Free Republic

MINNEAPOLIS -- The federal government recently renamed hundreds of lakes, streams, summits and other places to remove an offensive term for Indigenous women. The new name for the lake formerly known as Squaw Lake, which is located in Pine County, is Manidoons Zaaga'igan Zhaawanor. It's one of the nearly 650 changes that have been made by the government in order to avoid the use of the slur. Among the states with the most instances include California, which had 80 name changes, and Arizona, which had 66. Wisconsin had 28 instances of names being changed, the closest of which is the...

If historic Bushy Run Battlefield Park intends to host future reenactments or programs portraying Native Americans, park management first will have to consult with appropriate Native groups. That’s the policy of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which oversees the Penn Township park. The commission says it also must approve of any such activities in writing. Questions about Bushy Run’s reenactments arose when a man who lives in another state and is of Native American heritage contacted the state historical commission to say he considered portrayals of Native Americans by non-Native reenactors at the park to be disrespectful, according to...

There’s a problem with putting someone on a pedestal: Exposed on all sides, a hero to some can be seen as a traitor to others. Atlanta plans to install a statue of a Native American man atop a 110-foot (34-meter) column in its new Peace Park, where it will tower over statues of 17 civil rights icons, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Developer Rodney Mims Cook Jr. calls Chief Tomochichi “a co-founder of Georgia” who prevented massacres by warmly inviting British Gen. James Oglethorpe to colonize his people’s land in 1733. “They became the closest of friends, initiating...

The Native American Guardian’s Association and five individual plaintiffs with Native American heritage filed a lawsuit against Colorado, challenging the constitutionality of S.B. 21-116, a law prohibiting the use of Native American mascots by schools.

Here’s a fun one for you. According to the latest U.S. Census, the Native American population in the United States grew by 86.5 percent between 2010 and 2020.Yep, you read that right. Eighty-six percent!But how could this be possible? In a piece for The Conversation, Circe Sturm, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts wrote that this is a rate of growth that “demographers say is impossible to achieve without immigration.”Well, it’s not likely that more Native Americans are entering the U.S. right? So, there has to be another explanation.But, according to Sturm,...

The Pilgrims didn’t bring ‘genocide’ to America. They barely brought themselves, with half of their company dying that first winter, in 1620-21.Americans have a great and exuberant tradition that touches our sense of belonging and our pride in coming together. No, I am not referring to Thanksgiving, that festival of gratitude, generosity, and welcome. I am referring to the equally great and exuberant tradition of trash-talking other people. Supposedly we have reformed. Ethnic slurs that were once common have retreated to the dark corners of dive bars and the even darker corners of anti-social media. We live in a time...

The Biden administration banned new oil and gas leases on a large swath of federal lands in New Mexico after a group of Native American tribes requested the action. President Joe Biden said he would soon be “taking action to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape in northwestern New Mexico from future oil and gas drilling and leasing” during a White House ceremony Monday with tribal leaders from around the country. The New York Times first reported the administration’s decision to ban the leases. The Department of Interior will initiate a review of a rule banning new oil and gas development...

DENVER (AP) — A North Dakota-based organization representing Native Americans sued Colorado this week for a measure banning American Indian school mascots which was passed last year amid a nationwide push for racial justice following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. The lawsuit by the nonprofit Native American Guardian’s Association was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, naming Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Kathryn Redhorse, the executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. The firm is representing a John Doe, Jane Doe and three other Colorado residents who cite Native American heritage in the lawsuit. The...

The Washington Football Team, which dropped its controversial name a year ago, has banned Native American garb from its stadium. Washington has banned fans from wearing Native American headdresses or face paint to games at FedEx Field this season, the team announced Wednesday. Washington will hold a practice at the stadium Friday with approximately 20,000 fans expected. It will be the biggest crowd since the home finale in 2019, which means it will be the largest gathering in the stadium since the organization announced in July of 2020 it was dropping its old name and seeking a new one. It...

The search for the new Washington Football Team name continues, but president Jason Wright has already ruled out some fan-endorsed selections. In his “weekly brief” announcement on the official team website Monday, Wright discussed how the team would not consider the fan-favorite “Warriors” suggestion as the new team name and logo, which will not have “linkage to Native American imagery.” “One might look at this name as a natural, and even harmless transition considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation,” Wright wrote. “But as we learned through our research and engagement with various groups, ‘context...

