Indian Country Today

12/27/2025

Beth Wray Webb is working to secure a historical marker in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to honor her father, influential "Rumble" guitarist Link Wray. After learning of her Shawnee heritage as a child, Webb is leading efforts to ensure her father’s legacy is formally recognized.
Watch more at https://ow.ly/Gjz250XO0Rc

✍️ Reported by Shirley Sneve

12/27/2025

Decades of tribal work to restore tribal buffalo herds paid off when the federal government shutdown disrupted SNAP benefits nationwide. In South Dakota, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe distributed hundreds of pounds of bison meat to support families, demonstrating the power of food sovereignty and living off the land.
Watch more at https://ow.ly/3JLV50XO2PT

✍️ Reported by Amelia Schafer

12/26/2025

On this day in 1862, 38 Dakota men were publicly executed in Mankato, Minnesota. It was the largest single-day mass ex*****on in U.S. history. The “+2” honors two Dakota leaders hanged in 1864.

Each year, memorial riders retrace the path from reservations to Mankato, covering hundreds of miles through snow and ice. Riders stop at schools and communities along the way, sharing songs, prayers, and stories to keep the memory of the 38+2 and those exiled after the U.S.-Dakota War alive.

The Dakota 38+2 Memorial is both a remembrance and a call to justice. Dakota scholar and activist Waziyatawin emphasizes that the men executed resisted the occupation of their homelands, and modern commemorations highlight the ongoing impacts of displacement, land loss, and systemic injustice on Dakota communities.

📷 Photo by Jon Stenenga for MPR News. Perry Little prepares to ride the next leg of the Dakota Exiles ride on Dec. 16, 2024, between Vermillion, S.D., and Alcester, S.D.

12/26/2025

For Canada, 2025 marked a year of politics, music, arts and entertainment and the deaths of two iconic leaders.

Politics, music, arts and entertainment and the deaths of iconic leaders marked the year north of the border

12/25/2025

For more than 400 years, the Wampanoag people have protected their homeland in Mashpee, Massachusetts. Today, the tribe is restoring its bays and streams with oysters and confronting the impacts of overdevelopment and climate change.
Learn more at https://ow.ly/aIjB50XO2Cv

✍️ Reported by Pauly Denetclaw
🎥 Produced by Stewart Huntington

12/24/2025

Former USDA official Zach Ducheneaux shares insight on how current policy decisions, global markets, and SNAP cuts affected farmers, ranchers, and local food systems.
👂Listen to the full conversation at https://ow.ly/9sys50XNRJ6

✍️ Reported by Shirley Sneve

12/24/2025

A special trip to the Ryder Cup highlights the growing interest in golf among young women.

"In a team sport you can blame others. In golf, it’s all on you. I just love that feeling. To be able to say to yourself, ‘I did that,’” Shandiin Harper, Navajo, said.

Indigenous golfers Taylor Harvey and and Shandiin Harper get primo treatment at the Ryder Cup

12/23/2025

In October, the Alaska Department of Public Safety released its list of unresolved homicide reports for the first time following requests from Tribal groups working to solve MMIP cases. The list did not include all cases causing confusion among Tribal members who have reported that Indigenous women are murdered at a higher rate than non-Native women.

✍️ Reported by Mary Annette Pember

12/23/2025

Proposed change to Clean Water Act to limit protections. The Native American Rights Fund urges tribal leaders to review the proposed rule and submit public comment before the deadline on Jan. 5.

The Native American Rights Fund urges tribal leaders to review the proposed rule and submit public comment before the deadline on Jan. 5.

12/23/2025

As 2025 draws to a close, ICT reflects on the biggest stories that shaped the year.

Readers clicked these stories the most in the last 12 months

12/23/2025

Hand-carved wooden sticks, icy tracks, and centuries-old traditions are fueling the comeback of snow snake in Ojibwe, Oneida, and Ho-Chunk communities. The game is equal parts skill, strategy, and cultural teaching.

Ron Patterson, a Wolf Clan member of the Oneida Nation, said that teaching children to play snow snake is a “sacred rite of passage.” The sticks, called snow snakes or mudcats, are carefully crafted from hickory, maple, or birch, often treated with wax to reduce friction and maximize speed.

Events like the Inter-Tribal Nations Snow Snake Festival on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, are bringing the game to new generations. Participants brave below-zero temperatures to compete in long-distance throws and precision challenges, while sharing stories, songs, and traditional foods.

Organizer Paul DeMain, a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and of Ojibwe descent, said the festival is about more than competition: it’s a way to reconnect with heritage and support the revival of Indigenous languages. “We are with our ancestors, and we play with them in mind,” he said.

📷 Photo by Dan Ninham for ICT

12/23/2025

A South Dakota jury ruled Friday that the Grand Gateway Hotel discriminated against Native Americans, siding with NDN Collective. The decision marks the second time the hotel has been found in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

✍️ Reported by Amelia Schafer