Native Americans
U.S. House passes Wounded Knee memorial bill
The U.S. House approved by voice vote Wednesday a bill that would help protect land at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, where an estimated 350 Lakota were killed by U.S. soldiers. The site is within the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River […]
Lawmakers hear bills aimed at preserving Indigenous culture
The idea that Indigenous students would be allowed to wear traditional attire to their graduations these days is an emotional image for Mary Lee, a survivor of an Indian boarding school. Lee, having survived Holy Childhood school in Harbor Springs, one of the last Indian schools used to assimilate to white culture and prey upon […]
Column: Mich. pipeline standoff could affect water protection and Indigenous rights across the U.S.
Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view as harmful or contrary to their laws and values? This question lies at the center of a heated debate over Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas across Wisconsin and Michigan. Courts, regulatory agencies and political leaders are […]
Potawatomi tribal council reaches consensus to establish 12-nation confederation
A national gathering of Potawatomi tribal council members in Battle Creek voted on July 27 to form a historic confederation of 12 Nations representing tens of thousands of members across North America. The gathering, hosted by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP), saw seven out of 12 Tribal Councils voting in favor of […]
M.O.M.S. Tour visits Detroit to support improving maternal health outcomes
Mental health professionals, birth workers, medical professionals and community members came together Saturday as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched its M.O.M.S. Tour (Maternal Outcomes Matter Showers) in Detroit. HHS said over 500 pregnant and postnatal women, dads and children gathered at the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ […]
Indigenous language interpreters unite to fill gaps
Bethany Fisher was raised in the Marshall Islands, the daughter of American missionaries who spoke English at home but who insisted that she and her siblings speak the Indigenous language of the island republic everywhere else. The parental say-so proved smart when the family returned to the United States. With the fluency they gained as […]
Tribal leaders, environmental advocates decry Enbridge appeal of Line 5 ruling
Updated, 9:11 a.m., 7/9/23 Canadian energy giant Enbridge has appealed a federal court ruling in Wisconsin. In a June 16 ruling, a federal judge in Wisconsin ordered Enbridge to shut down its Line 5 pipeline that runs through Michigan within three years and pay more than $5 million in profits to the Bad River Band […]
Nessel applauds Wisconsin Line 5 ruling, says Michigan’s fight to close the pipeline will continue
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is hailing a judge’s ruling last week against Line 5 in Wisconsin and says it will further her efforts to shut down the controversial pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. A federal judge in Wisconsin issued a ruling Friday that Canadian energy company Enbridge must shut down its Line 5 […]
Tribe has mixed reaction to federal judge’s Line 5 shutdown order
Leaders of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on Monday welcomed a federal judge’s order to Enbridge Energy Co. to shut down its line 5 in Northern Wisconsin, but criticized the order’s three-year timeline. “The Band appreciates the Court putting an end to Enbridge’s flagrant trespass and disregard for our rights,” said Mike […]
Federal judge orders Enbridge to shut down Line 5 in three years, pay tribe $5 million
Enbridge Inc. must shut down its Line 5 pipeline within three years and pay more than $5 million in profits to the Chippewa Indians Bad River Band, a federal judge in Madison, Wisc., ruled Friday. Judge William Conley reaffirmed his September 2022 ruling upholding the tribe’s claim that Enbridge has been trespassing on its land since the […]
Trauma, healing and hope as stolen Native remains return home
“Nothing is sacred if it is old and non-white. Especially if it is buried in the ground,” reads a 1972 Nishnawbe News article featured alongside a photo of an uncovered mass gravesite. Written for the Native-run Northern Michigan University newspaper 50 years ago, the student author’s piece describes a public display in St. Ignace in […]
Federal government to preserve history of Indian boarding schools
The Department of Interior is partnering with the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve the oral history and records collected as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The NEH committed $4 million to support the digitization of records from 408 federal Indian boarding schools and create a permanent oral history collection documenting […]