Tagged With "Center for American Indian Health"
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My adoptive parents tried to erase my Indigenous identity. They failed. [cbc.ca]
By Kim Wheeler,CBC.CA Radio, The Doc Project, June 18, 2020 My name is Kim Wheeler but some know me as Kim Ziervogel. Others will remember me as Kim Bell, and to a small group of people I will always be Ruby Linda Bruyere. But the name game doesn't stop there. Why would someone have so many different names? Are they all aliases? Are they hiding from their past? From the law? In my case, it's none of these. I'm a Sixties Scoop survivor and those names were given to me through birth, adoption...
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Yurok Tribal Council appoints public health officer (Times Standard)
By The Times-Standard, June 23, 2020. From a Yurok Tribal Council release: The Yurok Tribal Council recently appointed Angie Brown as the COVID-19 Incident Command Team’s Public Health Officer. Brown brings more than 25 years of local, Public Health experience to the Incident Command Team. She will be overseeing the Yurok Public Health Task Force, which is responsible for developing and implementing plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the Yurok Reservation. The veteran healthcare...
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Hoopa school, tribe taking new approach to treating trauma (Times Standard)
By Will Houston, May 4, 2018, Eureka Times-Standard. Though separated by about 2,400 miles, the communities and tribal nations in northeastern Humboldt County and Menominee County in Wisconsin share many similarities. They both are located in rural counties that have timber and fishing-based economies; they have similar populations; and they also share a history of trauma and the detrimental physical and mental health effects that come along with it. From these similarities, Hoopa resident...
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Family Therapy is now a Medi-Cal Benefit
Medi-Cal has just published new policy making family therapy a covered benefit for children and adults with mental health disorders and for children who are at risk for mental health disorders. This will be especially relevant for children with ACEs. Under the guidance of the California Department of Health Care Services, the Medi-Cal fee-for-service program aims to provide health care services to about 13 million Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The Medi-Cal fee-for-service program adjudicates both...
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A Historical Trauma-Informed Approach to COVID-19
Fact Sheet from the Urban Indian Health Institute shares ways to support communities experiencing multiple trauma during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. How can organizations... Be more transparent about COVID-19? Emotionally support the people they serve through telehealth services? Support staff in caring for themselves and their communities? Support communities in handling their emotions? Work together to heal their communities? To download the fact sheet and/or view other COVID-19...
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The effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of Indigenous communities (Medical News Today)
By Ana Sandoiu, July 6, 2020, Medical News Today. In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Indigenous communities to a disproportionate degree. In this Special Feature, we bring into focus some of the mental health effects and challenges that Indigenous people face as a result of the pandemic. Since the pandemic started, it has become increasingly clear that COVID-19 affects certain communities to a disproportionate degree. Race , biological sex , age , and socioeconomic...
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My First Loss to COVID-19; Remembering an Indigenous Elder with Love
Alongside two elders and a colleague, we arrived at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Our intention was to facilitate the first Canadian/American collaboration to heal Historical Trauma. I vacillated between feeling immensely excited and powerfully emotional; what an honor to be a black woman surrounded by First Nation relatives on Native land. Our first great work was to enter the sacred ceremonial space for prayer and cleansing. As a tribal African woman, I...
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WELLNESS & RECOVERY PROGRAM (Partnership Healthplan of California)
New benefits as of July 2020 Partnership is working to ensure that our members get effective and appropriate behavioral health care services ( mental health and substance use treatment services ) in all 14 counties we serve. Expansion of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Services PHC’s 14 counties have long supported SUD treatment services through the Drug Medi-Cal program. Now, these services are greatly expanded in seven of our counties through our new Wellness and Recovery Program. Wellness...
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National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month Blog Series (NIH)
July 22, 2020 American Indian/Alaska Native Mental Health: Our Voices, Traditions and Values to Strengthen our Collective Wellness Victoria M. O’Keefe, Ph.D. (Cherokee/Seminole Nations of Oklahoma) Mathuram Santosham Endowed Chair in Native American Health, Assistant Professor, Licensed Clinical Psychologist Associate Director, Center for American Indian Health Department of International Health, Social & Behavioral Interventions Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health My late...
