Biidaanakwad: Bebaanaajimod

21/03/2025

From Arizona Mirror

Tribal flags removed from Phoenix VA hospital under new federal policy

The flags of Arizona’s 22 tribal nations have been removed from the Carl. T. Hayden VA Medical Center in central Phoenix and given to the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community for preservation.

“I was surprised and appalled when the staff of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital dropped off all 22 Arizona Tribal Nation flags at our office, explaining that they could no longer display them,” Ricardo Leonard, vice president of the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community, said in a statement.

All 22 Arizona tribal flags were removed from Phoenix VA medical center as Phoenix VA tribal flags removed under new federal display policy

01/03/2025

From Smithsonian Magazine

Chinook Salmon Are Swimming in This California River for the First Time in More Than 80 Years
The juvenile fish recently hatched from eggs that scientists deposited in the gravelly riverbed of the North Yuba River last fall

The juvenile fish recently hatched from eggs that scientists deposited in the gravelly riverbed of the North Yuba River last fall

22/02/2025

From Cloquet. All Bemidji Police cars have “To Protect and to Serve” in Ojibwemowin now for several years. Cloquet now has picked it up also. Miigwech from Rachelle Houle and I and to our partner in all of this, Professor of Ojibwe Anton Treuer for his quick translations. It continues to snowball after some 15 years.

Cloquet police chief uses bilingual signs to promote Ojibwe
Derek Randall is leading an initiative to install signage to integrate the language across the community.

CLOQUET — As a kid spending his summers in Grand Rapids, Cloquet Police Chief Derek Randall recalls how his grandfather, the Itasca County sheriff, spoke fluent Ojibwe with residents and the sense of respect and understanding it fostered between him and the community.
Now, Randall is leading a personal initiative to install bilingual signage to integrate the Ojibwe language throughout Cloquet. He hopes it will be both a sign of respect to the local Ojibwe community and a way of revitalizing and educating people about the Ojibwe language.

Derek Randall is leading an initiative to install signage to integrate the language across the community.

30/01/2025

From the Strib
GREATER MINNESOTA

Red Lake Nation cautions tribal members to prepare for, report interactions with ICE
Tribal nations across the U.S. are responding to Trump’s immigration raids.
By Kim Hyatt

The Minnesota Star Tribune
JANUARY 29, 2025 AT 9:50AM

Red Lake Tribal Chair Darrell G. Seki Sr. on Tuesday called for a special tribal council meeting to discuss a federal funding freeze and the immigration raids by ICE that have affected Indigenous communities in Southern states and how Minnesotan tribes could best prepare. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A line formed down the hallway at the Red Lake Nation government center throughout Tuesday as enrolled members followed directives from tribal council to prepare and get their tribal IDs in the event they are questioned or detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Typically there’s a $20 fee to get a tribal ID. But the tribe waived fees as an influx of members came in this week in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration raids and executive order Friday eliminating birthright citizenship, a constitutional right for everyone born in the United States. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order after 22 states quickly challenged Trump’s directive.

“That’s Trump. He’s not logical,” said Red Lake Tribal Chair Darrell Seki Sr. in an interview Tuesday with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

On Seki’s desk sat the latest letter from the Trump administration: a federal funding freeze. Seki called for a special tribal council meeting Wednesday to discuss the freeze and the immigration raids by ICE that have affected Indigenous communities in Southern states, where tribal leaders were the first to issue warnings to members on how to be prepared.

“In his first term, he targeted Native American tribes, and we already expected it after he won,” Seki said. “We already knew what was going to happen, and it’s happened.”

Red Lake appears to be the first tribal government in Minnesota to issue public warnings and cautionary measures to its members. Last week the Navajo Nation sounded the alarm after reports of at least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico being stopped, questioned or detained during immigration raids. Those Native Americans were asked to show proof of citizenship.

Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924.

Seki said he’s concerned, but so far there have been no reports of any of Red Lake’s 17,000 enrolled members being detained by ICE. About half of the enrolled members live in the Twin Cities, where the tribe’s embassy confirmed one reported case of a Red Lake woman questioned by ICE when she and her children were with a Central American man, said Joe Plumer, legal counsel for Red Lake.

Red Lake wants all enrolled members to be equipped with proper identification, such as their tribal IDs or Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB), an official U.S. document issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

Plumer said some enrolled members in the Twin Cities have less-ready access to get tribal IDs as members living in Red Lake. So the secretary’s office is working with folks to make that more readily available.

Joe Plumer, legal counsel for the Red Lake Band, speaks about trying to inform Red Lake tribal members on what to do if they are arrested by ICE in Red Lake on Tuesday. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Red Lake Tribal Council also shared a form online asking enrolled members to fill it out if they have been detained or questioned by ICE since January.

