Reclaiming Native Truth News Digest: October 19, 2017
The  Reclaiming Native Truth News Digest is a compilation of the latest news and opinion on Native awareness, perception and image issues across the United States and beyond. These are the stories shaping - and shaped by - the current narrative about Native Americans. 

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Native Narrative Change
Salt Lake Tribune, October 12, 2017
"The small focus group studying the issue decided Monday night that after more than 80 years of enactments, the so-called 'Sham Battle' will continue on in a new form. What that will look like - possibly more generic bandits or maybe federal troops attacking on horseback - is still yet to be decided."
 
The Daily Texan (University of Texas-Austin), October 12, 2017
"'It is one of our initiatives to encourage and empower others to not be ashamed of who they are and connect with their ancestral roots.'"
 
Narratively, October 11, 2017
"As the U.S. grapples with its legacy of prejudice, one parent is bringing the fight to Oregon public schools."
 
Public Radio International, October 9, 2017
"Cultural preservation is self-preservation for Native communities. An upcoming film from the Upstanders Project, 'Dawnland,' explains just that. The documentary, now in post-production, follows the journeys of those involved in a truth and reconciliation process in Maine involving the Wabanaki people."
 
Teen Vogue, October 9, 2017
"Recognize that these name changes didn't happen overnight - they've been happening for decades."
 
The Daily Californian, October 8, 2017
"Allies must consciously acknowledge the Native American experience...conversations about people of color tend to focus on Black and Chicanx communities and exclude Natives. Bauerle emphasized the need to be critical when the Native American narrative goes unstated."
 
The Atlantic, October 3, 2017
"The population dynamics - how ancient Indigenous people relate to contemporary Native Americans - is complex and varies from region to region. No people are completely static, and genes less so."
 
The Conversation, September 21, 2017
"Thankfully, many educators now understand our collective Canadian future depends on how effectively we reconcile ourselves to a past marred by the devastating reality of residential schools. A past that still imposes deep unfairness for Indigenous peoples today."
 
Splinter News, September 20, 2017
"First Americans and New Americans is the first conversation in what is hoped to be a continuous dialogue between Native American tribes and the immigrant community."
Invisibility
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 12, 2017
"The next day came the headlines: 'The deadliest mass shooting in American history.'...While tragic and horrific, the Las Vegas slaughter of 58 people at the Route 91 Harvest Music Fest was not the deadliest mass killing in the United States, Hopkins said. Take the Wounded Knee Massacre, where at least 150 and possibly 300 Native American men, women and children were killed in South Dakota in December 1890."
 
Yakima Herald, September 26, 2017
"In a class of future teachers at Central Washington University this week, professor Susana Flores said students were shocked to learn of the existence of Indian boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries, where hundreds of thousands of Native American children were separated from their families and 'assimilated' at schools run by white missionaries. Only two of the 22 sophomore and junior students had ever heard of the boarding schools before."
 
Cville Weekly (Charlottesville, VA), September 20, 2017
"On August 12, the streets around Emancipation Park were a riot of color: socialist red, antifa black, the white robes of clergy, bright rainbow flags. But in this broad coalition of anti-racist activists, at least one group was missing: Virginia's Native American tribes. In organizing their response to the display of white supremacy at Unite the Right, none of the anti-racist solidarity organizations extended invitations to local Native American advocacy groups or tribes."
Discrimination / Stereotypes / Bias
Bozeman Daily Chronicle, September 23, 2017
" MSU President Waded Cruzado welcomed American Indian Heritage Day, saying the university itself is 'built on sacred land.' MSU is enriched, Cruzado said, by the dreams, languages, family stories, and resilience of Native students."
 
(Sioux Falls) Argus Leader, September 20, 2017
" Our stories need to be collected and published as part of the American narrative."

Chronicle of Higher Education, September 17, 2017
" Despite all these benefits, there is often still a stigma associated with attending a tribal college...When I discussed my plans to continue my education, some people would ask me: 'Are you going to transfer to a real university now?'"
Historical Memory and Trauma
Colorado Public Radio, October 16, 2017
"Colwell's new book Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits, is his personal account of working with the law and the Native people it impacts."
 
USA Today, October 9, 2017
"Columbus Day parades are also caught up in the winds of change. New York is still expecting 35,000 people at its 73rd parade Monday. But in Pittsburgh, organizers looking to 2018 are weighing a 'Heritage Day Parade' honoring all ethnic groups."
 
Glamour magazine, October 9, 2017
"Although it took only a few short decades for the supposed ineradicable racial differences between Italians and other Caucasian minorities to fade into an indistinguishable whiteness, the oppression of Indigenous people - and their history - is ongoing."
 
Mises.org, October 9, 2017
"One of the main reasons that even educated people like Rand believe that North American Indians were virtually all 'nomadic' and did not understand the concept of property, is the influence of Hollywood...In real life, Indian tribes across North America - prior to the 20th century - varied considerably in social structure, the usage of technology, and lifestyle. Indeed, whenever one encounters commentary that refers to 'the Indians' as a uniform group, this should be a red flag to the reader that the argument is being made by someone who knows next to nothing about the tribes."
 
(San Jose) Mercury News, October 9, 2017
"But what the White House does not mention is how transformative Columbus's arrival was for the people already in the 'New World' and how much explorers arriving in the Americas 'changed the course of human history' for those living on the land."
 
