The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics says “While we know everyone cares about children, especially their own children, the AAP cares about all children, each and every one.” The AAP is weighing in on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The AAP members and their colleagues at the American Medical Association have filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in the case Haaland v. Brackeen, in which oral arguments will be heard this fall. At issue in Haaland v. Brackeen is whether the Indian Child Welfare Act discriminates on the basis of race and whether the law exceeds Congress’s powers by commandeering state courts and agencies to carry out a federal child-placement program. The Indian Child welfare Act was passed in 1978…
An assembly meeting in Alaska turned into a racial debacle when a community member used the public comments portion to espouse his racist views that Indigenous Americans should go “home,” prompting a local lawmaker to call out the man’s bigoted “nonsense.” On Oct. 11, the Anchorage assembly held a regular meeting to discuss everyday issues, like proposed ordinances and licenses in the city. More than four-and-a-half hours in, however, a white man stood up to casually argue for Alaskan Natives to be kicked out of Anchorage. The man, who identified himself as David Lazer, started by complaining about the area’s homeless problem.
Victims of abusive in government-backed Native American boarding schools testified in South Dakota as U.S Interior Secretary Deb Haaland continues a yearlong tour aimed at airing the troubled history of the institutions that were forced upon tribes. Saturday’s meeting was held on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. Tribal members said they were forced to attend schools where their native language and customs were forbidden. The stated goal of such schools was to “civilize” Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, but that was often carried out through abusive practices.