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Native American News Roundup, April 21-27, 2024

Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole listens during a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense, budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 17, 2024.
Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole listens during a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense, budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 17, 2024.

US House committee chair stresses tribal sovereignty

Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole is the first Native American to chair the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee, which passes bills to fund the federal government.

In a message to constituents Monday, Cole, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma said, "It is important to remember that Native Americans are the First Americans. They are sovereign nations who governed themselves long before settlers arrived, and they continue to do so today.

"Through legally binding agreements, such as the federal trust responsibility, the United States is obligated to provide services and federal resources to tribes — a responsibility I have been and will continue to work to ensure is met," Cole wrote.

He also stressed the importance of raising congressional awareness about Native American issues, sovereign rights and the unique challenges facing tribal communities.

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FILE - Lynn Eagle Feather, Lakota, takes part in a protest demonstration against the police shooting of her son Paul Castaway in Denver, Colorado, in July 2015.
FILE - Lynn Eagle Feather, Lakota, takes part in a protest demonstration against the police shooting of her son Paul Castaway in Denver, Colorado, in July 2015.

Native Americans most likely victims of deadly police force

A Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism team has published the first of a series of stories from more than a year's research into why Native Americans are more likely than any other racial group to die in the hands of law enforcement.

The opening article focuses on South Dakota, home to nine federally recognized tribes, and cites poor funding for police in tribal communities and a lack of accountability for fatal law enforcement incidents. Their investigation also found that loved ones of Native Americans who die in jail or police shootings "struggle to access even the most basic information about how these deaths occur."

According to figures compiled by the Indigenous-led activist and advocacy group NDN Collective, Native Americans represent 8.2% of the South Dakota population but were victims in 75% of fatal police shootings from 2001 to 2023.

In its 2021 report to Congress, the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs said that its Public Safety and Justice Programs across Indian Country are funded at just under 13% of total need and that it would take an additional 25,655 new officers to adequately serve Indian Country.

As VOA has previously reported, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for failing to adequately fund tribal law enforcement.

Inadequate funding of tribal safety and justice programs is not a new problem. In July 2003, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission reported that per capita spending on law enforcement in Native American communities was about 60% of the national average.

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FILE - Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren smiles after his arrival to the opening day of an annual legislative session in the New Mexico House of Representatives in Santa Fe on Jan. 17, 2023.
FILE - Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren smiles after his arrival to the opening day of an annual legislative session in the New Mexico House of Representatives in Santa Fe on Jan. 17, 2023.

Navajo Nation to investigate abuse allegations

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren says he welcomes an independent, fair and transparent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the office of the tribal president and vice president.

In a Facebook stream April 16, Vice President Richelle Montoya revealed that she was sexually harassed within the office of the president and vice president during an August 2023 staff meeting.

"I was made to feel that I had no power to leave the room, I was made to feel that what I was trying to accomplish didn't mean anything, that I was less than," she said.

She did not name the individual who harassed her, "for fear of retaliation."

In November 2023, Navajo Times reported that former employees had experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment in the same office.

Indigenous journalists call for greater representation in media

The president of the Indigenous Journalists Association, or IJA, this week called on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to better support Indigenous journalism

"Globally, Indigenous communities are ignored, misrepresented, maligned and in many cases dehumanized by media portrayals of our cultures, distinct issues and the challenges we face due to the impacts of colonization," said IJA head Christine Trudeau, a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

Fewer than half of 1% of newsroom employees identify as Indigenous, she said, adding that some of the most prestigious news outlets routinely stereotype — or disregard altogether — tribal nations.

"To fully realize self-determination, we must ensure that our cultures are accurately represented in the coverage of our communities," she said.

See Trudeau's full statement in the video above.

Feds return land to tribe in Illinois

One hundred seventy-five years ago, Shab-eh-nay ("Built Like a Bear"), chief of the Prairie Band Potawatomi in Illinois, returned home from an extended visit to Kansas to find that the U.S. government had illegally auctioned off more than 1,200 acres (485 hectares) of land promised under the Prairie du Chien treaty of 1829.

Late last week, the Interior Department announced it would place 130 acres (52 hectares) of the original Shab-ey-nay Reservation land into trust for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, which is now the only federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois.

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North Carolina tribe opens medical cannabis dispensary

The Eastern Band of Cherokee, or EBCI, has opened the first cannabis dispensary in the state of North Carolina. The Great Smoky Cannabis Company opened on April 20, known for decades as the national cannabis holiday "4-20."