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Centering Structural Inequities in Conversations on Mental Health Among People of Color (NIH)
July 15, 2020 Margarita Alegría, Ph.D. Chief, Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mongan Institute Professor, Departments of Medicine & Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School There has been tremendous attention brought to mental health as part of the coronavirus pandemic. The good news is that there is now almost universal recognition that when our mental health is precarious, costs are immeasurable. What has become more apparent is how this...
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Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria receives funding for affordable housing project (Redwood News)
By KIEM TV, July 27, 2020. LOLETA, Calif. (KIEM) — The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria receives over $2 million in funding that will go towards a new affordable housing project. The funding comes from the Housing and Urban Development and Indian Housing Block Competitive Grants and comes out to a total of $2,234,619. The money will pay for the construction of 4 four-plex multifamily low-moderate income housing structures with a total of 16 rental units for tribal family members.
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Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: One-Pager
Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: One-Pager
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Reclaimed homelands of Northern California tribes fulfill a prophecy of renewal (calmatters.org)
In California’s backwoods, far from the clamors for social justice in America’s streets, longstanding cultural unrest is bringing change to the landscape. Native Americans are quietly repossessing their ancestral lands. Sacred peaks overlooking the Pacific, boulder-strewn salmon streams and lush alpine meadows are returning to the people who have always claimed them. In the last year six different tribal groups have negotiated six separate transactions transferring a combined total of 56,453...
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CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY (CAA), funded by ACEs Aware, is providing free online training to Medi-Cal providers and others [avahealth.org]
From CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY, Academy on Violence & Abuse, August, 2020 CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY (CAA) , funded by ACEs Aware , is providing free online training to Medi-Cal providers and others featuring: · Practical strategies for integrating trauma-informed health care into your team’s practice that improves patients’ well being and the productivity of your practice. · Meet colleagues with experience and success providing trauma-informed health care in their practices. · Learn from...
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Ann Penn-Charles casts a wide net to reduce generational trauma in Washington State coastal tribes
You could say that Ann Penn-Charles, a native of La Push, Washington, was a natural resilience builder even before there was an ACE Study. La Push is a Native American reservation on the western edge of Olympic National Park, where the Quileute Nation ancestors of “Miss Ann”, as she is known, have lived for generations. Although she faced hardships growing up on the reservation, including having her first child when she was a junior in high school, she was able to graduate with the support...
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To Manage Wildfire, California Looks To What Tribes Have Known All Along (npr.org)
Fire has always been part of California's landscape. But long before the vast blazes of recent years, Native American tribes held annual controlled burns that cleared out underbrush and encouraged new plant growth. Now, with wildfires raging across Northern California, joining other record-breaking fires from recent years, government officials say tackling the fire problem will mean bringing back "good fire," much like California's tribes once did. "We don't put fire on the ground and not...
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California ACEs Academy Event: The Repressed Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Adult Well-Being, Disease and Social Functioning: Turning Gold into Lead
Thursday, September 3, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT | presented by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti *Priority will be given to Medi-Cal providers* The ACE Study reveals how typically unrecognized adverse childhood experiences are not only common, but causally underlie a number of the most common causes of adult social malfunction, biomedical disease, and premature death. Moreover, it enables one to see that the Public Health Problem is often an individual’s attempted Solution to childhood experiences...
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NIHB Launches Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) Hub
The National Indian Health Board, in collaboration with CDC, has launched a new resource hub! Many Tribal individuals, families, and communities have been impacted by childhood experiences causing physical and mental health adversities throughout the lifespan. However, with understanding and effort, individuals and communities can confront Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) for positive health outcomes. This information hub, launched by the National Indian Health Board includes a "resource...
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CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY: Parental ACEs and Pediatrics: Transforming Well Care [avahealth.org]
CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY (CAA) , funded by ACEs Aware, is providing free online training to Medi-Cal providers and others featuring: Practical strategies for integrating trauma-informed health care into your team’s practice that improves patients’ well being and the productivity of your practice. Meet colleagues with experience and success providing trauma-informed health care in their practices. Learn from national and local experts. Talk to other professionals from your region in small...
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How Native and White Communities Make Alliances to Protect the Earth (yesmagazine.org)
Native Americans, however, have been hollering for generations about the global impact of fossil fuels and the poisoning of water, land, and fish from mining, industrial farming, and industry to anybody who would listen. Native folks knew that eventually non-Indigenous people would hear them and realize that no one is immune to the fallout from the colonialism and corporate greed that drives so much of our economy with little concern for the planet’s health. In the traditional Native...
