Our identity has been frozen in time

by Bridgette Fox and Jerry Nowicki, Capitol News Illinois May 12, 2025  

This article is part of the Healing Illinois 2025 Reporting Project, “Healing Through Narrative Change: Untold Stories,” made possible by a grant from Healing Illinois, an initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Field Foundation of Illinois that seeks to advance racial healing through storytelling and community collaborations.

IMAGE:  The Red Horde logo for the former Archbishop Weber High School in Chicago.

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capitolnewsillinois.com /news/our-identity-has-been-frozen-in-time-how-native-american-advocates-are-influencing-springfield/

 

SPRINGFIELD — Amid the annual bustle at the Illinois Capitol during the legislative session’s midpoint, a sea of color and singing filled the rotunda on a sunny March day.

Attendees of the 2025 Native American Summit, organized by the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, were draped in regalia and leading a drum ceremony for the first time in an Illinois that was home to a federally recognized tribe.

And it was happening amid a backdrop of Native American groups working to secure passage of a bill that would ban what they say is offensive imagery in Illinois school mascots.

“Our identity has been frozen in time, and it’s going to stay frozen in time as long as we’re portrayed as mascots and things of the past,” said Matt Beaudet, a citizen of the Montauk Tribe of Indians who was in Springfield to advocate for the bill’s passage.

Andrew Johnson, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and executive director of the Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, explained the importance of attire.

“We will refer to the clothes that we wear – the traditional clothes that we wear – as regalia.  It is something that is honored.  It has been passed down,” Johnson said. “There are reasons for wearing the particular items that are there.  So, we have that term, ‘regalia.’  It’s built and has the bedrock of respect and honor.”

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How natives are often portrayed as mascots in school logos throughout the state, however, has a more detrimental effect of “costuming,” he said.

“It really is not a sense of honor there,” he said. “It is not a sense of history. In fact, it’s a perversion of history to think that these mascots are maintaining any kind of that memory of Native people.”

Johnson and Beaudet are part of a working group convened by state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, that’s at the forefront on Native American issues at the Capitol.

In the past several years, Native American advocacy groups have scored what they call major victories in state government.

The state has agreed to return tribal land in northern Illinois, required schools to teach Native culture, allowed high school students to wear cultural and religious items during graduation, and streamlined the process of repatriation and reburial of Native American remains and artifacts.

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Dozens of Illinois schools could be forced to change mascots that feature Native American imagery or names because of a bill awaiting action in the Senate. From left to right, top to bottom: Logos for the Stockton Blackhawks, Calumet Indians, Altamont Indians, Bremen Braves, Deer Creek Chiefs, Mt. Zion Braves, Annawan Braves, Marengo Indians. (Capitol News Illinois illustration)

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"I grew up hearing stories of massacres"

 Tommy Orange

"The data is bad, and we'll have to hold on for a long time to avoid going backwards."

 

By Sílvia Marimon 5/12/2025

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Sílvia Marimon

In Wandering stars, all the characters carry some trauma. They are Native Americans of different generations who have survived many types of violence and cannot find their place. The author, Tommy Orange (Oakland, 1982), a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and a very powerful voice in the new North American narrative, claims an identity far removed from stereotypes. With his first book, There there (2018; Neither here nor there, in Alliance), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  With Wandering stars, it was a Booker Prize finalist.

In the book, you talk about different generations of Native Americans, from the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 to the present day. Is it possible to preserve identity after so many episodes of violence?

— Yes, but it's not like before. It's a fragmented novel; the characters are wandering stars searching for a place. And identity is something similar, a fragmented mosaic. You can't preserve identity as it was before the violence; rather, you could say we're capable of preserving it, including all the damage.  Sometimes we're asked to do the impossible: to be as we were 500 years ago.  If we're not as we were, it's as if we weren't real. I think we need to explain a modern version of ourselves and the consequences of all this violence.

And in the face of a global and homogeneous culture?

— Yes, there's a lot of homogeneity, but also some diversity.  With Trump, it might seem like the United States is a country of crazy patriots.  I write about us to change the way people see Native Americans.  We're like everyone else, but there are also differences.  I grew up hearing stories of massacres, and my father's first language was Cheyenne.  So, there's been a transmission; the parents I've had have made me different.  My son has a father known for writing stories about Native Americans.  I don't think we should practice an old tradition that others might recognize to maintain our identity.

In the book, you travel back in time. How has it been nurtured, considering that we've rarely heard the voices of Native Americans?

— I've done my research, but my goal wasn't to provide a lot of data or facts.  I mostly travel inside people and imagine what it would be like to be in that situation.  I hope I've been convincing by, for example, delving into the mind of a 19th-century Cheiene who loses the ability to speak and then discovers alcohol, Christianity, and peyot.

There are many types of violence. There's massacre, and there's violence in schools, where the goal was, I quote from the book, "to kill the Indian, to save humanity."

— Before the massacre, just contact with another culture had already lost something. Then came the experiments; they locked the children in boarding schools, and did the same thing they did with the adults: they Christianized them and disciplined them militarily.  All of this shows how they dehumanized the natives.  Only in this way can cruelty be understood.  They took many things from us.  For me, colonialism, when it does all this to demonstrate its superiority, achieves the exact opposite.  Killing and cruelly punishing children is extremely base.

