Recently in Native News

As the shortest month of the year wraps up, the amount of important national and regional news topics around Native Americans remains strong across the country. We’re sharing a compilation of some of the most noteworthy Native American headlines from the month of February. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and stay up to date with the latest headlines all year long.

How Native American Communities Are Addressing Climate Change via Science Friday

• “Indigenous peoples are one of the most vulnerable communities when it comes to the effects of climate change. This is due to a mix of cultural, economic, policy and historical factors. Some Native American tribal governments and councils have put together their own climate risk assessment plans. Native American communities are very diverse—and the challenges and adaptations are just as varied. Professor Kyle Whyte, a tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, says that many of the species and food resources that are affected by climate change are also important cultural pieces, which are integral to the identity and cohesion of tribes.”

She hoped to shine a light on maternal mortality among Native Americans. Instead, she became a statistic of it. via NBC News

• “The twins were scheduled to be delivered on Aug. 21, 2019, and Stephanie Snook was nervous. Her pregnancy had not been planned. Snook was born with a heart condition; after her first two children, she had been told getting pregnant again could put too much stress on her heart. Nonetheless, Snook, 37, a warehouse clerk in food services at the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, trusted she was in good hands. A member of the Tsimshian and Tlingit tribes of Alaska, she had been going to a community health clinic that primarily caters to Native populations near her Seattle home. Once she found out she was having twins, she switched to a high-risk maternal-fetal specialist at Seattle’s Swedish hospital system.”

Couple from Ohio helping Native Americans break into film, television via Columbus Alive

• “Before filming began on the 2017 film ‘Wind River’ — a neo-Western starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner — writer/director Taylor Sheridan decided a crew composed of at least some Native Americans would lend authenticity to the production. After all, much of the action in the murder mystery took place on tribal lands in Wyoming. At Sheridan’s behest, Ohio natives Eric Parmater and Elizabeth Bell, both of whom worked on the production (Bell as a credited producer) took the lead on hiring American Indians for some roles behind the camera. Since then, Parmater, who moved to Columbus from Cincinnati as a young adult, and Bell, who grew up in Bexley, have kept that emphasis on diversity at the forefront of their hiring practices, including their work on the Paramount Network series ‘Yellowstone.’”

800-year-old spiral rock carvings marked the solstices for Native Americans via FOX News

• “The Pueblo people created rock carvings in the Mesa Verde region of the Southwest United States about 800 years ago to mark the position of the sun on the longest and shortest days of the year, archaeologists now say. Panels of ancient rock art, called petroglyphs, on canyon walls in the region show complex interactions of sunlight and shadows. These interactions can be seen in the days around the winter and summer solstices, when the sun reaches its southernmost and northernmost points, respectively, and, to a lesser extent, around the equinoxes — the ‘equal nights’— in spring and fall, the researchers said.”