This Week in Native American News - July 22, 2016
Lawsuit Claims Natives Illegally Jailed in a Pre-Rodeo Sweep
Photo credit: Brigette Supernova/The Daily Beast
The Wild Horse Stampede in Wolf Point, Montana draws a huge number of spectators to the small town of 3,000 each year. But prior to the 2013 rodeo, according to a new lawsuit, local law enforcement led a raid on Native American families and herded them to an outdoor jail where they were held overnight without protection from the elements or bathrooms.
Nobody died on the night in question, but the lawsuit claims that multiple people died shortly after, “their deaths accelerated or caused by the physical stresses experienced during the incarcerations."
Relations between Wolf Point government and the tribe members are sometimes strained, the plaintiffs say. Elected officials and police officers frequently dismissed this group as “Homeless, Winos, Street People, Tree People, Drug Addicts, Alcoholics, or Prairie Niggers,” members of the Fort Peck tribes allege in their lawsuit. Read the full story here.
Native Communities Take Stand Against Alcohol Abuse
Multiple groups came together on July 17, 2016 for the 2nd Annual Native American Walk for Sobriety in Richmond, California. Fifity participants walked in this year's event which focuses on both Native American issues, but also the overall alcohol-use in Richmond.
One highlighted speaker, Connie Reitman, executive director of Inter-Tribal Council of California, spoke to the inter-generational use of alcohol by Native Americans. Read the full story here.
British Museum Finds New Evidence of First Contacts in Caribbean Cave
Photo Credit: Antiquity Publications Ltd.
For the past three years, the British Museum and the University of Leicester have been exploring the island of Mona, part of Peurto Rico, which was exposed to the earliest waves of colonial exploration.
Mona is one of the most cavernous regions, per square mile, in the world. And it is within those caves that these discoveries have been made - thousands of drawings recorded in chambers far from cave entrances.
"This account of spiritual encounters provides a rare, personalised insight into intercultural religious dynamics in the early Americas." Read the full story here.
University of Hawaii Students to Launch Online Catalog of Historic Newspapers
Photo Credit: University of Hawai'i
Beginning in 1834, news began to circulate on paper, versus the traditional oral ways, in more than 100 different Hawaiian language newspapers. To preserve this rich history, students associated with the Sea Grant Program are loading historical newspapers to the online system, along with their English translations. The site has not yet launched, but you can see translated articles on the Sea Grant Site.
In Medical News:
Vancouver Island's Cowichan Tribe are testing a new electronic health record system, created by the First Nation's own technology company, that the government hopes to expand to the entire province. Read more here.
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe of Wind River Reservation in Wyoming are working together to stem the suicide epidemic through a program called: Horse Culture Program. The two tribes have a long history with horses and have found that the connection to the animal and their Native culture have helped to keep suicide rates down in their area. Read more here.
Meager IHS (Indian Health Service) budgets and lack of preventative care finds Natives diagnosed with late stage cancers and little hope of survival. The problem could be considered a treaty violation, and Native leaders are trying to change it. Read more here.
We try to share the best of the best, but that means there are really interesting articles we have to leave out. Check out more articles here.