Turtle Talk

Lansing State Journal: Anishinaabemowin class aims to save Michigan’s first language

NPR: The National Park Service could soon have its first Native American director

HCN: How tribal leaders want Chuck Sams to lead the Park Service: The Umatilla leader would be the first Native person in charge of the agency, which has a thorny history with tribes

WaPo: The nomination of Chuck Sams to lead the Park Service is already changing history

Casino.org: US Supreme Court to Hear Texas Tribal Gaming Case, Could Impact Claims in Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts

Times Higher Education: US universities ponder massive debt to Native Americans: In year since land-grant institutions learned they were funded by theft, serious conversations have barely begun

SCOTUSblog: Court adds two cases on Native American law and issues two opinions granting police officers qualified immunity

KLCC: Ancient Native American forest practices demonstrated in burn near Eugene

Green Entrepreneur: Native Americans Jump Way Ahead in Selling Legal Cannabis

US Customs and Border Patrol: Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to Issue Enhanced Tribal Card Through Agreement with CBP

PBS News Hour (8 min. video): Why Native Americans are buying back land that was stolen from them (Part 1 of 2)

PBS News Hour (7:22 min. video): Native American tribe land buybacks start a commercial approach to social justice (Part 2 of 2)

Time: The Fight to Save the Salmon

Grist: North Carolina tribes fear pipeline will damage waterways, burial grounds

E&E News: EPA unveils plan to address tribal water woes

Time: MIT Reckons with Early Leader’s Role in Forced Removal of Native American Tribes

Traverse City Record Eagle: Journalist unearths family history while reporting on boarding school trauma, family, cultural destrution

Christian Science Monitor: Untaming a river: The stakes behind America’s largest dam removal

MLive: Dozens of Michigan schools still use Native American slurs, imagery

Daily Beast: Native American Group Calls on Fox News to Fire Hosts Over ‘Racist’ Comments

NBC: NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS: Behind the history, colonization, and American epidemic of missing indigenous women

WaPo: Beyond blunt truths about Columbus Day, Biden presses for real progress for Indigenous people

WILX: Michigan AG Dana Nessel joins bipartisan coalition in defense of Indian Child Welfare Act protections

Kim Teehee wrote a heartfelt tribute to Dale Kildee and agreed to allow us to post it here:

I knew the day would come but still I wasn’t prepared to hear that Dale Kildee had passed away. He passed on October 13th, which is also my birthday. My mind is flooded with precious memories. I worked for Dale for 11 ½ years as the first senior advisor to the bipartisan Congressional Native American Caucus. Dale founded the Caucus after anti-Indian measures started passing the House only to be stopped in the Senate. He knew a bipartisan Caucus was necessary to educate Members about Indian country issues. What began as a Caucus of 15 members had grown to over 100 members. My job was to work across partisan divides with House leaders, Caucus members, Committees, and with tribal leaders. As Co-chair of the Caucus, Dale successfully advanced legislation on myriad topics from education, health care, transportation, appropriations to housing. Under his leadership, the Caucus had a 100% success rate that included defeating every anti-Indian proposal. He also enjoyed giving speeches to tribal organizations where he became famous for pulling out his pocket U.S. Constitution and reminding the audience that tribes are sovereign and that sovereignty must be protected. He was a great defender of tribal sovereignty.

Dale had no tribes in his congressional district and people would often ask why he cared so much about the Indians. His commitment began when as a kid his Dad took him to the land in Michigan where a tribe’s village once stood but was burned to ashes when the people refused to leave. He never forgot that story or the other injustices that Native people endured. He had a passion for education too having served as a Latin teacher. When he served in the Michigan state legislature he led the way for the passage of the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver Act, which waived the college tuition of any Michigan Indian who attended a public college. He took his passion for Indians and education to Congress where in the Education and Labor Committee he began slipping “Indian tribes” in every education bill that listed “states” to ensure tribes were expressly included. He also had a special affinity for the Michigan tribes and a deep appreciation of their unique histories. I also enjoyed working with these tribes.

Dale was a devout Catholic and loved his work family as if we were his real family. I am eternally grateful for his unconditional support. When I was tapped for a White House appointment in the Obama Administration, he galvanized congressional support and helped secure my historic position. He was a gentle soul with a warrior’s spirit. He believed in civil discourse. He despised unkindness.

Dale lived a blessed life. He did not fear the inevitable of life. He was comforting to me that way. I last saw Dale two years ago at lunch for his 90th birthday just before the pandemic hit. Something in me knew that would be my last time with him. As we said goodbye, he hugged me and kissed my cheek telling me that he loved me. I love you too, Dale. Rest In Peace.

Cert Petition of Merle Denezpi

Question Presented:

Is the Court of Indian Offenses of Ute Mountain Ute Agency a federal agency such that Merle Denezpi’s conviction in that court barred his subsequent prosecution in a United States District Court for a crime arising out of the same incident?

United States’ Brief in Opposition

United States v Denezpi Tenth Circuit Opinion

Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo’s Cert Petition

Question Presented:

Whether the [Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas] Restoration Act provides the Pueblo with sovereign authority to regulate non-prohibited gaming activities on its lands (including bingo), as set forth in the plain language of Section 107(b), the Act’s legislative history, and this Court’s holding in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202 (1987), or whether the Fifth Circuit’s decision affirming Ysleta I correctly subjects the Pueblo to all Texas gaming regulations.

Brief of Amici Curiae Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, NCAI, NIGA, and USET in support of Cert Petition

Texas’ Cert Opp

Reply of petitioners Ysleta del Sur Pueblo

Brief amicus curiae of United States in favor of SCOTUS review

Texas’ Supplemental brief

Texas v Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 5th Circuit Opinion