In 1953, the United States Congress dealt a crushing blow to tribal sovereignty with the passing of Public Law 280. This statute sought to reduce the role of the federal government on reservations by enabling certain states to assume criminal jurisdiction, a role previously reserved for tribal or federal courts. …
People indigenous to Turtle Island, Hawaii, and Alaska were instrumental in developing the UN Declaration and are actively working to hold the US government to the Declaration’s standards.
The Marshall Islands, located in the northern Pacific Ocean, first became a primary target of Japanese and US occupation during World War II, when both sides sought an outpost west of Hawai’i but east of Asia. The US military eventually succeeded in driving out Japanese troops and taking control of …
Voter ID Laws in North Dakota changed in 2018, making it much more difficult for many Indigenous peoples to vote. Download the following choose-your-own-adventure pathway to learn how.
Growing up, I thought I had a good sense of how the Indian Wars played out. To my knowledge, the last battle fought in the Indian Wars was “The Battle of Wounded Knee.” There were early Army accounts that depicted the “battle” as heroic. I was wrong. My education system …
Images from Brazilian photographer and designer Kadu Xukuru. On left, “Favela Vive,” and on right, an image for Kaê Guajajara’s and Kandu Puri’s video (posted below). In this radio show, I will connect the current COVID pandemic to the preceding Environmental Movements to save the Amazon Rainforest and the hostile, …
Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner is a writer and performer of Marshall Island ancestry. Kijiner was born in the Marshall Islands and was raised in Hawaii, and she currently lives in Majuro, the capital of Marshall Islands. Kijiner’s work specializes in storytelling, performance, and poetry. She has used her creative practice to pay …
The Indian Child Welfare Act was enacted in 1978 to protect Native children from being removed from Native communities, and has since come under continued controversy in the court system.
