A new documentary tackles a topic that continues to generate controversy across Turtle Island. Just why are so many people claiming to be Indian? The Pretendians” premiered on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Friday evening. Though the documentary is presently only available in Canada, it focuses on an issue that has attracted attention in the United States as well The premiere was held this past Thursday in Ontario.
Who should manage public land that is sacred to Native Americans?
That is the question that the United States government and some states hope recent policy changes will address by giving Indigenous people greater input into managing such land. Co-management, as the policy is called, might alleviate the friction that emerges when sacred landscapes are managed without Native American input. Indigenous peoples have lived in what is now the United States for thousands of years and developed intimate relationships with the lands they call home. For years, Native people across the country have demanded more input into how the government manages areas they consider sacred.
An American Indian activist from North Dakota is alleging she was ‘dehumanized’ when jail staff forced her to strip…Lissa Yellow Bird-Chase has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government after she was arrested during a traffic stop on the Standing Rock reservation in February 2021. A complaint alleged she was forced to remove her clothes in front of six BIA agents, including men, in an area where people could come and go. The ACLU of North Dakota says the Yellow-Bird Chase case shows law enforcements racial profiling and abuse toward indigenous women.