Like other tribal governments across the country urging residents to report any encounters with ICE, Red Lake is asking members to share details “for the purpose of demonstrating the improper activities of ICE,” the form says.

Red Lake band members are asked to provide a detailed description of their interaction with ICE, such as the number of officers involved, types of questions asked or any other relevant details of the interaction.
Plumer said no one had filled out the form yet. But they wanted to notify people and collect data.
“If it becomes a big problem, that data will be useful,” he said.

In addition, Plumer said the tribe reached out to law enforcement to express concerns about the potential of enrolled members being harassed by ICE or border patrol under the new directive of the Trump administration.

“And the response that we got from our law enforcement was that ICE already knows who they’re after,” Plumer said.

A couple of border patrol agents are based out of Bemidji, Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs said. Red Lake Nation is within Beltrami County, but the agency has no jurisdiction over the tribe.

Plumer said agents are looking for undocumented people convicted of crimes from Mexico or South America.

“There might be some tribal members that are associated with them that get caught in the net, but if we make these protections for tribal members to have identification and show who they are and where they’re from, that they’re not likely to get caught in the net to the same degree,” he said.

“Speaking frankly, we have a problem with Mexican drug dealers big time. People are dying because the stuff [fentanyl] they’re bringing in. So frankly, you know, we’re for getting rid of those people.”

This story contains information from the Associated Press.

23/11/2024

Dropped into Harmony Foods the other day. Love what they've done regard Bemidji's Ojibwe Language Project. When Rachelle Houle and I were were going door to door presenting the idea of Ojibwe/Engllis Language Project, our sales pitch was that posting Ojibwe signage would do three things for your business or organization. It will help our Indigenous friends and neighbors feel more welcome, more respected by those who post this signage. It will teach the settlers that we are immigrants, that English is a foreign language here. And third, tourists would eat it up. You know how they/we are about Indians. Many of us have curiosity about the Indigenous World View but for various reasons don't know how to find out. Hopefully this opens conversations. I've decided to assimilate.

28/10/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine. My view, a step for sure, but now comes the hard part, Colonialism/the theft of three continents, and a try at Africa and Asia. And then slavery, duh. To heal, we must face truth.

Biden Issues a ‘Long Overdue’ Formal Apology for Native American Boarding Schools
The president atoned for the federal government’s role in forcing Native American children into boarding schools, where many were abused and more than 900 died

The president atoned for the federal government's role in forcing Native American children into boarding schools, where many were abused and more than 900 died

14/10/2024

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day

In honor of the day, I encourage all to learn more about the Indigenous World View. To assimilate a bit with Turtle Island’s First Peoples. It will be a big part of the coming Paradigm Shift. Or…it is how we will survive. Everything is interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent.

Primally, we are ALL tribal people. It’s just that Euro-Americans are further away from our tribal roots in time and space than are our Indigenous brothers and sisters.

12/10/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine (it lists schools, counties, cities, and states that recongnize the day. You might be surprised by who is and who isn’t on the list. Neither Bemidji nor Beltrami County are on the list. Kentucky has the most. Yup) Several photos.

The Long Path Toward Establishing Indigenous People’s Day, a Day to Honor and Recognize the First Peoples of America
Native American Indians are committed to making Indigenous Peoples Day a national holiday in 2024.

Native American Indians are committed to making Indigenous Peoples Day a national holiday in 2024.

11/10/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine

The History of the Ballot and the People Who Cast Them
Learn about the fascinating role of voting in the United States

But the current American electorate is not the one envisioned by its founders, who would be bewildered by the numbers, classes, sexes, and races of Americans that vote each Election Day. They intended a world in which a limited number of propertied men like themselves rose above self-interest and voted on behalf of the rest of “the people.” Many of the people, however, showed a stubborn desire to vote directly in order to choose their leaders and laws.

Learn about the fascinating role of voting in the United States

10/10/2024

From The Atlantic

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

Donald Trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that Washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation. They are the incarnation of Washington’s misgivings about populism, partisanship, and the “spirit of revenge” that Washington lamented as the animating force of party politics. Washington feared that, amid constant political warfare, some citizens would come to “seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual,” and that eventually a demagogue would exploit that sentiment.

The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.

27/09/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine (Science + Indigenous World View = Good Idea)

Rare and Elusive Australian Bird, Once Thought Extinct for 100 Years, Discovered by Indigenous Rangers and Scientists
Using sound recordings, the team identified the largest known population of the night parrot, a secretive species known as the “Holy Grail of birdwatching”

The night parrot—a brilliantly colored, nocturnal bird—once thrived in Australia’s outback. The arrival of colonists and feral predators, however, brought about an almost catastrophic decline in the species’ population in the late 19th century. In fact, the vibrant, green parrots were believed to be extinct for roughly a century, until one of them was found in western Queensland in 1990.

