Flandreau makes it unanimous, bans governor

Coming up, tensions continue in South Dakota between tribes and the governor, the latest from Flandreau and whether it banned Kristi Noem from its homelands. Plus Act 2 for retired Ojibwe professors. Meet the duo behind Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing. Next on the ICT newscast. This program is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people. Support for the ICT Newscast with Alea Chavez comes from the Arizona PBS studios in Phoenix at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Amid Awahopa, thank you for joining us. I am Aaliyah Chavez. Fallout continues today in New Mexico after a Native American student was stopped from wearing a beaded graduation cap and eagle plume at her graduation last week. The incident garnered a national attention after a viral social media video showed Farmington High School officials confiscating the adorned cap of Genesis white bull and instead replacing it with a plain one. Her family is now saying school officials later cut the feather off the cap using scissors. Chase Iron Eyes, who is the director and lead counsel of the Lakota People's Law Project, weighed in. I did. Why didn't they have to cut it? Why? Why did they have to add insult to injury, Cut the feather off of the of the mortar board, the beaded mortar board, and then throw that into, you know, some lost and found bucket? In addition, leaders from the Navajo Nation, which is where the school is near, they've called the actions belittling, humiliating and demeaning. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, where White Bull is enrolled in North Dakota, officially condemned the actions and as a result, received an apology from Farmington High School. Staying with education, Native communities are using charter schools as a way to reclaim culture. The Native American Community Academy network has 13 charter schools across five states that offer a public education centered around each student's traditional identity and language, with Native Americans graduating at low rates. The network was created for youth in grades K through 12. It's very first charter school opened in New Mexico in 2006 and now enrolls 500 students from 60 different tribes that outperform and graduate at higher rates over their peers in public school. According to a Tribal Education Status report, Medicaid eligibility after the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting Native Americans who need access to health care. Native American and Alaska Natives are enrolled in Medicaid at higher rates than their white counterparts, yet more than 20 million people have been kicked off the joint federal state program for low income families. Tribal leaders nationwide have reported many challenges, including a lack of timely information, patients who are unaware of the process or their disenrollment, and long processing times. Additionally, a lack of staffing and accurate data at the tribal level and a lack of engagement from state representatives have prevented vulnerable indigenous populations from tending to their health. We head now to Arizona, where the auction Indian community is mourning. One of the greats, Leona Carlisle. Caycar made history in many ways, but most notably as the first woman to serve as chair of her tribe. The lifelong defender of tribal water rights and agriculture died last month at age 88. Current Chairman Robert Miguel said Carlisle Caycar formed its first tribal government in 1961 without any support from the federal government. She was involved in the opening of the Tribes Casino in 1994 and served on the Tribal Council for over 40 years before her death. Well, big news out of South Dakota. The Flan Drew Santis Sioux Executive Council voted yesterday to ban South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem from its reservation. The vote means that all nine tribes in the state have passed votes banning Nome from their homelands following a string of unwelcome comments from the governor, IC TS. Amelia Schaefer has been covering the story and joins us now with the latest. Amelia, welcome back. What's the latest in this ongoing dispute? Thank you. It's good to be back. Nome continues to have strained relationships with the state's 9 tribes and that grew yesterday with a tense session in Flandre. Chairman Reeder called an emergency meeting and then there was a long, hard discussion. There was a lot of tension in there, a lot of emotion in the world. Amelia, when did this all begin? So this first began on January 31st of this year when Noam addressed the South Dakota legislature and discussed alleged cartel influence and cartel presence on reservations in South Dakota. And there have been documented cases of Mexican drug cartel in their presence on reservations before. But are they present on South Dakota reservations today? That is true. However, all of the tribes have denied knowledge of cartel presence on their reservations. On Friday last week, Governor Gnome did cite a appearance that OST Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Stark comes out made where he testified that the cartel was present on the reservation. But there is no evidence so far concrete evidence that the cartel is operating. She's referenced incidents in both the Pine Ridge Reservation and Lake Travers Reservation. But when I spoke with the State's Attorney, she said that this is there is no concrete