn’t intend to defend Christopher Columbus’ crimes against American Indians, he named several tribes that still refuse to recognize his great-great-grandparents as members of the indigenous community.
Art Installation Calls For Return Of Native Lands
Indian Country Today, Sandra Hale Schulman, May 24
The letters tower 45 feet above a picturesque swath of desert on the edge of the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California, defiantly sending out a message for the world: INDIAN LAND. It’s a subtle reference to the HOLLYWOOD sign just two hours away — a sign that once spelled out HOLLYWOODLAND to promote a development for whites only. But it carries a not-so-subtle message, too: Stolen lands should be returned. The installation, entitled “Never Forget,” by artist Nicholas Galanin, is one of 13 pieces from an array of artists commissioned for the Desert X 2021 exhibition, which debuted March 12 and is set to run through July 6. Galanin, a Tlingit and Unangax̂ artist and musician, goes beyond sending a message of land repatriation, however. He is working to raise funds to acquire titles to transfer lands to local Indigenous communities, and has set up a GoFundMe account to help purchase the land near “Never Forget” so it can be returned to the local Cahuilla tribe.
DePaul Establishes Native Land Acknowledgment
The DePaulia, Lacey Latch, May 24
What was once vast miles of largely untouched marshland surrounding a river lined with cattails has since become a booming metropolis home to nearly 3 million people. Back then, the land was occupied by the indigenous tribes around the Great Lakes who maintained deep connections with this land where they lived, worked and worshiped. Today, the city of Chicago sits on the ancestral lands of more than ten native tribes and is home to one of the largest urban native communities in the United States, with more than 65,000 Natives from over 175 different tribes recorded in 2018. DePaul’s new Land Acknowledgement Statement from the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity (OIDE), crafted by a group of university members including Native faculty, staff and students, aims to highlight the whole truth of the settlement and development of the city of Chicago and eventually the university itself.