Marijuana is still illegal in North Carolina, but because the EBCI is a federally recognized sovereign nation, it can make its own laws. The tribe legalized medical marijuana in 2021 and voted to legalize recreational cannabis in September 2023.

North Carolina residents at least 21 years old can apply for a medical card from the EBCI cannabis control board. They will need to demonstrate they have one of 18 medical conditions that include anxiety, PTSD and cancer.

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US forest managers finalize land exchange with Native American tribe in Arizona

FILE - In this Sunday, June 1, 2014, photograph, cattle graze at the edge of the Verde River in Camp Verde, Ariz.
FILE - In this Sunday, June 1, 2014, photograph, cattle graze at the edge of the Verde River in Camp Verde, Ariz.

U.S. forest managers have finalized a land exchange with the Yavapai-Apache Nation that has been decades in the making and will significantly expand the size of the tribe's reservation in Arizona's Verde Valley, tribal leaders announced Tuesday.

As part of the arrangement, six parcels of private land acquired over the years by the tribe will be traded to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for the tribe gaining ownership of 12.95 square kilometers of national forest land that is part of the tribe’s ancestral homelands. The tribe will host a signing ceremony next week to celebrate the exchange, which was first proposed in 1996.

“This is a critical step in our history and vital to the nation’s cultural and economic recovery and future prosperity,” Yavapai-Apache Chairwoman Tanya Lewis said in a post on the tribe's website.

Prescott National Forest Supervisor Sarah Clawson said in a statement that there had been many delays and changes to the proposal over the years, but the tribe and the Forest Service never lost sight of developing an agreement that would benefit both public and tribal lands.

The federal government has made strides over recent years to protect more lands held sacred by Native American tribes, to develop more arrangements for incorporating Indigenous knowledge into management of public lands and to streamline regulations for putting land into trust for tribes.

The Yavapai-Apache Nation is made up of two distinct groups of people — the Wipuhk’a’bah and the Dil’zhe’e. Their homelands spanned more than 41,440 square kilometers of what is now central Arizona. After the discovery of gold in the 1860s near Prescott, the federal government carved out only a fraction to establish a reservation. The inhabitants eventually were forced from the land, and it wasn't until the early 1900s that they were able to resettle a tiny portion of the area.

In the Verde Valley, the Yavapai-Apache Nation's reservation lands are currently comprised of less than 7.77 square kilometers near Camp Verde. The small land base hasn't been enough to develop economic opportunities or to meet housing needs, Lewis said, pointing to dozens of families who are on a waiting list for new homes.

Lewis said that in acknowledgment of the past removal of the Yavapai-Apache people from their homelands, the preamble to the tribal constitution recognizes that land acquisition is among the Yavapai-Apache Nation's responsibilities.

Aside from growing the reservation, the exchange will bolster efforts by federal land managers to protect the headwaters of the Verde River and ensure the historic Yavapai Ranch is not sold for development. The agreement also will improve recreational access to portions of four national forests in Arizona.

On Navajo Nation, push to electrify more homes on vast reservation 

A crew with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority installs power poles, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.
A crew with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority installs power poles, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.

After a five-year wait, Lorraine Black and Ricky Gillis heard the rumblings of an electrical crew reach their home on the sprawling Navajo Nation.

In five days' time, their home would be connected to the power grid, replacing their reliance on a few solar panels and propane lanterns. No longer would the CPAP machine Gillis uses for sleep apnea or his home heart monitor transmitting information to doctors 400 miles away face interruptions due to intermittent power. It also means Black and Gillis can now use more than a few appliances — such as a fridge, a TV, and an evaporative cooling unit — at the same time.

"We're one of the luckiest people who get to get electric," Gillis said.

Lorraine Black sits inside her kitchen, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.
Lorraine Black sits inside her kitchen, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.

Many Navajo families still live without running water and electricity, a product of historic neglect and the struggle to get services to far-flung homes on the 70,000-square-kilometer (27,000-square-mile) Native American reservation that lies in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Some rely on solar panels or generators, which can be patchy, and others have no electricity whatsoever.

Gillis and Black filed an application to connect their home back in 2019. But when the coronavirus pandemic started ravaging the tribe and everything besides essential services was shut down on the reservation, it further stalled the process.

Their wait highlights the persistent challenges in electrifying every Navajo home, even with recent injections of federal money for tribal infrastructure and services and as extreme heat in the Southwest intensified by climate change adds to the urgency.

"We are a part of America that a lot of the time feels kind of left out," said Vircynthia Charley, district manager at the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, a non-for-profit utility that provides electric, water, wastewater, natural gas and solar energy services.