evidence that the cartel was involved. There was also some concern in Native communities that the governor said unflattering things about indigenous parents. What was that? So on March 13th, during a meeting in Mitchell, SD, where she signed an education bill, Governor Noem said that Native children are hopeless and their parents don't show up for them. And she said that tribal councils are more interested in politics than they are in their people. This is where a lot of the bans started to happen. The Oglala Sioux Tribe had first banned her in February immediately following that January 31st meeting, but a majority of tribes began banning her after these comments were made on the 13th of March. And what's the history there with Nome's relationship to tribal nations? You mentioned she's been banned before, but tell us more about the relationship there. Yeah, so Governor Nome was first banned after taking office in 2019. She was banned by the Oglala Sioux Tribe after she signed or supported increased penalties on Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. Following that, she opposed COVID checkpoints on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River reservations, which caused more outrage from tribes, and she continued to oppose things that tribes were putting in place, further straining their relationships. Since then, I want to talk a little bit more about yesterday's actions at Flandrew and the folks that you've spoken with. What was some of the the emotional reaction to her being banned from the Santee homelands? So it sounds like the council was divided on whether or not she should be banned. There was a lot of tension because some tribes do need the state for assistance, so if the decision was not made lightly, they were the final tribe to vote to ban Nome in the state of South Dakota. So this decision was not made lightly, and it seems like it caused a lot of strain for tribal members. Back in March, the governor showed up uninvited to a meeting between tribal leaders and the US Department of Agriculture, and their officials tell us what happened there. So there are quarterly meetings regarding PESH Law, which is a sacred site in the Black Hills. A few days after making those comments, on March 13th in Mitchell and then later in winter that same day where she later claimed that tribal councils benefit from cartel presence, she showed up to a meeting regarding Paige Law. She was not invited to this meeting and she did not let anyone know she was coming to this meeting. The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe was especially upset because she brought news cameras with her. I was told that no media was allowed into this meeting and this further angered tribes. And this is what really made the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe decide to ban her following that appearance after she was banned from other tribal nations earlier this month and last month. The Governor did release some statements and reaction to those actions. Has she spoken out about this situation, the Peche law situation, The Flandreau banning? No, not to my knowledge. On a press conference on March 17th last or part of me May 17th last week, she did address her banning and she once again said that she encourages tribes to banish the cartels. That, to my knowledge is the most she's spoken about the bans. She repeatedly has just said that she encourages cartels to be banished instead. We know right now that Kristy Gnome has a pretty high profile nationally and she hasn't hidden her ambition for a higher office. Do you think that that plays a factor here? It certainly could. Last week during that press conference in Pierre, she mentioned that this stems back from President Biden and the Biden's administration's handling of the southern border. So when I spoke with Chase Iron Eyes a few weeks ago about the matter, he said that this could be a talking point for her to launch her campaign off of. And this is something that she's really centered herself on ever since the 31st. Is that the way that the border has been handled has influenced states like South Dakota, even though we're thousands of miles away from the southern border. She's trying to make a point that the cartels have moved into South Dakota and that further action needs to be taken at the border to stop this. So that certainly could be a factor. Well, our viewers can, of course, keep up with your reporting at ictnews.org. Amelia, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Visiting with family and relatives will help us from feeling lonely or socially isolated. COVID-19 changed everything. Like our ancestors who survived war, famine and epidemics, our elders have to make sacrifices to. The more we are socially connected with our family and community, the less health problems we will have and the longer we will live. We need to stay active to keep our spirits alive. Remember, you are not alone connected. Together we will stand strong. For more information on elder isolation or caregiver resources, go to Connected Indigenous elders.org. James and Ernie is a Danette comedy duo that has been entertaining Indian Country for decades. While the pair still performs together, each has taken their own path ICT. Shirley Snavey has this interview with the James Junes. Give me a patchy Frappuccino. You know what I mean. What size? Husky. They're all Husky, all large, all large sizes, and you can make like