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Native American Day event (SDSU Native Center) Ami Admire, Bobby Wallace, Chairwoman Angela Elliot-Santos (TODAY at Noon)
TODAY at Noon PDT. Native American Day - Honoring our Voices Hosted by San Diego State University Native Resource Center. Please Join Zoom Meeting https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/ 93715788015 Please call in: ( 669)900-6833
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Mental health ‘tsunami’ looms: Can California prevent a surge in suicides? (calmatters.org)
Celinda Gonzales has a long list of worries: She worries about COVID-19, which recently spiked near the Yurok reservation where she lives in Humboldt County. She worries about the wildfires threatening her remote, forested town, Weitchpec. She worries about gill rot and algae blooms in the Klamath and Trinity rivers, which join together just over the hill from her trailer; she worries, too, about what the resulting small salmon runs mean for her financially struggling community. And she...
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The Native History of Indigenous Peoples Day (yesmagazine.org)
More and more towns and cities across the country are electing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day as an alternative to —or in addition to—the day intended to honor Columbus’ voyages. As a scholar of Native American history —and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina—I know the story is more complex than that. The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decades-long effort to recognize the role of Indigenous people...
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We Are Still Here — Today and Every Day (firstnations.org)
On October 12th, Frist Nations is proud to stand with Native communities across the nation in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day . This day, which began as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day, raises awareness of the true history of the United States while celebrating the culture and resilience of Native people. It is a day of recognition and respect, and a holiday that more and more states and local governments have been observing every year. Still, at First Nations, we believe that every...
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Indigenous Educators Bridge Native and Western Science in the Classroom (yesmagazine.org)
Gregory Cajete stands in front of a classroom full of University of New Mexico students enrolled in a graduate seminar on Indigenous nations and sustainable communities. Cajete is teaching these students about having a relationship with, and responsibility for, the environment. This way of knowing is called Native Science , and it is part of a body of evolving Indigenous knowledge based on generations of learning and direct contact with nature. A Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo and...
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‘ERASURE’: A Blistering Report Highlights Disparate Education Outcomes for Native Students, Charts a Course Forward (Lost Coast Outpost)
By Thadeus Greenson, October 28, 2020, Community Voices Coalition . Working on the North Coast, where the American Civil Liberties Union has had an ongoing presence since 2007, when it filed a landmark class-action lawsuit against Del Norte Unified School District on behalf of Native American students, Tedde Simon says she came to see there was what she described as a “widely understood issue.” In Humboldt County — home to seven federally recognized tribes and proportionately one of the...
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Broken Treaties With Native American Tribes: Timeline (history.com)
From 1778 to 1871, the United States signed some 368 treaties with various Indigenous people across the North American continent. Concluded during the nearly 100-year period from the Revolutionary War to the aftermath of the Civil War , some 368 treaties would define the relationship between the United States and Native Americans for centuries to come. The treaties were based on the fundamental idea that each tribe was an independent nation, with their own right to self-determination and...
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Op-Ed: Thanksgiving is a tradition. It’s also a lie (latimes.com)
There was one meal in 1621. In 1622, the Indian Wars began. Native people were systematically erased through genocidal policy. The Indian Wars ended in 1924. But again, they just went cold because as soon as they ended, the Indian termination era began. Those battles were won by passing legislation that made it harder for us to stay visible, to thrive as a people, to stay alive. This November, most Americans will sit down with their families and eat a Thanksgiving meal. Some still will be...
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Join Us for a Webinar - Addressing Historic Trauma in Indian Country: Funding and Implementing Trauma-Informed Programming in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
How does historic trauma impact contemporary Native American communities and how can Tribal communities, the federal government, and community organizations work together to address and mitigate those impacts? Van Ness Feldman and the Roundtable on Native American Trauma-Informed Initiatives* invite you to a webinar featuring Dr. Tami DeCoteau, a leader in identifying and implementing successful approaches to trauma-informed care and Van Ness Feldman Partner, Dan Press who together with Dr.