For years, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has worked to get more Navajo homes connected to the grid faster. Under a program called Light Up Navajo, which uses a mix of private and public funding, outside utilities from across the U.S. send electric crews to help connect homes and extend power lines.

Ricky Gillis collects water for use in a evaporative air cooling unit, Oct. 9, 2024, at his home on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.
Ricky Gillis collects water for use in a evaporative air cooling unit, Oct. 9, 2024, at his home on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.

But installing power on the reservation roughly the size of West Virginia is time-consuming and expensive due to its rugged geography and the vast distances between homes. Drilling for power poles there can take several hours because of underground rock deposits while some homes near Monument Valley must have power lines installed underground to meet strict regulations around development in the area.

About 32% of Navajo homes still have no electricity. Connecting the remaining 10,400 homes on the reservation would cost $416 million, said Deenise Becenti, government and public affairs manager at the utility.

This year, Light Up Navajo connected 170 more families to the grid. Since the program started in 2019, 882 Navajo families have had their homes electrified. If the program stays funded, Becenti said it could take another 26 years to connect every home on the reservation.

A crew with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority installs power poles for a home, at top right, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.
A crew with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority installs power poles for a home, at top right, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.

Those that get connected immediately reap the benefits.

Until this month, Black and Gillis' solar panels that the utility installed a few years ago would last about two to three days before their battery drained in cloudy weather. It would take another two days to recharge.

"You had to really watch the watts and whatever you're using on a cloudy day," Gillis said.

Then a volunteer power crew from Colorado helped install 14 power poles while the tribal utility authority drilled holes six feet deep in which the poles would sit. The crew then ran a wire about a mile down a red sand road from the main power line to the couple's home.

"The lights are brighter," Black remarked after her home was connected.

In recent years, significantly more federal money has been allocated for tribes to improve infrastructure on reservations, including $32 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — of which Navajo Nation received $112 million for electric connections. The Navajo tribal utility also received $17 million through the Biden administration's climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, to connect families to the electric grid. But it can be slow to see the effects of that money on the ground due to bureaucracy and logistics.

Ryan Smith, left, a foreman with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, checks the depth of a power pole during construction, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.
Ryan Smith, left, a foreman with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, checks the depth of a power pole during construction, Oct. 9, 2024, on the Navajo Nation in Halchita, Utah.

Next spring, the tribal utility authority hopes to connect another 150 homes, including the home of Priscilla and Leo Dan.

For the couple, having grid electricity at their home near Navajo Mountain in Arizona would end a nearly 12-year wait. They currently live in a recreational vehicle elsewhere closer to their jobs but have worked on their home on the reservation for years. With power there, they could spend more time where Priscilla grew up and where her dad still lives.

It would make life simpler, Priscilla said. "Because otherwise, everything, it seems like, takes twice as long to do."

Native Americans react to Biden apology as a good ‘first step’

President Joe Biden and Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis are pictured at the Gila Crossing Community School, Oct. 25, 2024, in Laveen, Ariz.
President Joe Biden and Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis are pictured at the Gila Crossing Community School, Oct. 25, 2024, in Laveen, Ariz.

President Joe Biden visited the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona on Friday to deliver a long-awaited official apology to Native Americans for the federal boarding school system that severed the family, tribal and cultural ties of thousands of Indian children over multiple generations.

“I say this with all sincerity: This, to me, is one the most consequential things I've ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career as president of the United States,” Biden said.

He described how Native children were “stolen, taken away to places they didn't know by people they'd never met who spoke a language they had never heard,” he said.

“Children would arrive at school, their clothes taken off, their hair that they were told [was] sacred was chopped off, their names literally erased and replaced by a number or an English name,” he continued, “emotionally, physically and sexually abused, forced into hard labor, some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents, some left for dead in unmarked graves.”

When the time came to apologize, Biden shouted the words, “I formally apologize!”

Mixed reactions

In 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched an investigation into federal and federally funded Indian boarding schools. The investigation confirmed that more than 18,600 Native American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian children were forced to attend residential schools; 1,000 died during their enrollment.

The report recommended the U.S. government formally acknowledge and apologize for its role in the system and take steps to help survivors heal from its effects.

VOA spoke with Christine Diindiisi McCleave, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and former CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), which collaborated with the Interior investigation.

“I think politically it is extremely significant that Biden traveled to tribal lands in Gila River to deliver the apology publicly, not bury it in a defense appropriations bill,” she said, referencing a 2009 defense spending bill that acknowledged “years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants” and apologized for instances of “violence, maltreatment and neglect.”

