Good Morning NUNAverse,
Top officials with the Navajo Nation are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The Navajo Nation has struggled for years with high poverty rates and joblessness, and the tribe’s legislative leaders say individual Navajo allottees stand to lose an important source of income if a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer is created around the park as proposed. They’re calling for a smaller area of federal land holdings to be made off limits to oil and gas development as a compromise to protect Navajo interests.
One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic — the Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River. But the battle against COVID-19 isn’t over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nation’s sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) called on the United States Senate to pass the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The bill passed the House of Representatives in March 2021. A key component of VAWA reauthorization, the two organizations wrote, must be reaffirming Tribal Nations’ jurisdiction to prosecute non-Natives who commit crimes of sexual violence, child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults against law enforcement officers in Indian Country. Since VAWA’s reauthorization in 2013, Tribal Nations have successfully prosecuted non-Native perpetrators in Indian Country, making their communities safer for American Indian and Alaska Native women, as well as the non-Natives who live among and with them.
The Mississippi Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision in a dispute over allegations that a Native man repeatedly trespassed on his neighbor’s rural land. Curtis Henry Johnson said he had the right to go on the land because he claimed, without providing proof, that he is Native. A Holmes County chancery judge in 2019 issued a civil contempt order against Johnson at the request of his neighbor Paul Benton, and ordered Johnson to pay $5,000 for Benton’s legal costs. The appeals court said Tuesday that the judge ruled correctly. The Johnson and Benton families own adjoining tracts of land in Holmes County, about an hour’s drive north of Jackson, and their court fight dates back to 2013. Court records show Curtis Johnson’s great grandfather bought the land in 1918 and passed it down to his sons. The Benton family later bought part of it.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Land:
Judge’s Ruling Affirmed In Mississippi Families’ Land Feud
AP News, Emily Wagster Pettus, October 6
The Mississippi Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision in a dispute over allegations that a Native man repeatedly trespassed on his neighbor’s rural land. Curtis Henry Johnson said he had the right to go on the land because he claimed, without providing proof, that he is Native. A Holmes County chancery judge in 2019 issued a civil contempt order against Johnson on request at the request of neighbor Paul Benton, and ordered Johnson to pay $5,000 for Benton’s legal costs. The appeals court said Tuesday that the judge ruled correctly. The Johnson and Benton families own adjoining tracts of land in Holmes County, about an hour’s drive north of Jackson, and their court fight dates back to 2013. Court records show Curtis Johnson’s great grandfather bought the land in 1918 and passed it down to his sons. The Benton family later bought part of it.
Other:
Navajo Leaders Seek Hearing On Oil And Gas Drilling Dispute
AP News, Susan Montoya Bryan, October 6
Top officials with the largest tribe in the United States are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The Navajo Nation has struggled for years with high poverty rates and joblessness, and the tribe’s legislative leaders say individual Navajo allottees stand to lose an important source of income if a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer is created around the park as proposed. They’re calling for a smaller area of federal land holdings to be made off limits to oil and gas development as a compromise to protect Navajo interests.
Standing Rock Women Highlighted In Documentary
Indian Country Today, Vincent Schilling, October 6
A breathtaking and heartfelt new documentary highlighting a four-year battle of Native women-led water protectors in the #NoDAPL movement has recently secured a spot on Fuse TV. The documentary is part of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning Fuse Docs franchise, and was directed and produced by Shannon Kring and co-produced by Pearl Daniel Means. The documentary also features some of the internationally recognized drone footage from Native journalist Myron Dewey. In an interview with Indian Country Today, Kring said she decided on telling a documentary story that was based on the contributions of the women leaders at the Standing Rock camp. Kring said the course of the filming was difficult and stressful, she often questioned her own safety and the safety of water protectors.
COVID-19 Spike Pushes Alaska’s Health Care System To Brink
AP News, Mark Thiessen, October 6
One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic — the Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River. But the battle against COVID-19 isn’t over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nation’s sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away.
Two National American Indian Organizations Message to Senate on Reauthorization of VAWA: “We Cannot Afford to Wait”
Native News Online, October 6
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) called in the United States Senate to pass the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The bill passed the House of Representatives in March 2021. A key component of VAWA reauthorization must be reaffirming Tribal Nations’ jurisdiction to prosecute non-Natives who commit crimes of sexual violence, child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults against law enforcement officers in Indian Country. Since VAWA’s reauthorization in 2013, Tribal Nations have successfully prosecuted non-Native perpetrators in Indian Country, making their communities safer for American Indian and Alaska Native women, as well as the non-Indians who live among and with them.