Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Native American votes helped secure Biden's win in Arizona

    Organizations across the political spectrum increased voter turnout on Arizona’s Native American reservations. The Biden campaign targeted outreach to specific groups, such as Native women and veterans, and held Covid-safe election-related events, such as a parade to the polls. The Trump campaign ran advertising on reservations and featured well-known Arizona Native American Republicans at political rallies. Turnout increased anywhere from 12-14% on the larger Navajo and Hopi reservations (over 17,000 votes) to over 50% on smaller reservations. These increases helped Biden win Arizona by about 10,500 votes.

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  • Native history is WA history, and tribes are helping schools teach it

    In order to better educate students about indigenous history, in 2015, Washington passed the “Since Time Immemorial” (STI) curriculum, the law requires schools to teach a tribally developed curriculum. This has led to some school districts collaborating with local tribes and more students learning about indigenous people. “There are still Native people around today — we’re here.”

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  • How the Navajo Nation helped push Democrats ahead in Arizona

    Voter outreach campaigns effectively boosted turnout among Native voters. The Rural Utah Project left informational flyers inside plastic bags at people’s doors (a Covid-19 tactical adjustment), held drive-through voter registration events, ran hotlines to assist indigenous voters, and partnered with Google to create street addresses using latitude and longitude-based plus codes. Senate candidate Mark Kelly ran ads in the Diné language to reach Navajo Nation voters. Precinct data shows 60-90% of Arizona Navajo Nation voters chose Democrats, a rate that pushed Biden and Kelly to a slim victory.

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  • On Tribal Land, Banishment, Rehabilitation and Re-entry Add Up to Justice

    Remote Alaskan villages traditionally followed the native practice of banishing members of their communities for serious, chronic wrongdoing. Created in the absence of a functioning criminal justice system of police, courts, and jail, banishment provided safety for families and communities from people prone to violence. Though rare, the practice persists even when limited forms of law enforcement and state justice processes are available. People who are incarcerated or on parole who are also banished can be denied the rehabilitative benefits of their family and cultural home.

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  • To reclaim ancestral land, all Native Hawaiians need is a $300,000 mortgage and to wait in line for decades

    A 100-year-old program provides virtually free land for Native Hawaiians to build their own home or buy one from a developer. Despite a $1/year land lease and low taxes, the program has failed to promptly provide affordable housing to lower income applicants. Many of the 23,000 applicants have been on a waitlist for decades because the focus on building subdivisions means that low-income Native Hawaiians don’t qualify for the mortgages. Advocates say scrapping the subdivision model and focusing on housing that meets the needs of lower-income applicants, such as condominiums, will reduce wait times.

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  • San Juan County expands in-person voting on the Navajo Nation during the pandemic

    A legal settlement in Utah expanded access to voting on Navajo Nations and influenced similar settlements in Arizona. All registered voters receive a mail-in ballot, but counties also offer early voting and election-day polling locations, where Navajo translators are available. Counties run bilingual radio, print, and social media ads to inform residents about their voting options. The hybrid in-person and mail-in system boosted turnout of active voters in San Juan County’s 2018 election by 10 percentage points from 2014, when the lawsuit was filed because the county closed in-person polling places.

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  • New app helps Inuit adapt to changing climate: ‘It's time for the harpoon and computer to work together'

    The Arctic Eider Society, an environmental and social justice organization based in Nunavut, developed an app called SIKU that allows users to enter real-time data on conditions in the arctic. Inuktitut hunters use the app to alert others to hazardous ice conditions and observations about wildlife and vegetation. The app is funded by private foundations as well as federal and indigenous governments and has over 6,000 users. Users maintain intellectual property rights of their data and the app respects traditional knowledge by encouraging indigenous communities to merge old ways with new technologies.

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  • Equality of Opportunity

    Legal challenges have protected Native voting rights since the 1980s, when districts diluting native votes were ruled unconstitutional and redrawn. In 2012, three tribes sued to increase access to registration and polling sites. The county settled, agreeing to open offices on two reservations two days a week. In 2018, tribal leaders challenged a law limiting the number of ballots someone could collect on behalf of others. A judge agreed that, by disproportionately suppressing Native votes, it was unconstitutional. The legal challenges increased voter turnout and helped elect more Native representatives.

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  • A Special Court Keeping Native Americans Out of Jail

    The Penobscot Nation's Healing to Wellness Court is a drug court, diverting people charged with drug offenses from possible fines and jail into therapy. But it has an added cultural element, providing traditional healing approaches alongside mainstream behavioral therapy. The cultural piece recognizes that Native Americans' historical trauma and disconnect from their culture can contribute to the problems that lead to addiction. The court is far less expensive than jail or prison, and its participants have not been jailed for failing treatment in more than two years.

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  • A Native American Clinic Gives Doses of Cultural Healing During COVID-19

    The Native American Community Clinic in Minneapolis is utilizing telehealth practices to treat both the medical and spiritual needs of the community and its patients. Although the "spiritual-meets-traditional care program" was already in place and had received funding before the coronavirus pandemic, it is now being implemented as a telehealth system with patients reporting that it has helped to create a sense of connection despite the adherence to physical distancing.

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