Bozho,
Happy Native American Heritage Month! We hope you have had an opportunity this month to celebrate Indigenous authors, artists, activists and elders — and, of course, to rock your mocs. Though we continue to endure stress and hardship in our lives, we are grateful to our local, national, and global Indigenous communities for their strength, stability, and leadership in troubled times. We sincerely hope that you, your families, your organizations, and your communities are safe and well.
December 1st is Giving Tuesday. As we enter a hopeful new year, we hope that you will keep the Native Nations Law and Policy Center in mind as a recipient dedicated to the present and future of Native Nations.
With gratitude,
Angela R. Riley (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
Professor of Law and Director, Native Nations Law and Policy Center
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Meeting the Moment
2020 UCLA Law Magazine
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UCLA School of Law's 2020 Magazine has published it's first online-only issue. Some of the stories that highlight our program include:
- By Director of NNLPC, Professor Angela R. Riley, this essay expands on the June 19 New York Times op-ed regarding racist branding that Riley co-authored with Sonya K. Katyal.
- NNLPC was featured in this article on summer programming and webinars.
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Tribal Law, Federal Indian Law and the Native Student
Experience at UCLA
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Students Ryann Garcia ('21) and Hershini Gopal ('21) participated in the Human, Religious & Cultural Concerns Subcommittee the 77th Annual National Congress of American Indians Annual Convention & Marketplace. The Subcommittee on Human, Religious & Cultural Concerns is broadly tasked with providing information to the membership and tracking and soliciting input on how to address various issues affecting Native Nations’ and their citizens’ traditional and treaty rights and lifeways.
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The Native Nations Law and Policy Center is celebrating Native American Heritage Month this November. The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges. |
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Grace Carson (Diné)
Co-President
J.D., Class of 2022
Grace Carson is a Diné and Chicana first-generation college and law student from Choctaw, Oklahoma. She previously held the position of 1L Representative of NALSA. Grace is specializing in Critical Race Studies and Public Interest Law & Policy. She holds B.A.s in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Denver. She is currently a Staff Editor for the UCLA Law Review, Staff Editor for Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture, and Resistance, Co-Chair for National Lawyers’ Guild-UCLA, Co-Chair for A New Way of Life Reentry Legal Clinic, Communication Chair for Criminal Justice Society, and involved in various organizations both on and off campus. Grace is interested in a career in impact litigation on issues such as racial justice, criminal legal reform, prison reform, and police accountability. Eventually, she hopes to pursue legal academia where her research will focus on the critical race theory, decolonization theory, and abolition theory.
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Jessica Lee Govindu (Wichita & Kickapoo)
Vice President
J.D., Class of 2022
Jessica Lee Govindu is an enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and a descendant of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. She was born and raised in Oklahoma and is a first-generation college student. Jessica graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in 2018. After graduating, she worked at the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) in Washington D.C. where she focused on programmatic efforts in juvenile justice reform, ICWA, and cultural heritage protection. At UCLA School of Law, Jessica is specializing in International & Comparative Law as well as Business Law. She is a Staff Editor on UCLA's Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture, and Resistance and the Area 1 Representative for the National Native American Law Student Association. Jessica’s National NALSA Committee assignments include Co-Chair of the Mid-Year & Annual Conference Committee, Moot Court Committee, Public Relations, and the Finance Committee.
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The objectives of the UCLA Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) is to provide a support network for Native American law students and to create a base from which work can be done for the advancement of Native peoples. In addition, the Association strives to foster better communication among Native American law students, the Native American community and the general public by providing a forum for the discussion of current Native American issues.
Click the links below to watch videos of recent NALSA events.
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The UCLA American Indian Studies Center (AISC) was founded in 1969 as a research institute dedicated to addressing American Indian issues and supporting Native communities. The AISC serves as a hub of activities for Indigenous students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community, as well as serving as a bridge between the academy and indigenous peoples locally, nationally, and internationally.
AISC maintains a reference library; publishes books as well as the American Indian Culture and Research Journal; organizes symposia, conferences, film screenings, and other events; supports academic programs in American Indian Studies and administers postdoctoral and predoctoral fellowships and research awards through the Institute of American Cultures.
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