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NEW YORK-For the first time in its 94-year history, the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade featured a land acknowledgement and blessing to honor the Wampanoag and Lenape people. This broadcast took place on Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day 2020 in the United States. Ryan Opalanietet Pierce (Lenape) and Joan Henry (Tsalagi/'Nde/Arawaka) acknowledged the Lenape territory of Manahattan, where the parade takes place annually. Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members and language...
Q: How should a Christian handle discrimination? With the "Black Lives Matter" movement, should First Nations expect or demand more respect? What does God's Word say about this? A: How should a Christian handle discrimination? The original Greek word for "whosoever" found in John 3:16, is "πᾶς" (pas). Its definition and usage is: all; every; the whole; every kind of. πᾶς (pas) is also the exact Greek word used in Romans 10:13. "'Whosoever' calls on the name of the Lord sh...
When I was young, I spent many years volunteering at a Navajo Indian Mission in New Mexico. It was one of the happiest and most rewarding times of my life. At times it was also frustrating and heart breaking. The missionaries were good people but after 20 years they still struggled with the Navajo language and culture. They were becoming tired and burned out. Everyone is familiar with the "mission barrels." Well-meaning people all over the world send used clothing and...
Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna People, was born in Winslow, Arizona into a military family. Her father, J.D. "Dutch" Haaland, a Norwegian-American, was a decorated 30-year career Marine. He was awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving the lives of Marines in Vietnam in 1967. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Mary Toya, Deb's mother, served in the U.S. Navy. According to a New York Times article, Haaland connected with her New Mexico voters...
"Two For the Price of One" is always an attention-grabbing offer. It's hard to ignore getting seconds free, just because you wanted firsts. "Two-for-One" works well for retail, but not for reflections in a mirror. Here in prison, I get an opportunity to look in a mirror only when I receive a shower. The shower has four slim windows so the officers can look in, for security reasons, and on the outside of one of those windows is a 6"x6" acrylic mirror. The convenient mirror is t...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has granted broadband spectrum licenses to 11 Arizona tribes in what FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called "a major step forward in our efforts to close the digital divide on Tribal lands." The awards, announced last week, were the result of a "first of its kind" Rural Tribal Priority Window that gave tribes the chance to apply for and receive spectrum licenses at no cost. Those licenses – which can be used for high-speed wireless b...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian has received a $5.67 million gift from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federally recognized tribe in Northern California. This gift is the largest to date dedicated to supporting the museum's national education initiative, Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°). These funds will allow the museum to underwrite, pilot and launch the first national, state and local model, which will produce content t...
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free for sure. John 8:36 NLV In 1983, I was charged with first-degree murder. At the time, I was so messed up with drugs, that half the time I didn't really know what I was doing. I thought the man I stabbed had raped my sister. Out of revenge, I wanted to hurt him for this terrible act he supposedly committed. I was told by my court appointed attorney that I'd be spending the rest of my life in prison with no chance of parole. But my...
OKLAHOMA CITY-More than 30 Chickasaw elder veterans received custom-made quilts during a Nov. 10 drive-thru luncheon, thanks to the stitch work of a Chickasaw citizen and her quilting friends. Summer Roberts, Chickasaw Nation Senior Center manager and quilter, surprised the veterans with individual gifts as they pulled up to receive lunches at the Chickasaw Nation Oklahoma City Senior Center. Roberts, with the help of David McDowell and Zach Burnett, who prepared the meals,...
PIÑON, Ariz.-One student runs 85 feet up a hill every morning, just to get a cellphone signal so he can call in his attendance. Another moved to Phoenix by himself, after his only parent died of COVID-19, to work construction while going to school online. Then there's the high school senior who spends six hours most days doing homework in a car next to a school bus turned Wi-Fi hotspot-the only way some kids on the Navajo Nation can get assignments to their teachers. These kid...
FORT SMITH, N.W.T-While many people have learned to do quite a variety of things from home during the 2020 pandemic, Isaiah Wiltzen, a 19-year-old history student from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, has perhaps had one of the most creative pandemic achievements. Wiltzen has created a museum exhibit. In non-pandemic times, the young man was studying history in Edmonton at the King's University. But during the pandemic, he's been at his home in Fort Smith, where he has...
TORONTO, Ont.-When a message popped into his email box with the subject line, "Draw for a Marvel Comic?" David Cutler almost deleted it, thinking it was a scam. Yes, he was an artist. And yes, he'd tried to get in Marvel's sites . . . but his attempts had never succeeded in landing him a job there, and it had been a few years since he'd tried. But just in case, he opened the email instead of clicking delete. And there was the dream invitation in black and white. The...