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Apply Now: New ACEs Aware Grant Opportunity [acesaware.org]
New ACEs Aware Grant Opportunity to Support Trauma-Informed Networks of Care The Department of Health Care Services in partnership with Office of the California Surgeon General and the today released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a second round of ACEs Aware grants , with a submission deadline of December 21, 2020. The new grants will target California communities that want to build or execute a robust Network of Care to effectively respond to ACEs and toxic stress to meet the needs of...
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Community-led solutions urged to address gaps in health-care for Indigenous patients (The Star)
By Cassandra Szklarski The Canadian Press, Wed., Dec. 2, 2020. TORONTO - As a pediatrician with extensive experience working with marginalized groups, Anna Banerji believed herself more than equipped to advocate for her Inuk son when he began to display signs of deep depression. She recalls taking him to hospital and pleading with mental-health experts for help, but says her concerns were dismissed. Less than two weeks later in September 2018, Nathan killed himself. [ Please click here to...
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Please remember, November is Native American Heritage Month
What are YOU doing to celebrate?
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California May Consider 'Historical Injustice' When Allocating Coronavirus Vaccine (npr.org)
California health officials have made clear they want equity and transparency to be among the main priorities in deciding how to allocate the first scarce supplies of a vaccine. For example, in divvying up the first doses for health care workers, the state is prioritizing hospitals located in low-income areas before those in wealthy areas. "We will be very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the...
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'An actual seat at the Cabinet table' (Indian Country Today)
This week has been history in the making with the nomination of the first Native American to lead the Interior department. But there is more history: 50 years ago the Nixon administration signed legislation returning Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo. Joining us today are Red Lake Band of Ojibwe citizen Holly Cook Macarro, a partner at Spirit Rock Consulting and a federal lobbyist since 2001, to talk about the nomination of U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, Pueblos of Laguna and Jemez, to the position of...
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40+ gift ideas that are Indigenous (indiancountrytoday.com)
Looking to shop from Indigenous artists and small businesses this holiday season? Here is a list of sites where you can find these products online. (Side note: Also consider buying something from local artists, your auntie’s food stand or small businesses on social media.) MARKETPLACES Alaska Native Heritage Center's 12 Days of Christmas 一 Skincare, jewelry, chimes, artwork Beyond Buckskin 一 Jewelry, blankets, apparel Chickasaw Southeastern Art Show and Market 一 Beadwork, painting, textiles...
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Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders (indiancountrytoday.com)
The Native American belief is that some people are born with the spirits of both genders and express them so perfectly. It is if they have two spirits in one body. Some Siouan tribes believed that before a child is born its soul stands before The Creator, to either reach for the bow and arrows that would indicate the role of a man or the basket that would determine the role of a female. When the child would reach for the gender-corresponding hand, sometimes The Creator would switch hands and...
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The Land Has Memory (dailygood.org)
Playwright, poet, and essayist Cherríe Moraga sees the world as a place where the body knows and “the land has memory,” as she states in this interview. Moraga was born and raised in Southern California in the days when the civil rights, queer, antiwar, feminist, and environmental movements were changing the terms of public and private life. Her childhood home was just one long block from the San Gabriel Mission, established in 1771, and within view of the San Gabriel Mountains, smog...
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How to be an Ally for Native American Voices in 2021 (visionmakermedia.org)
While Vision Maker Media empowers and engages Native peoples to share stories, we also view a great deal of importance in education on how to be an ally for Native Americans. As we look ahead to 2021 we hope to cultivate conversation. Check out our list of ways you can be an ally brought to you by Native American allies in our organization. 1. STOP TALKING AND LISTEN One of the most vital steps in becoming an ally to Native Americans is simply listening. There’s a lot to learn as an ally,...
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UPCOMING TRAINING ACTIVITIES (Nor Cal ACEs Aware!)
Northern California ACEs Aware is a network of community leaders in health, education, and trauma-informed care. We’re working to share resources and communications, as well as to provide ACEs training for your teams. Please help us get the word out about our training activities. SIGN UP AT - www.norcalaces.org UPCOMING TRAINING ACTIVITIES Trauma Informed Care 101 (two times available) January 20th – 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM January 30th – 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM Led by Nick Dalton of Hanna Institute,...