Using sound recordings, the team identified the largest known population of the night parrot, a secretive species known as the "Holy Grail of birdwatching"

27/09/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine (several photos) (Signs of a Paradigm Shift?)

An All-Female Crew Sailed 1,000 Miles in a Traditional Voyaging Canoe to Help Save Humpback Whales
The team traveled from New Zealand to Tonga along a humpback highway to collect environmental DNA and raise awareness of the plight of the marine mammals

“My people are called the whale riders,” says Māori conservationist Mere Takoko.
Whales not only hold cultural and spiritual significance for the Māori, the Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, but they are also often seen as ancestors. “Whales symbolize strength, wisdom and resilience, and they are deeply respected as guardians of the ocean,” says Takoko.

Busby Cole, an accomplished sailor who was taught how to sail by her great uncle, Hekenukumai Busby, distracted the less experienced members of the crew with techniques on how to read the signs in clouds or stars, which could be used for navigation, while her co-captains steered.

Some signs are spiritual, while others are practical. An albatross shows that you’re on the right track and your ancestors are along with you on the journey, Busby Cole explains. A ngoi bird would show the crew they were about 250 nautical miles off land. “At dusk, he’ll make a beeline straight for land,” she says.

The team traveled from New Zealand to Tonga along a humpback highway to collect environmental DNA and raise awareness of the plight of the marine mammals

27/09/2024

From Smithsonian Magazine

Earth Is on the Brink of Breaching a Seventh of Nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ That Support Life
A new “health check” for our planet sounds an alarm bell on rising ocean acidification, which is driven by carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

Our planet has not passed its latest health check-up. A new assessment of Earth’s life-support systems shows that six out of nine of these crucial processes have crossed their “planetary boundary.” These boundaries are not tipping points—it’s possible to recover from passing them—but they are thresholds signifying we’ve entered higher-risk territory.

On another worrying note, scientists found the planet is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary: ocean acidification.

A new “health check” for our planet sounds an alarm bell on rising ocean acidification, which is driven by carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

26/09/2024

One might still see the latest PBS long-time respected series Frontline installment The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump, check out the various Lakeland stations.

If ya can’t find it, you can stream it on the link below. The link also has a trailer if you want to look at that first.

THE CHOICE 2024: HARRIS VS. TRUMP 1:54:23

FRONTLINE investigates the lives and characters of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the presidency. In a historic election, those who know the candidates best reveal key moments that shape how they would lead America.

Award-winning filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team, who have made five prior installments of The Choice over the past 25 years, sat down with Trump and Harris’ friends, advisors and critics, as well as authors, journalists and political insiders to present deeply reported narrative arcs of both candidates’ lives, going all the way back to their childhoods.

What emerges in The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trumpis the story of two fighters: One seeking vindication and promising a return to greatness, and the other seeking to move beyond the past and promising a greater future.

FRONTLINE investigates the lives and characters of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the presidency.

23/09/2024

TED Talk

An Indigenous Perspective on Humanity’s Survival on Earth | Jupta Itoewaki | TED

Eighty percent of the world's biodiversity is within Indigenous territories, yet these communities often don't have a say when it comes to protecting the lands they inhabit. Environmental activist Jupta Itoewaki explains why Indigenous peoples are best positioned to lead the world's efforts to preserve nature and maintain a habitable planet -- and reminds us of their outsized importance in charting a sustainable future.

Eighty percent of the world's biodiversity is within Indigenous territories, yet these communities often don't have a say when it comes to protecting the lan...

17/09/2024

From the AP

Arizona tribe fights to stop lithium drilling on culturally significant lands

PHOENIX (AP) — Members of an Arizona tribe are trying to persuade a federal judge to extend a temporary ban on exploratory drilling for a lithium project near lands they have used for religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.

Leaders of the Hualapai Tribe and supporters appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court before the judge who issued a temporary restraining order last month for work at a site halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing.

Duane Clark, chairman of the Hualapai Tribe, said the fight to protect the tribe’s ceremonial waters is about ensuring a future for his people.
“As we look to our future, we look to our past, to our ancestors, and this is the biggest threat that is harming us right now,” Clark said before walking into the courthouse. If drilling continues, he said, future generations will suffer.

https://apnews.com/article/lithium-mine-arizona-tribe-lawsuit-sacred-lands-dd8d445aadc23f8483992ea7b47e18e2?user_email=8e65b062e3b7989c9d0bbe05dc86f2ba1cbf479837c8a85d97ecad1fd2b0d953&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Sept17_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20Wire

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