A project of the Manship School of Mass Communication, LSU
Impact of Keystone XL on Native American tribes
(Source: MSNBC) - Native Americans in South Dakota fear that building of the Keystone XL Pipeline could disrupt their fragile land and culture. Ed Schultz travels to the reservation.
Shoni Schimmel represents what is right with American Indian youth
By Levi Rickert
(April 19, 2014 | Native News Online) - It is not every day an American Indian enters the WNBA, the women’s professional basketball league, as Shoni Schimmel did this past Monday. As a matter of fact, no American Indian woman has ever been drafted in the first round of the WBNA as Shoni was when the Atlanta Dream selected her. Schimmel represents what is right with American Indian youth across Indian country. Read more
The invisibles: Seattle’s Native Americans
By Toyacoyah Brown
(March 7, 2014| PowWows.Com) - Matt Driscoll from Seattle Weekly News takes an in-depth look of what it’s like to be a member of Seattle’s urban Native community. For urban Natives it can be lonely when they’re less than 1% of the overall population. Luckily there are services in the city for Natives looking to connect with each other such as Urban Native Education Alliance . . . Read more
AFN Applauds Supreme Court decision on Katie John case
(March 31, 2014 | Alaska Federation of Natives) - On March 31st the Supreme Court of the United States decided to reject the State of Alaska’s petition in the legal case State of Alaska v Sally Jewell, Secretary of the United States Department of Interior et al, widely known as one of the Katie John Cases. Read more
National Congress Of American Indians releases anti-Redskins ad
(Jan. 30, 2014 | Deadspin.Com) - Just in time for the Super Bowl, the National Congress of American Indians has released a simple, yet powerful, commercial directed right at Dan "you can use caps" Snyder. For nearly two minutes we see video and images of American Indians living their everyday lives while the narrator lists the various names they use to refer to themselves.
Related Story: Makers of this Ad don't have the money to show during Sunday's superbowl
New DC comics superhero inspired by young Cree activist
By Toyacoyah Brown
(Jan. 7, 2014 | Pow Wows) - DC Comics author Jeff Lemire is working on a new superhero team, Justice League Canada, and as he develops a female First Nations character he’s looking to the late activist Shannen Koostachin for inspiration. Read more
Brenda Child examines "powerful" Ojibwe women roles
(March 22, 2014 | Native News Online) - American Indian men have long understood women within American Indian families, tribes and communities play a very influential role. Brenda J. Child in “Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community” brings this concept to life. Read more
Film to tell story of last living Navajo code talker
By Megan Cruz
(March 17, 2014 | KOAT.Com) - Some say without them, the United States and its allies would have lost World War II. The last of the original Code Talkers spoke to KOAT Action 7 News about a documentary that will chronicle his life. Read more
Schimmel “Sister Act” began NCAA tournament
By Levi Rickert
(March 23, 2014 | Native News Online) - Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team—with Shoni and Jude Schimmel—begin their NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2014, against the No.14 Idaho Vandals in Iowa City, Iowa. Read more
Navajo Council Member Introduces Anti-Redskins Bill
By Gale Courey Toensing
(March 13, 2014 | Indian Country Today) - A Navajo Nation council member has proposed legislation opposing the Redskins football team name and authorizing the Nation’s president and other officials to speak out against it and other racist sports names on behalf of the Navajo people.
Read more
Cherokee Nation urges the United Nations to implement indigenous people's rights
(March 11, 2014 | Native News Online) - The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council passed a resolution Monday, March 10, 2014, to encourage the United Nations to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, commonly referred to as UNDRIP. Read more
Arizona professor's work on native people's rights earns Nobel Peace nomination
(Feb. 20, 2014 | Arizona Daily Star) - University of Arizona law professor James Anaya has dedicated his life to the defense of human rights and the freedoms of indigenous peoples. He has argued before the Supreme Court and led a precedent-setting case that recognized indigenous land rights as a matter of international law. Read more
Ojibwe T.J. Oshie: Overnight sensation at Sochi 2014 Olympics for Team USA hockey
By Native News Online Staff
(Feb. 15, 2014 | Native News Online) - Timothy Leif “T.J.” Oshie, Ojibwe from Warroad, Minnesota, captured the hearts of Americans after he scored four goals in an eight-round shootout to move the U.S. men’s hockey team atop Group A in the 2014 Olympic hockey tournament in Sochi, Russia on Saturday. Read more
Lawmakers Press N.F.L. on name change for Washington Redskins
(Feb. 9, 2014 | The New York Times) - Two members of Congress plan to send a strongly worded letter to the commissioner of the National Football League on Monday urging him to support changing the name of the Washington Redskins because it offends Native Americans and others, with one lawmaker saying she might reconsider the league’s tax-exempt status if it does not comply. Read more
The week that was: The big stories in Indian Country
By ICTMN Staff
(Feb. 2, 2014 | Indian Country Today Media Network) - It's our weekly roundup of the stories that mattered most in Indian country:
JOBS NUMBERS: The Interior Department has published the latest report on the American Indian population and labor force, updating and improving on the previous report that was published in 2007 with data from nine years ago. Read more
A resource on Cherokee language documents
New Year with new (old) stories for Indian Country
By Mark Trahant
(Jan. 7, 2014) - It’s a new year -- and a new story. There is nothing more important to political discourse than a good story. It shapes our thinking, sets the rules for the debate, and, sometimes, warps reality. Stories matter. We humans think in terms of story. We dream, tell, and remember stories. We live stories. Read more
Discussion around tribe’s mascot gives state senator new perspective on Native issues
By Rodney Harwood
(Jan. 1, 2014 | Indian Country Today Media Network) - The heated debate over Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s refusal to change the name of the NFL franchise’s mascot is making noise in state and national levels of government. Read more
Forrest Gerard, architect of "Indian Self-Determination," walks on
By Native News Online Staff
(Dec. 30, 2013 | NativeNewsOnline.Net) - Forrest Gerard, who provided the blueprint for Indian Self-Determination that led to today’s current federal policy towards American Indian and Alaska Natives has walked on. He died in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, December 28, 2013. He was 88. Read more
Mall of America threatens “Idle No More” organizers with arrest if NYE round dance occurs
By Levi Rickert
(Dec. 29, 2013 | Native News Online) — "Idle No More" organizer Reyna Crow opened her mail on Christmas Eve to discover a letter from the Mall of America management team. There were not holiday gift cards inside.