A U.S. apology for historic wrongs against Native Americans was embedded deep within a defense spending bill passed December 19, 2009.
A U.S. apology for historic wrongs against Native Americans was embedded deep within a defense spending bill passed December 19, 2009.

“However, as a survivor, as somebody who worked for many years to make progress on this issue, yes, we need the acknowledgment, but we also need actions to follow that up,” she said.

Friday’s apology came late in Biden’s term. McCleave said she worried that a Republican win in the November 5 presidential vote could reverse the gains for tribes made during the Biden-Harris administration.

“I hope they pass the Truth and Healing Commission bill before the new term begins,” she said.

The bipartisan Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, currently making its way through Congress, would create a commission to investigate the boarding school system and recommend action to promote healing.

U.S. Department of the Interior 1911 advertisement offering Indian Land for Sale.
U.S. Department of the Interior 1911 advertisement offering Indian Land for Sale.

Schools only part of the story

On Friday, Biden summarized his investments in Indian Country, which include $32 billion from the American Rescue Plan, $13 billion to support improvements in tribal infrastructure and $700 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to combat the effects of climate change.

He did not, however, address growing calls from Native communities for the return of historic lands, a campaign dubbed “Land Back.”

Brenda J. Child, a citizen of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa in Minnesota, is a professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota who has written extensively about Indian boarding schools from the perspective of Indigenous Americans.

“Boarding schools were about dispossessing Indian people of their lands,” she said, “which went hand in hand with the complex policy called the General Allotment Act of 1887, which helped break up the traditional systems of land tenure.”

Also known as the Dawes Act, it divided Native Americans’ communal tribal lands into individual plots that were doled out to families and individuals. The leftover land – about 36 million hectares (90 million acres) – was opened up for sale to non-Native settlers, passing out of Indian control.

“So, what do we do now?” Child asked. “Apologies are nice, but if you don't change the behavior, we're still stuck. Now it's time to return some of that land that we lost.”

Watch Biden’s entire speech below:

One of the last Navajo Code Talkers from World War II dies at 107

A visitor looks up at the Navajo Code Talkers Memorial on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe's native language, has died at 107. 
A visitor looks up at the Navajo Code Talkers Memorial on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe's native language, has died at 107. 

John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe's native language, has died. He was 107.

Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock announced Kinsel's death on Saturday.

Tribal President Buu Nygren has ordered all flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff until Oct. 27 at sunset to honor Kinsel.

"Mr. Kinsel was a Marine who bravely and selflessly fought for all of us in the most terrifying circumstances with the greatest responsibility as a Navajo Code Talker," Nygren said in a statement Sunday.

With Kinsel's death, only two original Navajo Code Talkers are still alive: Former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald and Thomas H. Begay.

Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the Marines to serve as Code Talkers during the war, transmitting messages based on their then-unwritten native language.

They confounded Japanese military cryptologists during World War II and participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, including at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima.

The Code Talkers sent thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications crucial to the war's ultimate outcome.

Kinsel was born in Cove, Arizona, and lived in the Navajo community of Lukachukai.

He enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and became an elite Code Talker, serving with the 9th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

President Ronald Reagan established Navajo Code Talkers Day in 1982 and the Aug. 14 holiday honors all the tribes associated with the war effort.

The day is an Arizona state holiday and Navajo Nation holiday on the vast reservation that occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah.

Native American news roundup Oct. 13 – 19, 2024

A member of the Grupo Coatlicue begins a traditional Aztec dance, an agricultural prayer ceremony in motion, during an Indigenous Peoples' Day event, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
A member of the Grupo Coatlicue begins a traditional Aztec dance, an agricultural prayer ceremony in motion, during an Indigenous Peoples' Day event, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day observed Monday

Some Americans this week celebrated Christopher Columbus’ October 1492 landing in the Western Hemisphere while others marked the alternative Indigenous Peoples’ Day commemorating the exploitation that began with Columbus’ arrival, which ultimately led to widespread displacement, violence, disease and enslavement.

The U.N. Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in 1977 held the first International NGO Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas in Geneva. Attending delegates from Indigenous nations passed a resolution to recognize an “International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.”

President Joe Biden in 2021 recognized Indigenous Peoples Day as a national — but not a federal — holiday. Today, more than two dozen states and many cities across the U.S. observe the day with powwows and other cultural events.

