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Across the US, Native Americans are fighting to preserve sacred land

November 30, 2022

In what they call a “holy war” to save their sacred site in Arizona known as Oak Flat, the Apache people have gathered in prayer with other Native American tribes, even those they’ve historically been pitted against, such as the Akimel O’odham, or River People, of the southwestern United States.

They’ve formed a coalition of Native peoples named Apache Stronghold and bonded with Christians and other religious leaders as they seek to stop the land from being transferred to Resolution Copper, a company owned by the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.

Now, at a...

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Asian faiths try to save swastika symbol corrupted by Hitler

November 27, 2022

Sheetal Deo was shocked when she got a letter from her Queens apartment building’s co-op board calling her Diwali decoration “offensive” and demanding she take it down.

“My decoration said ‘Happy Diwali’ and had a swastika on it,” said Deo, a physician, who was celebrating the Hindu festival of lights.

The equilateral cross with its legs bent at right angles is a millennia-old sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism that represents peace and good fortune, and was also used widely by Indigenous people worldwide in a similar vein.

Source:...

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Anishinaabek share culture, stories, and history across the region for Native American Heritage Month

November 25, 2022

After the leaves have turned, and the days get shorter, Anishinaabek across the state of Michigan welcome in dagwaagin, or fall, the season of harvesting, gathering, and hunting.

It also is the time to remember those who have passed on, said Linda Woods, K’tchi Wikweedong Anishinaabe, an elder of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

“This time of the year holds special significance for Odawa in the region,” Woods said.

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Bison's relocation to Native lands revives a spiritual bond

November 22, 2022

Ryan Mackey quietly sang a sacred Cherokee verse as he pulled a handful of tobacco out of a zip-close bag. Reaching over a barbed wire fence, he scattered the leaves onto the pasture where a growing herd of bison — popularly known as American buffalo — grazed in northeastern Oklahoma.

The offering represented a reverent act of thanksgiving, the...

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How an Ojibwe architect designs from an Indigenous perspective

November 20, 2022

Sam Olbekson was first exposed to architecture at age five, when his uncle was a construction worker on a project to build the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

Decades later, Olbekson, 51, now runs his own architecture firm, Full Circle Indigenous Planning. He's also MAIC's board president, designing an addition to the building which will begin construction next month.

A citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe in Minnesota, Olbekson split his childhood between the area's...

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Apaches get rehearing in fight to preserve Oak Flat, a sacred site in Arizona

November 17, 2022

A federal appeals court will rehear Apache Stronghold’s case against the United States to save the sacred site of Oak Flat, a 6.7-square-mile stretch of land east of Phoenix that a private venture is seeking to turn into an underground copper mine.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced Thursday (Nov. 17) that it will rehear the case in front of a full 11-judge court instead of the original three-judge panel.

Earlier this summer, the divided federal appeals court, in a 2-1 ruling, held that the government could proceed with the transfer of Oak Flat to...

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Yakima Nation wants nearby state park to recognize 'dark' history

November 13, 2022

Washington state’s website for Fort Simcoe State Park highlights the military history of the park 30 miles southeast of Yakima.

“Fort Simcoe is one of the few remaining pre-Civil War forts in the west. Military history buffs should put it on their bucket lists,” reads the state’s webpage for the park, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

But for members of the Yakama Nation, the property represents something else.

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Native boarding schools: Learn from history to promote healing, priest says

November 4, 2022

The Catholic Church is working to promote healing and rebuild trust with Native American communities in response to revelations about mistreatment of students in church-run boarding schools, a priest working on Native American issues for the U.S. bishops told an Archdiocese of Seattle gathering.

“This is heart stuff, not head stuff,” Father Michael Carson, assistant director of Native American Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said during an Oct. 23 program.

“It’s connection. Feeling the pain, the abuse, the suffering. … Do not be afraid to let the...

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Catholic Church 'dumped' abusive priests onto tribal communities, database shows

November 4, 2022

A new database reveals many Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse worked in tribal communities, including dozens in the Mountain West.

Over the past 70 years, 96 priests of the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Nearly half of them – 47 priests – spent time on tribal lands.

That’s according to a database called “Desolate Country: Mapping Catholic Sex Abuse in Native America,” which a pair of researchers built from the...

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