History.com, October 3, 2017
"'There's a bigger issue here, and that is what it means to tell the truth about history,' says Stephanie Fryberg, a professor of American Indian Studies and Psychology at the University of Washington. Depicting Columbus as heroic - for instance, by honoring him with a statue - presents a 'sterilized, romanticized version of history.'"
JSTOR Daily, October 2, 2017
"Clemmons draws her conclusions from the women's magazines that proliferated during the nineteenth century. These publications often contained depictions of Native Americans that suggest 'a public fascination with a people who were believed to have vanished from public scrutiny.' Through captivity narratives and domestic love stories, these magazines experimented with a stereotype of the Indian woman that countered the one assigned to men."
Mascots
The Daily Californian, October 9, 2017
"Two years ago, Governor Jerry Brown made some headlines by signing the California Racial Mascots Act, which banned the use of 'Redskins' as a school's nickname or mascot. At the time, it was hailed as a good first step for a state with a huge number of schools with offensively named mascots, in the hopes that the famously progressive state would become a leader in eliminating the age of derogatory athletics mascots. Two years later, the law has proven to have an, at best, muted effect."
 
Yahoo Sports, October 14, 2017
"'As a dumb 18 year old, I had no idea the logo represented a white man's twisted view of a Native American. Little did I know this would turn out to be worse than a tramp stamp. I have lived in shame both from the worry of offending someone and from embarrassing Indians play over the years. I've had enough. Help me right this wrong by donating a few bucks that will put towards removing this travesty from my body once and for all.'"
 
Native News Online, September 24, 2017
"Even the team that American Indians across Indian Country consider the most racist NFL team, the Washington NFL team because of its usage of the racist 'R-word,' issued the following statement...'Football has always served as the great unifier, bringing people together to celebrate the values of courage, commitment and achievement.'"
 
SecondCityHockey.com, September 21, 2017
"The Chicago Blackhawks have one of the most well-known logos in all of sports, but it continues to garner negative reactions from some fans. One of them is prominent Chicago-based rapper Vic Mensa, who slammed the team's logo as 'racist' in a series of tweets."
Cultural Appropriation
CBC News, October 7, 2017
"However, 'offensive' costumes can still be found, says Indigenous social media activist."
 
Bustle, October 5, 2017
"While the debate around cultural appropriation is often played out in certain media as part of 'stuffy PC culture,' it's actually so much more simple than that; why deliberately cause someone offense when you could just not? Things aren't 'getting more uptight,' but rather, people are becoming more aware of how insensitive costume wearing can affect others, and why it isn't okay to use someone's culture [to] play dress-up for a night."
 
Revelist.com, September 27, 2017
"Not only is the T-shirt appropriating Native American culture, it condenses multiple Native American tribes into one vague identity."
 
KUOW-FM, September 25, 2017
"Sara Jacobsen...never gave much thought to the Chilkat robe hanging over her dining room table. Until she took a class in high school, when she saw another robe that looked eerily similar to the one at home."
People
Medium.com. October 9, 2017
"In honor of uplifting Indigenous voices and stories, Indigenous Rising Media would like to feature seven Indigenous activists, educators, entrepreneurs that you should be following! They share with us what they are protecting and defending, in honor of their own resilience and the resilience of their ancestors."
 
Santa Fe New Mexican, October 6, 2017
"Dunbar-Ortiz advises that all of us, Native or not, ought to revise our views of American Indians to see a people who reconstituted themselves after genocide. Their survival should be seen as instructive, all the more so in our own age of ongoing natural disaster and disastrous governance."
 
Yale News, October 4, 2017
"You can't discuss the college access gap without also discussing the systemic oppression and inequalities Native people are facing, whether it's access to healthcare, education, or employment opportunities...Yale occupies the homelands of the Quinnipiac people, and these institutions of higher learning are certainly spaces that Native students have a right to access."
 
The Atlantic, September 23, 2017
"For The Atlantic's series on mentorship, 'On the Shoulders of Giants,' I spoke with [Jodi] Gillette about how [Suzan] Harjo's support helped her get a job in the White House, what she learned from growing up on a Native American reservation, and how Harjo has led her to see the value of radical honesty."
 
UPROXX, September 25, 2017
"We can be just as successful as any other genre of culturally driven food."
 
Harvard Political Review, September 23, 2017
"Historically, what happens in Indian Country has been bipartisan."
Media
National Public Radio, September 24, 2017
"Halbritter believes the need for strong reporting on Native America is as urgent as it's ever been...'There's so much more complexity, so much more beauty. There's struggle and nuance to the Native American experience in this country.'"
Film / Television
Public Radio Tulsa, October 16, 2017
"TAFF will present the Oklahoma Premiere of a new documentary film about the life and work of Wilma Mankiller, who in 1985 was the first woman elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation."
 
BuzzFeed, October 4, 2017
"A new TV show is highlighting the precarious position of Native people in Hollywood. 'More often than not, we're not even a part of the conversation of diversity.'"
 
Daily Emerald, September 25, 2017
"Over the course of the film's 110 minutes, it gives the audience a realistic portrayal of an important Native American narrative - the type of narrative that is often overlooked in larger-budget Hollywood pictures."
 
Red Dirt Report, September 20, 2017
"Filmmakers John Little and Kenn Little, both members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, go deep into not only the painful history of the R-word, but the continued use of Native Americans as mascots in general and how it steadfastly keeps the lies and stereotypes about Indigenous peoples alive."
 
IndieWire, September 18, 2017
"A listless but lustrously shot biopic about the 19th century New York widow who traveled to North Dakota, painted the Sioux chief Sitting Bull, and then served as an advocate for his tribe as they fought the United States government's attempts to expropriate their land, the movie almost credits Catherine Weldon as being solely responsible for the Native American resistance to the Dawes Act."
Books / Publishing
Daily Beast, October 13, 2017
"The conservative writer claims that there is 'interest' now in this manuscript."
Art
ArtNet News, September 28, 2017
"The Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas received the final commendation for its exhibition 'Native North America,' billed as 'the first ever survey of Native American artists of the 20th century.'"