"A Chickasaw Dictionary" by Rev. Jesse Humes and Vinnie May (James) Humes, originally published in 1973, is now accessible in digital format at AChickasawDictionary.com. "Language and culture are intertwined in a manner that makes revitalizing our language essential to preserving Chickasaw culture and keeping it relevant for generations to come," Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said. The dictionary can be used to search for specific words or browsed alphabetically in...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Thanks to a newly completed digitization effort by the U.S. National Archives and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) in Santa Fe, researchers and the public now have unprecedented access to hundreds of digitalized Native American Treaties. The online collection features 374 ratified Indian treaties from the archives' holdings. These documents are housed in a specially protected area of the National Archives building and are unavailable for use in...
OTTAWA, Ont.-Over decades, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous Canadian children were removed from their homes and communities to attend residential schools. To partially atone for wrongs done to First Nations families, in May 2006, the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement was approved. The implementation of the Settlement Agreement began in September 2007 with the aim of bringing a fair and lasting resolution to the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools. Canada was...
HELENA, MT.-In October, the eight tribes of Montana gathered to celebrate rising of their tribal flags as a permanent display in front of the Montana State Capitol. The legislation to construct the Tribal Nation Flags Plaza was passed in the early 1990s. However, funding wasn't available until the 2019 Legislative session when Rep. Marvin Weatherwax, Jr. (D-Browning) introduced HB-524 to fund the construction of the Tribal Flag Plaza. It passed both houses of the Legislature...
LONGMONT, Colo.-In October, the First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) announced a project to help tribal governments and entities establish and strengthen their forest programs for the benefit of their economy, environment, educational opportunities and access to recreation. The project is part of First Nations' umbrella program of Stewarding Native Lands and is made possible through a grant from the USDA Forest Service and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies....
THUNDER BAY, Ont.-Thirteen people have died in jail in Thunder Bay, Ontario, since 2002, and more than half were First Nations people-in fact, some report that 39 percent of incarcerated individuals there are Indigenous; others say that number is closer to 75 percent. Of the 13 who have died, 12 were in remand, waiting for their futures to be decided. More than half were younger than 30 years old. And inquests still have not been completed on five of the deaths. Four deaths...
Perhaps like DeBora Gurno, you feel you’ve reached the bottom of your life. But you are not alone. Your Father in heaven is waiting for you to turn to Him through Jesus Christ. He is longing for you to enter a relationship with Him. We all need to have a relationship with God. And that is not a thing we can achieve on our own. Jesus Christ said in John 14:6 in God’s book, the Bible, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father but through me.” Jesus is the Son of God and only by giving our life to Him,...
The windshield was cracked. Not just a hairline fracture but a spiderweb that had the potential to make Spider-Man sit up and take notice! So I got it changed. Such a difference-from the gravel-battered glass of yesterday to the clear, shiny drivability that I could now experience. It reminded me of how God's Word talks about His forgiveness in Isaiah 1:18 (NIV). "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as...
The prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced in late November that his government is providing $542 million for First Nations, Inuit and Métis organizations to help them take over child welfare services. The cash is part of the federal government's ongoing project to implement Bill C-92, through which Indigenous communities can assert inherent jurisdiction over the system. Parliament passed a law to reform the system in 2019, requiring that children on reserves...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-After 25 years in the making, the National Native American Veterans Memorial opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on November 11, 2020, which was Veterans Day. "It's an article of faith in Indian country that Native Americans serve at a greater rate than basically any other group," said Kevin Gover, the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and a citizen of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. He said the steel ring s...
WINNEPEG, MB-Almost 175 First Nations communities across Canada have received kits including personal protective equipment (PPE), Bibles and other support supplies from a coalition of Canadian Christian ministries led by Northern Youth Programs, Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Samaritan's Purse. The coronavirus can strike anywhere, even in Canada's remote First Nations communities. Many health care staff and emergency first responders in these places have had...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-On election day 2020 in the United States, a record number of six indigenous people were elected to positions in the U.S. House and Senate. The U.S. House expanded by two on Election Day: Yvette Herrell, who is Cherokee and prevailed in New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, and Kai Kahele, a Native Hawaiian who won that state's 2nd District. They will join four Native Americans who won reelection: Reps. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, who's Laguna; Sharice...
RAPID CITY, S.D.-If you're seeing tepees outside of Rapid City, S.D., you might assume it's yet another Black Hills attraction for the tourists. But you might assume wrongly. You might be catching a glimpse of Camp Mniluzahan. Camp Mniluzahan is a homeless camp set up by Lakota members on 90 acres held in trust for the Cheyenne River, Rosebud and Oglala Sioux tribes. Once upon a time the land was home of the Rapid City Indian Boarding School. Because it's on trust land, city...
