Recently in Native News

With the start of a new year, we remain committed to informing our readers of the news and culture in Native American communities across the country. As such, we’ve compiled our favorite stories from the month of January. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and stay up to date with the latest headlines all year long.

‘If the water is rising, then so must we’: Indigenous Peoples March in Washington against global injustice via Common Dreams

• “In an event described as “breathtaking, heartbreaking, strong, and beautiful,” representatives from native communities around the world came together in Washington, D.C. on Friday for the first-ever Indigenous Peoples March. Organized as a rebuke to the violence and injustices that Indigenous Peoples often face—from the murder of native girls and women to police brutality to having unceded tribal lands torn away by colonizing governments and fossil fuel corporations—the march kicked off Friday morning outside the U.S. Interior Department. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time…”

Oklahoma museum exhibit honors Native American veterans via News on 6

• “The Osage Nation Museum in Pawhuska is hosting a special exhibit honoring Native Americans who have served in the military. In the past three years the museum has seen a more than 200% increase in visitors, thanks in part to the traffic the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile brings to town. But the new exhibit at the museum is sure to draw in crowds as well. As you walk up to the Osage Nation Museum you pass by a bronze statue of one of the tribe’s great warriors, Chief Claremore. Addie Roanhorse, the acting director of the Osage Nation Museum, says, “It gives us the platform to tell our own story.”

Bill would allow Native American students to wear regalia via Bismarck Tribune

• “In 2015, Chelsea Schmitt and six other students successfully petitioned officials at Bismarck Public Schools to allow students to wear eagle feathers at their high school graduation ceremonies. The eagle feather — a symbol of strength and honor, and “not just a decoration” — is gifted to Native Americans when they reach a milestone in their lives, such as a graduation, Schmitt told a room full of lawmakers on Monday. “Like my Native American family members have in the past, I got to wear a piece of my culture, a piece of who I am, on a very important day in my life,” Schmitt said.”

Historic day in San Juan County as majority Native American Commission takes office via KUER 90.1

• In an historic first, Native Americans hold the majority on the San Juan County Commission following a packed swearing in ceremony Monday [Jan. 7] in Monticello. People jammed the San Juan County Commission chambers as a judge administered the oath of office to a half-dozen county officials. Among them were incoming Democratic commissioners, Willie Grayeyes and Kenneth Maryboy, both Navajo and supporters of the controversial Bears Ears National Monument. For years, Republicans have dominated San Juan County government. But now San Juan County is the first county in Utah to have a local governing majority of Native Americans.”