Recently in Native News

Even amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many Native Americans have still found ways to continue fostering community and cultural awareness with those around them. We’re sharing a variety of noteworthy stories from these communities for the month of September. To stay up-to-date with the latest Native American news year-round, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Next Generation: Grappling with loss of life and connection, Native youth transform into the leaders of tomorrow via Cronkite News

• “In March, Tawny Jodie was preparing to travel to Israel for her first trip overseas. By July, she was masked and delivering food boxes in rural New Mexico amid a deadly pandemic. A full-blooded Navajo, the 20-year-old said she was compelled into service when COVID-19 started ravaging her community and others across the Navajo Nation. With the virus disproportionately affecting tribal nations due to health disparities, poor infrastructure and chronic underfunding to fix persistent problems, young people like Jodie have stepped up to help.”

Projects addressing internet connectivity across Indian Country advance with new partnerships via Native News Online

• “A pair of recent business deals are aimed at accelerating projects that promise to bring much-needed high-speed internet infrastructure to rural tribal communities. Partners behind Oakland, Calif.-based MuralNet and St. Louis, Mo.-based Arcadian Infracom say their projects will help deliver critical infrastructure to rural tribal communities that often lack reliable internet connectivity, the need for which has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

400 years after the Mayflower set sail, a new exhibit acknowledges the U.K.’s impact on Native American communities via TIME

• “On a September day in Plymouth, southwest England, a ship set sail. The day was Sept. 16, 1620, and the vessel was the Mayflower. Its passengers and their voyage would soon secure their place as an indelible part of American history. Now, 400 years later, in another September in Plymouth, the facts of that story are coming in for a reexamination.”

Report: Native American vote suppressed by pandemic via Santa Fe New Mexican

• “After the COVID-19 pandemic ripped through Indian Country in New Mexico this spring, voter turnout among Native Americans declined while the rest of the state experienced an unprecedented boost in voting during the presidential primary, according to a new report from Common Cause New Mexico. The report shows while the rest of the state experienced a voter turnout increase of 8 percent as county clerks grappled with a record flood of absentee ballots, turnout among Native Americans declined by 1 percent compared to the 2016 primary.”

A true champion of justice via Indian Country Today

• “The word of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death spread fast across Indian Country. Tribal leaders, officers of the law, and citizens celebrated her life and expressed fears for the future. “It is hard to describe the legacy of Justice Ginsburg. Her life’s work was aimed at achieving equality for all, not just for women. She gave a voice to those who were unfairly quieted, and that voice, her voice, will be sorely missed. As only the second woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court, she was a real inspiration to me, at the time, a third-year law student. I extend my deepest sympathies to her family and her extended court family,” said Diane J. Humetewa, Hopi, U.S. District Judge District of Arizona.”