a nice menu just like that too. Hold on a second. Can't read them anymore. OK, there's you don't wear glasses. Yeah I don't. Started off doing stand up comedy and travel throughout Indian country and made a lot of headway everywhere in 23 years. It's. And I feel like at 23 years I'm barely scratching the surface. So that kind of led me to not doing. I still do the comedy duo and the troupe, but I was like, OK, there's there's something else, a story that needs to be told that's on the back end of all of this. What, what? What is the turban for all of this? How do I? Because every Stand Up comic has a message. If you listen to them closely, either you see DL Hughley or you see Charlie Hill. They always had a message of something, but that is that it's always up to the audience to try to figure out. But for me, I was like, OK, there's there's a different story here. There's a story of coming from domestic violence and alcoholism and and drug addiction and how do we come overcome these things to be a success. I really reflected back on what our elders had taught and and that's where I started coming up with humor healing. How is this beneficial to not just me personally, but as native country? And then native country turned into something that was worldwide. There was, there was one that I really had come across, and I finally got it. I finally got it. After reading the history books about Native America. I finally got the the wisdom of why Chief Joseph chose to say that from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. He picked up his weapon of peace. He knew that peace was going to save his people. He knew that peace was going to be the longevity of his people. And he knew that mentality was going against everything that he had heard. People probably said, you know what? We should fight, we should keep fighting, we should keep fighting, go down with the ship kind of thing. But he was like, no, if if our people are gonna survive, I'm gonna have to lay down my weapon and I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to step into the spiritual side of all of this, about the things that I've been taught, that our Native American philosophy is always to choose peace. People are wanting. They're not willing. They're they. They want this sense of hope for it. They can ingest it, or they can transform themselves. Maybe it's not gonna be the whole anecdote for the thing, antidote for the things that they want, but at least it's something to give them hope in the right direction for themselves. Using the things that I've been through, like domestic violence and drug addiction and the mental health of it, surviving cancer. I mean, I I had cancer twice and that was that was a battle in itself. But all of these things were the experiences were conducive to what the survival is of who I am today. So now I do half comedy, half message, and it's being embraced more and more. I'll lose these things. I was wondering why Sam's Club has a 30 pack of these things. It's because you lose these stupid things, and when you don't lose them, you're wearing them on your head. How'd how'd you come up with this career in the 1st place? By accident. It was one of those things where everybody always said, oh man, you're funny, you should do something with that. And for me, I was like, Nah, that's for people, that's that. That's not for us. Because we really had no example of somebody who has crossed that line, so to speak. We for natives, it's always by example. Somebody has to do it first. Then we'll we'll explore that. And I was, I was scared. I was scared to do it. How do you, how do you how do you step out with with faith in knowing that this is going to work or this is not going to work. And that's part of my, my, my story is that the only way you'll know is if you step into it. Even if you fail, at least you'll know something. The creator has a way. If we step into that, there it is step into that mentality. That Creator has a way. But if we think that it's our way, then it's something different. Hotter summers, longer pollen seasons and record rainfalls. These changing patterns are putting our health and the health of those we love at risk. So communities around the country are taking steps to prepare. State, local and tribal health officials are using the Building Resilience against Climate Effects framework developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called brace for short. The five step process is used to develop strategies and programs that help communities prepare a coordinated community response to the health effects of a changing climate. Step one is identifying what climate effects are relevant locally, how those might lead to new or expanded health threats, and who is most at risk. The next step is to calculate expected impacts on the local population and then rank the severity of each threat. This is called projecting the disease burden. What it does is it helps health officials tackle the worst risks first. Step three is to identify ways the community can intervene to prevent or reduce health effects. For example, health officials who are expecting more high heat days might consider if it would be more effective to open community cooling centers or to collaborate on housing and development plans to protect vulnerable residents. Then, in step four, health officials work with other community sectors to develop and implement their plan. For example, health officials