Good Morning NUNAverse,
Last week, the Supreme Court rejected a gerrymandered voting map in Alabama, upholding a key portion of the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh sided with the court’s liberal justices and found that Alabama’s congressional maps unlawfully disadvantage Black voters by diluting their voting power.
An upcoming documentary, Lakota Nation vs. United States, chronicles the Lakota people’s struggle to reclaim the Black Hills, the tribe’s sacred land that was stolen away from them by the U.S. government, who violated a series of treaty agreements with them — including the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which was supposed to ban white settlement on the Black Hills.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced new representation and inclusion standards for a film to be eligible starting in 2024 for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category. The standards are designed to encourage equal representation on and off screen to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going and movie-making audience.
Legislation that would call for Congress to investigate the federal government’s Indian boarding school policies passed the Senate’s Indian Affairs committeewith unanimous bipartisan support last week. If passed, the legislation would lead to creation of a commission, appointed by the president, that would make recommendations “on actions that the Federal Government can take to adequately hold itself accountable for, and redress and heal, the historical and intergenerational trauma inflicted by the Indian Boarding School Policies.”
The Biden administration wants to take Indian Health Service funding out of the annual budget negotiation process and instead have it baked into law. Its plan would culminate in around $44 billion in funding in fiscal 2033 — six times greater than current funding levels, but still short of what experts and advocates say is needed.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Law:
The Supreme Court Upholds The Provision Prohibiting Racial Gerrymandering
NPR, June 9
White House Wants Native American Health Care Funding Baked Into Law
The Hill, Christina Van Waasbergen, June 8
North Carolina Bill Ensuring Native American School Graduates Can Wear Feathers Heads To Governor
AP News, June 8
Boarding School Legislation Passes Senate Committee On Indian Affairs
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, June 7
MMIP:
Not Invisible Act Hearing Gathers Testimony On MMIP Cases
Native News Online, Elyse Wild, June 8
MMIP Red Dress Installation Vandalized In Alaska
Native News Online, Elyse Wild, June 6
Other:
Protest Derails Planned Celebration Of 20-Year Ban On Oil Drilling Near Chaco National Park
AP News, Susan Montoya Bryan, June 12
North Dakota Tribe Buys Idle Oil Pipeline From Enbridge
AP News, June 10
Mark Ruffalo Calls Out Hollywood’s ‘Harm’ To Native Americans
Rolling Stone, Marlow Stern, June 9
Movement To Return Land Taken From Black And Indigenous People In The U.S. Gains Momentum
PBS, Stephanie Sy, June 9
Cherokee Nation Leader Reelected Overwhelmingly
Indian Country Today, June 9
Biden-Harris Administration To Save Native American Homebuyers An Average Of $500 In The First Year On Mortgage Payments Through Fee Reductions
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, June 8
New Academy Award ‘Inclusion’ Standards Draw Praise From Native Filmmakers
Indian Country Today, Sandra Hale Schulman, June 7
Landless San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe Could Finally Get Its Own Homeland
Cronkite News, Lillie Boudreaux, June 7
US Army Corps Revokes Permit For Minnesota Mine, Cites Threat To Downstream Tribe’s Water Standards
AP News, Steve Karnowski June 6