Instead she and several other "Idle No More" organizers received letters suggesting they could be arrested if another flash mob round dance occurs again this year at the Mall of America. Read more
Federal judge rules against Alaska's claim in case over Native land allotments
By Dermot Cole
(Dec. 23, 2013 | Alaska Dispatch) - Federal Judge Ralph Beistline ruled Monday that Native allotments in Alaska are “trust or restricted Indian lands,” dealing a setback to the state in its efforts to establish rights-of-way under a law that dates back nearly 150 years. Read more
Casting Controversy: Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily in 'Peter Pan' Prequel
(March 13, 2014 | Indian Country Today Media Network) - Indian Non-Native actress Rooney Mara, most famous for her edgy portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, has been cast as Tiger Lily in the forthcoming Pan, a live-action prequel to the story of Peter Pan told most memorably in a 1953 animated Disney film. Concerned Natives and culture-watchers of many ethnicities are decrying the choice as yet another redface travesty, much like Johnny Depp's Tonto in the 2013 film The Lone Ranger. Read more
What happens when Google doesn’t think you’re A Human
By Joe Flood
(March 6, 2014 | BuzzFeed) - Elaine Yellow Horse wanted to use Google+ for business. She only ran into one problem: Google wouldn’t recognize her name. Read more
AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES | GENDER
Humetewa clears Senate Judiciary Committee
Rob Capriccioso
(Feb. 27, 2014 | Indian Country Today) - Hopi citizen Diane Humetewa is one step closer to becoming only the third Native American in history to serve on the federal bench and the first Native female to do so.
Read more
Obama nominates Native American woman to Federal Court
By Rob Capriccioso
(September 19, 2013 | Indian Country Today) - Responding to widespread requests from tribal leaders and Indian legal advocates, President Barack Obama has nominated a Native American to serve on the federal bench. Read more
More stories:
Women in charge of law firms a rarity
Redskins Still Misappropriates Native American Imagery
Thanks for the severed head, you’ve proved my point. (Source: Native Appropriations, June 5, 2010)
March issue of National Geographic Magazine features American Indian connection to horses
By Native News Online Staff
(Feb. 27, 2014 | NativeNewsOnline.Com) - The March 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine features a beautifully written article about horses and their historic connection to American Indians. Read more
Aboriginal people left out of urban planning
By Charles Hamilton
(Dec. 31, 2013 | The StarPhoenix) - Aboriginal people have been left out of the urban planning process for far too long, according to one University of Saskatchewan urban planning professor. Read more
Schimmel sisters did not disappoint in a televised basketball game
By Levi Rickert
(Dec. 29, 2013 | Native News Online) - Shoni and Jude Schimmel – the pride of Indian country – did not disappoint those in Indian country who watched them as the two Umatilla sisters helped their Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team win on Sunday afternoon, December 29. Read more
Being of the Year: The feral horse controversy stole the spotlight in 2013
By Cindy Yurth
(Dec. 29, 2013 | Navajo Times) - While Republicans and Democrats glared at each other across the aisle in Washingdoon, the Navajo Nation also seemed paralyzed by conflict this past year. Read more
"Stocking Stuffer": Smithsonian Collections include a picture of American Indian knitting stockings
Read the Smithsonian Collection Blog post
Commentary: Wounded Knee Massacre 123 years ago
By Levi Rickert
(Dec. 28, 2013 | Native News Online) - One hundred and twenty-three winters ago, on December 29, 1890, some 150 Lakota men, women and children were massacred by the US 7th Calvary Regiment near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Some estimate the actual number closer to 300. Read more