About 2,000 people gathered at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to celebrate. VOA reporter Genia Dulot was there and filed this report:

Tribal protesters clash with police in nation’s capital

In Washington, D.C., the Indigenous People’s Day holiday brought confrontation between U.S. Park Police and protesters from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of California, who rode across the country on horseback along a "Trail of Truth" to lobby for federal recognition that the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) denied decades ago.

The tribe claims descent from the Verona Band of Alameda County, which inhabited the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years.

In 1989 they petitioned the BIA for federal acknowledgment as the “Ohlone/Costanoan Muwekma Tribe.” The BIA rejected their application, citing a lack of evidence showing the tribe had continuously operated since 1927 as the same or an evolved tribal entity previously acknowledged.

Protests involving 25 or more people on the National Mall or other National Park Service (NPS)-controlled areas require a permit, which the group had not obtained. Tensions escalated when police attempted to remove the group and their horses.

"The Department of the Interior's posture with Native peoples is on full display," the group posted onFacebook. "Was Indian Country naive to think that Indigenous leadership at the top was going to change the institutional culture, colonial legal architecture, and systems of oppression that have always been the core function of the Department?"

In a statement to VOA, the NPS said the group has since dismantled their camp and submitted a permit application, which is under review.

"However, enforcement actions were taken, including the arrest of one person on October 16 for assaulting a police officer and other violations. On October 15, USPP officers arrested nine others for similar offenses," the statement said.

Social media applications are displayed on an iPhone, March 13, 2019, in New York.
Social media applications are displayed on an iPhone, March 13, 2019, in New York.

Minnesota tribe is latest to sue social media companies

CBS News reports this week that the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota has joined four other tribes in a lawsuit against social media giants including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for allegedly harming a Native American youth's mental health.

The 164-page complaint alleges that parent companies including Alphabet, ByteDance, Meta and Snap violated Minnesota laws by failing to warn users about the negative mental health effects of social media, particularly for children.

“They [Native teenagers] are more vulnerable because they've struggled with mental health because of isolation and poverty on some of the reservations,” attorney Tim Purdon, a partner in the law firm that filed the complaint, said during an interview in late July. “We seek dollars from them to be paid in our case directly to tribes to help abate or blunt or help fix the public mental health crisis that has resulted.”

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Richelle Montoya, the first woman to be elected as Navajo Nation vice president, thanks the crowd for its support after election results were posted in Window Rock, Ariz., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/William C. Weaver IV)
Richelle Montoya, the first woman to be elected as Navajo Nation vice president, thanks the crowd for its support after election results were posted in Window Rock, Ariz., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/William C. Weaver IV)

Navajo president calls for VP to resign

Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren has stripped Navajo vice president Richelle Montoya of her responsibilities and is calling for her resignation.

The announcement follows months of political tension within the tribe. In April, Montoya publicly accused the administration of intimidation and sexual harassment that she alleges took place during an August 2023 meeting in the president's office.

This prompted the tribal attorney to call for an independent investigation, which is still under way.

Nygren defended his actions in a news conference Tuesday, accusing the vice president of neglecting her official duties. He also cited Montoya’s decision to support a campaign to recall him as tribal leader.

“I welcome her resignation to make room for someone who wants to be a part of this administration,” Nygren said.

The rift between Nygren and Montoya has caused significant political upheaval, with tribal leaders and community members divided over the issues, further complicating governance and stability within the Navajo Nation.

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“G is for Genocide” by Hunkpapa Lakota artist Danielle SeeWalker. Courtesy, Danielle SeeWalker.
“G is for Genocide” by Hunkpapa Lakota artist Danielle SeeWalker. Courtesy, Danielle SeeWalker.

Lakota artist cites free speech rights, sues Colorado town

Danielle SeeWalker, a Hunkpapa Lakota artist from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is suing the town of Vail, Colorado, after her artist residency was canceled.

As VOA reported in May, SeeWalker posted a painting titled “G is for Genocide” on Instagram. It showed a near-faceless woman wearing a feather and a keffiyeh, the traditional Bedouin headscarf that has become the symbol for solidarity with Palestinians.

“It is about me expressing the parallels between what is happening to the innocent people in Gaza ... to that of the genocide of Native American populations here in our lands,” SeeWalker wrote in her post.

The town of Vail said in a May Facebook post that its decision to cancel her residency “was not made in a vacuum; after releasing her name in an announcement, community members, including representatives from our local faith-based communities, raised concerns to town staff around SeeWalker's recent rhetoric on her social media platform about the Hamas-Israel war.”

Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, SeeWalker claims her First Amendment rights were violated and is seeking damages.

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