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Ishi's Return (visionmakermedia.org)
The “last wild Indian,” Ishi, spent nearly 45 years in hiding with his mom, uncle, and sister as the rest of the Yahi People were killed in the Three Knolls Massacre. After their camp was ransacked, Ishi was the last survivor. He spent 3 years surviving on his own in the wilderness until he was captured by the local Sheriff. He stayed at the University of California, Berkeley and taught the anthropologists his peoples tradition, culture and language as best as he could remember. His brain...
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Standing Bear's Footsteps (visionmakermedia.org)
In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son’s last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom–choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly...
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Medicine Woman (visionmakermedia.org)
During a time where women were no more than stay-at-home housewives, Susan La Flesche Picotte broke through all barriers and became the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. Graduating from the Hampton Institute as valedictorian, Susan was determined to pursue her medical degree and was accepted at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She wrote an appeal to the Connecticut Indian Association for finances and was the first person to receive financial aid...
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Tribal Elders Are Dying From the Pandemic, Causing a Cultural Crisis for American Indians (nytimes.com)
The loss of tribal elders has swelled into a cultural crisis as the pandemic has killed American Indians and Alaska Natives at nearly twice the rate of white people, deepening what critics call the deadly toll of a tattered health system and generations of harm and broken promises by the U.S. government. Tribal nations and volunteer groups are now trying to protect their elders as a mission of cultural survival. Navajo women started a campaign to deliver meals and sanitizer to high-desert...
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‘Parade Across America’ has Indigenous touch (indiancountrytoday.com)
Wednesday’s virtual “Parade Across America” honoring President Joe Biden’s inauguration had an Indigenous touch. The event featured short, taped segments from every state and U.S. territory. It was streamed on various social sites. Among those featured were members of the Native American Women Warriors Association, the nation’s first all-female Native American color guard. “Our mission is to recognize women veterans that have served in America’s armed forces, especially those like us of...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter January 2021
Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter January 2021 “ May 2021 bring everyone Joy - Peace - Hope - Love - Good Health - Renewed Faith - Inclusiveness - Empathy - Understanding - Kindness - Acceptance - in a Safer World. May we spend more time &...
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DOT to install murals on Northway honoring Capital Region’s Native American heritage (news10.com)
New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez announced that work will begin the week of Jan. 25 to install engraved murals on the Northway Exit 3 flyover northbound and southbound ramps that honor the Capital Region’s rich Native American history. As part of the environmental review process for the Albany Airport Transportation Corridor project, the State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) identified artifacts within...
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President Biden signed four historic executive actions promoting racial equity into law (upworthy.com)
"In my campaign for president, I made it very clear that the moment had arrived as a nation, as we face deep racial inequities in America and systemic racism that has plagued our nation for far, far too long. I said that over the course of the past year that the blinders had been taken off the nation, the American people. What many Americans didn't see or had simply refused to see couldn't be ignored any longer." Today, President Biden spoke to these issues in straightforward language before...
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How the Dawes Act Stole 90 Million Acres of Native American Land (history.howstuffworks.com)
The Dawes Act, while not a household name, was perhaps the single most devastating government policy of them all. Also known as the General Allotment Act of 1887, the Dawes Act resulted in the loss of 90 million acres (36 million hectares) of Native lands from 1887 to 1934 — the equivalent of two-thirds of all tribal landholdings at the time. Mark Hirsch is a historian at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. He explains that many...
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Biden Reaffirms Tribal Sovereignty (nativenewsonline.net)
As part of his racial and equality initiative, President Joe Biden on Monday signed a Presidential Memorandum that reaffirms tribal sovereignty through tribal consultation. Speaking in more general terms about the racial divide that exists in the country, Biden said the nation faces deep racial inequities in America. “In my campaign for President, I made it very clear that the moment had arrived as a nation where we face deep racial inequities in America and system — systemic racism that has...
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The Little-Known History of the Forced Sterilization of Native American Women (daily.jstor.org)
For many, America’s history of brutal experimentation on people of color is perhaps best summed up by the Tuskegee Experiment , in which doctors let African-American men suffer from syphilis over a period of 40 years. But another medical outrage is less well-known. Jane Lawrence documents the forced sterilization of thousands of Native American women by the Indian Health Service in the 1960s and 1970s—procedures thought to have been performed on one out of every four Native American women at...