From Washington to Hollywood, the left thumbed its nose at the United States on its 245th birthday. Stolen. Racist. Unfree. Unfair. From Hollywood to Washington, liberals used the occasion of America's 245th birthday to continue their relentless assault on the greatest democracy the world has ever created. "Reminder: The United States was founded on the unjust treatment of Native Americans, Africans and other people of color," actress Alyssa Milano crowed in a TikTok video. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, challenged the notion of the land of the free. "When they say that the 4th of July is about...

On this date in 1821, a chief of the Seneca Native American nation slit the throat of a woman named Kauquatau, who had been condemned as a witch. As Matthew Dennis explains in his book on the Seneca of the early American Republic, Seneca Possessed, the rapid march of European settlement and the Seneca’s recent and ambiguous incorporation into the newborn United States had strained the indigenous society in complex ways. One of those reactions was a period of gendered witch-hunting in the early 19th century, especially growing out of the religious movement of the prophet Handsome Lake. “Handsome Lake...

Summary: Humans cannot live on protein alone - even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest whose diet was once thought to be almost all salmon. Anthropologists argue such a protein-heavy diet would be unsustainable and document the many dietary solutions ancient Pacific Coast people in North America likely employed to avoid 'salmon starvation,' a toxic and potentially fatal condition brought on by eating too much lean protein. Humans cannot live on protein alone -- even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest whose diet was once thought to be almost all salmon. In a new...

Like most new racial history exercises, land acknowledgments are less about a true reflection of the past than grievance politics and superficial gestures.Leftist media was all aglow on Feb. 23, when Interior Department Secretary nominee Deb Haaland began her testimony before the Senate by stating: “I acknowledge that we are on the ancestral homelands of the Nacotchtank, Anacostan, and Piscataway people.”A Vox article gushed: “It’s likely the first time a Cabinet nominee acknowledged tribal lands upon testifying before the Senate.” An indigenous activist in the Washington Post called it a “rebuke of … the countless politicians and bureaucrats who dedicated...

BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers last week took a step toward potentially replacing the official state seal and motto, a victory for activists who have argued for decades that the current versions disparage Native Americans. A legislative resolve creating a commission to recommend a new seal and motto (S 2848) emerged in the final hours of the 2020-2021 lawmaking session, earning support from both branches and landing on Gov. Charlie Baker's desk just after 4 a.m.

The Pilot Project Implements Tailored Guidelines To Coordinate Efforts With Tribal Communities And Law Enforcement PartnersMUSKOGEE, Oklahoma — Today, U.S. Attorneys Trent Shores of the Northern District of Oklahoma and Brian Kuester of the Eastern District of Oklahoma launched a pilot project to implement a Tribal Community Response Plan with Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Cherokee Nation, in accordance with Attorney General William P. Barr’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative. Principal Chief David Hill of Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of Cherokee Nation joined the U.S. Attorneys in making the announcement.The goal for the Tribal...

Key Native American leaders working with the Biden campaign offered tribal members and associates Visa gift cards, jewelry, and other “swag” to vote in the presidential election, according to several videos being used by the Trump campaign’s effort to challenge Nevada’s vote. In one long video, officials from the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony are shown offering a raffle for gift cards in values of $25, $100, $250, and $500 to those who can prove they voted.

In tribal areas, Native American nonprofits illegally offered gift cards, electronics, and other 'prizes' in an effort to get out the vote—for Joe Biden. ============================================================================= It should surprise no one that Nevada has problems with election security and voter fraud, especially after the state mailed an absentee ballot to every registered voter this year whether he requested one or not, then received back more than eight times as many mail-in ballots as they did in 2016. That’s part of the reason Republicans in Nevada filed another lawsuit on Tuesday alleging widespread voter fraud and irregularities. The mass mailing of unsolicited...

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — Myron Lizer has no qualms about it: As one of the top officials on the country's largest Native American reservation, he's a proud Donald Trump supporter. The Navajo Nation vice president says Native American values — hard work, family and ranching — align more with the GOP than with Democrats. "I'm finding that we're giving the Navajo Republican voters confidence in coming out and showing their support," he said. "We don't need that, per se, but we do need that, but we do need that at the polls." Lizer is part of a vocal minority pushing the...

MISSION, S.D. - The small, brick post office in Mission, South Dakota, sees steady business most days as people wait outside to allow one family at a time to check for mail at one of just four such depots scattered across the Rosebud Indian Reservation. With limited polling places on a reservation that’s roughly 2,000 square miles and officials pushing people to vote by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, cramped post offices such as this one are a lifeline to preserving Native American’s right to vote. But voting right advocates fear it’s not enough. The slow-moving nature of mail on...