may work with city planners to reduce the impact of urban heat islands or with broadcast meteorologists to alert people to prepare for extreme weather. Step 5 is evaluation. Health officials assess the success of their adaptation plans and gather lessons learned to apply for future activities. These five steps in the Brace framework are designed to be flexible and responsive to local needs. Any community, whether urban, suburban, rural, or tribal, can use Brace to prepare for the local health impacts of a changing climate. To learn more, visit cdc.gov/climateandhealth. Kanaka the land is chief man, is her servant. Kanaka our land is both a responsibility and a privilege. A couple of retired professors are on a new journey with a quest for more people to read and the pages of books they now find themselves and their native families reflected. This Native owned publishing company called Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing showcases Native writers and artists by finding a niche in the market. IC TS Shirley Snavey interviewed Thomas Peacock, who owns the company with his wife, Elizabeth Albert Peacock. We're both retired faculty from the University of Minnesota Duluth and we were we were faculty in the education department. So we're teachers and and when we retired, I don't know, about 10 years ago or so we got bored silly after a few years and we we thought, well, what can we do now? You know we always have to have something to give back. We were volunteering in schools and things like that and I said, well let's let's start a publishing company. And I told my wife that and suggested it to her and and I said we're going to work our butts off but and we aren't going to make any money. We're going to do this for free. We're nonprofit. We saw the need for native books, you know by native writers and and also giving an opportunity for native artists to you know to do illustrations and it's a very small niche and major publishers typically won't publish, you know a lot of native writers because you know the they're they're after the profit motive and and we can do things in small runs so. So that's how we started and that was so I think back in about 2018 or so we formed our little corporation and and then we were going to do I think 2 books a year and I think we've done about 50 of them. Now my expertise is writing, if there is one, is writing in English I don't know any more than anybody else. I I if I have any skill, maybe it's it's doing that and I typically write in reservation English. I'm I'm a lot more comfortable with that and so I write the way that I speak and and that seems to to work in choppy sentences. I drive editors crazy. I think it's great that you're pairing these these writers with illustrators and for children's book because often times the publisher will just pick whoever they want and not necessarily a native person to do the illustrations. I think it's important that if we're gonna, if we're going to have, you know, native people tell their own stories or develop their own children's stories that that we, you know pair them up with other native people, indigenous people. Because it that's that's important and it and it gives the artist some income and we we have a tendency to allow that kind of creative mix. So you have a writer with their creativity and with their story and then we we turn it over to an illustrator we say you don't have at it. We try not to direct at all on what the illustrations are going to be. We allow for that, that kind of creative work and when the two pair, sometimes you get some magic there. The book that I myself just came out is called In Whispers and that's the boarding school, a love story and that's that's my latest, my own latest book that just came out. I always wanted to write a love story and and I know so many people who who met in boarding schools and a lot of intertribal marriages happen, you know, from boarding the boarding school experience. And so I said it within a boarding school and and I had so much fun writing that. What advice would you have for aspiring authors? You know, the best advice that I had was from a colleague that I worked with at the university and she said to write the way that you speak. And I I think that so many people get get stuck trying to write in a voice that is not their own, trying to impress somebody who knows who, but to find that comfortable voice, speak with that voice, speak with your heart. You know, I know that one I write, I am the emotions of the characters. I feel all of those emotions, you know, whether it's happiness or whether it's sadness or or whatever it is. I feel all of those as I'm writing. The other thing is to allow the, especially if you're writing fiction, to allow the characters to tell the story. I described my own writing processes as hearing voices without being mentally ill That makes sense to me, perfect sense to me. But to allow that voice since and that the picture of the characters, whatever the character, whoever the characters are that are speaking inside your head and and to just let them tell their stories, let them tell, let them speak until they're done and and so it's free flowing that way you can go back and you can edit later that is a slice of our indigenous world for all the latest visit us at ictnews.org from all of us in The Newsroom. Stay safe, my relatives. This program is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.