Good Morning, NUNAverse,
The U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists. Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe “must be overruled” because they were “egregiously wrong,” the arguments “exceptionally weak” and so “damaging” that they amounted to “an abuse of judicial authority.” The decision, most of which was leaked in early May, means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow. For all practical purposes, abortion will not be available in large swaths of the country.
The Vatican on Thursday released the itinerary for Pope Francis’ July 24-30 visit to Canada, providing a sign he intends to go ahead with the trip despite knee problems that forced him to cancel a similarly difficult visit to Africa. Francis is due to visit Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses at Catholic-run residential schools. The itinerary includes several encounters with Indigenous groups, including a private meeting with survivors of the schools in remote Iqualuit, where Francis is due to visit for a few hours on his way back to Rome on July 29. Francis, 85, has been using a wheelchair for over a month because of strained ligaments in his right knee that have made standing and walking difficult.
A tomahawk once owned by Chief Standing Bear, a pioneering Native civil rights leader, has been returned to his tribe after being housed for decades in a museum at Harvard University. Members of the Ponca tribes in Nebraska and Oklahoma visited the Massachusetts university on June 3 for the ceremonial return of the artifact, the tribes said in a recent announcement. Standing Bear had originally gifted the pipe-tomahawk to one of his lawyers after winning the 1879 court case that made him one of the first Native people granted civil rights. The tomahawk changed hands several times before being acquired by Harvard in 1982.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Boarding Schools:
Vatican Releases Pope’s Canada Itinerary In Sign Trip Is On
AP News, June 23
The Vatican on Thursday released the itinerary for Pope Francis’ July 24-30 visit to Canada, providing a sign he intends to go ahead with the trip despite knee problems that forced him to cancel a similarly difficult visit to Africa. Francis is due to visit Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses at Catholic-run residential schools. The itinerary includes several encounters with Indigenous groups, including a private meeting with survivors of the schools in remote Iqualuit, where Francis is due to visit for a few hours on his way back to Rome on July 29. Francis, 85, has been using a wheelchair for over a month because of strained ligaments in his right knee that have made standing and walking difficult.
Native Leaders Push For Boarding School Commission
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, June 23
Sometimes there are moments in history that mark the beginning of a sea change in a society. Hearing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Wednesday may qualify as such a moment. Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo and first Native woman to lead the Interior, was overwhelmed with emotion as she described the contents of her agency’s report detailing racist assimilationist policies forwarded by federal and church operated boarding schools, policies that were designed to destroy Native languages and cultures.
The U.S. Is Reckoning With Its Troubled Past Of Indian Boarding Schools
NPR, Austin Cope, June 23
When the U.S. federal government began its Indian Boarding School Initiative in the mid-19th century, the goal was clear: to erase Indigenous cultures through a process of forced assimilation. Now, the head of the Department of the Interior hopes to address the generations-long fallout from those policies. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland advocated for a Truth and Healing Commission to examine past U.S. government efforts to eradicate the languages, identities and cultural practices of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Her comments came as she updated the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on her department’s ongoing investigation into federal boarding schools, which released its first report last month.
Law:
Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Ending Right To Abortion Upheld For Decades
NPR, Nina Toenberg, Sarah McCammon, June 24
The U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists. Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe “must be overruled” because they were “egregiously wrong,” the arguments “exceptionally weak” and so “damaging” that they amounted to “an abuse of judicial authority.”
Lummi Tribe Awarded $595,000 For Salmon Pen Collapse
AP News, Gene Johnson, June 23
A Washington state jury on Wednesday awarded the Lummi Indian tribe $595,000 over the 2017 collapse of a net pen where Atlantic salmon were being raised — an event that elicited fears of damage to wild salmon runs and prompted the Legislature to ban the farming of the nonnative fish. About 250,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into the Salish Sea when the net pen owned by Cooke Aquaculture — an anchored, floating enclosure off Cypress Island — collapsed. The northwest Washington tribe quickly mobilized to capture the fish, and Cooke paid a bounty of $30 apiece for the more than 43,000 recovered by the tribe’s fishers — $1.3 million in all. The Lummi Nation sued in 2020, saying that while the fishers themselves had been compensated for their efforts, the company had not reimbursed the tribal government for responding to the spill, including organizing the fishers and tracking the Atlantic salmon they brought in. In addition, the tribe sought damages for what it described as the “existential threat” the collapse posed to its culture.
Other:
SF School Board Rescinds Vote To Cover Up Washington Mural
AP News, June 23
The San Francisco school board has voted to rescind a previous decision to cover up a George Washington campus mural from the 1930s that critics say is racist and degrading in its depiction of Black and Native people. The board’s 4-3 vote Wednesday followed a court’s ruling in a lawsuit that the school board’s original decision violated state law, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Board members did not comment on their votes. The mural was painted in 1936 at George Washington High School by Victor Arnautoff, one of the foremost muralists in the San Francisco area during the Depression. In addition to depicting Washington as a soldier, surveyor and statesman, the 13-panel, 1,600-square-foot (149-square-meter) mural contains images of white pioneers standing over the body of a Native and slaves working at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.
EPA Awards $1.2 Million To Washington Tribes To Help Protect Communities From Harmful Diesel Emissions
Environmental Protection Agency, June 23
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $1,254,919 in Diesel Emission Reduction Act funding to federally recognized tribes in Washington to reduce harmful emissions from stationary diesel generators and marine vessels. The grants fund engine replacement projects with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Quinault Indian Nation, and the Lummi Indian Business Council.
Harvard Returns Standing Bear’s Tomahawk To Nebraska Tribe
AP News, Philip Marcel, June 23
A tomahawk once owned by Chief Standing Bear, a pioneering Native American civil rights leader, has been returned to his tribe after being housed for decades in a museum at Harvard University. Members of the Ponca tribes in Nebraska and Oklahoma visited the Massachusetts university on June 3 for the ceremonial return of the artifact, the tribes said in a recent announcement.
Researchers Receive $3M NIH Grant To Study Parenting Programs For Indigenous Urban Dwellers
ASU News, June 23
A new federal grant is supporting Arizona State University researchers’ efforts to learn how well culturally grounded parenting programs help prevent harmful behaviors among urban American Indian adolescent children. A five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes for Health is funding the study, which is administered by the university’s Global Center for Applied Health Research. It continues earlier ASU research on a culturally grounded parenting intervention for urban American Indian families called Parenting in 2 Worlds (P2W).