Is violence still being perpetrated against Native Americans in the 21st century?

— With Trump, aggression and violence against minorities have returned with a vengeance.  He's trying to strip away protections from many lands to exploit them and seize their oil.  There's another kind of violence.  There are families who inherit wealth generation after generation; we've inherited the trauma of having been victims of systematic violence.   It's not all setbacks; we've also made progress.  There have been improvements, for example, in the case of women.  Even so, they continue to be victims of violence.  There's the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement that fights against this violence.  There are very high rates of sex trafficking, especially in oil-producing areas.

Is the narrative changing in the academic field, in universities?

— Yes, if you talk to history professors, most will agree with me.  But universities tend to be more open-minded and unafraid to look into the dark corners of history; that's why Trump is now attacking them.  The average citizen shouldn't be critical.  Trump does what dictators do: persecute institutions that try to create critical citizens.

Relates trauma to addictions.

— Many people who suffer trauma and systematic violence cope with the pain through substance abuse.  Of course, there are those who overcome it without drugs and those who become addicted without any trauma.  But if you look at the numbers, there's a correlation between victims of violence and addictions.  Sometimes, addicts are blamed, as if they were morally guilty. O r too weak.  I think it's because people don't want to dig deeper and look at the causes.

Have you ever felt the need to write a story that went against the general perception of what Native Americans are like? To incorporate the version of younger generations and Native Americans who live in big cities rather than on reservations?

— Yes, sadly.  There aren't many writers writing about urban life.  When I published my first book in 2018, 80% of Native Americans lived in big cities, not on reservations.  Yet, most books still only talk about life on reservations or the past.

And what reading does it do?

— I guess it's because it's not what people expect.  As if real life were only possible on reservations.  There's a certain insecurity, as if they feel they don't have the right to speak if they don't live on reservations.

The US government's census has seen an exponential increase in the population identifying as Native American. How is it determined who is eligible?

I'm just writing a book, The pretendings, in which I talk about all this.  There are people who don't have a real claim, but they do it to make a profit.  This is a problem we have today.  Buffy Sainte-Marie is a well-known singer-songwriter who pretended to be of Native American descent, and an investigation recently showed that she was actually of Italian and English descent.  And, on the other hand, historically, many have hidden or concealed the fact that they are Native American descendants.  First, because it could be dangerous, and also because they thought they had a better chance of success if they hid it.  If you look at the data, historically, it was more advantageous to hide it.  In the past, the government paid a lot of dollars for Native American scalps.  Now, the ways of identifying the Native population are also changing.  I have the Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, an official United States document issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which certifies that a person has a specific degree of Native American blood. It's all very complicated.

Culture

SOURCE: https://en.ara.cat/culture/grew-up-hearing-stories-of-massacres_128_5376669.html

Medicine River by Mary Annette Pember

Ojibwe (Red Cliff) journalist Mary Annette Pember puts her own family’s boarding school experiences on display in her new book, “Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools.” Pember builds from her relationship with her mother, a boarding school survivor, to offer personal insights into the origins and effects of generational trauma. She also documents her path to journalism and how one non-Native editor’s refusal to cover Native issues drove her to become one of country’s most trusted Native storytellers. We’ll hear from Pember and also get an update from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition on what changes in federal government mean for the future of addressing past boarding school abuses.

Mary Annette contributed stories she wrote in the Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects books - she is wonderful... Trace

INTERVIEW:

Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana

There is an episode with adoptee in Juneau who is REALLY WONDERFUL! It made me cry!

 

Pati Jinich's life's work has been focused on building bridges between her two beloved countries - her homeland of Mexico and her new home the United States. In this docuseries, the acclaimed chef and James Beard Award winner expands her lifelong mission to uncover cultural connections throughout the Americas and how they enrich each other. Pati embarks on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway, a series of roads and a symbol of connection and collaboration extending from Alaska to Argentina.  Pati begins her epic adventure at the top of Alaska and then travels along the Western Hemisphere to southern Alberta.   She delves into migratory evolution, history, and identity as citizens of the Americas. 

Throughout the series, Pati engages in heartfelt conversations that celebrate our differences, cherishes traditions, and explores the myriad ways in which people form the basis of their identities. She explores the origins of dog sledding and groundbreaking science in the Arctic, and salmon fishing in Halibut Cove. She examines Alaskan Native modern art and Filipino food in Juneau, and forages in the outskirts of Anchorage. She takes to glass blowing in Whitehorse, and experiences cowboy life in the Alberta heartlands, showcasing its connections to Montana and Texas. Along the way, she discovers that much like the roads that weave through our landscapes to connect us, we share more similarities than differences. 

At our core, we are all longing for home and craving to belong.

 

PLEASE WATCH ALL HER SHOWS!  Happy Mother's Day... xox Trace

May 6, 2025—Red Dress Day events held across Canada; new MMIWG data project

May 6, 2025 APTN News Brief

Our lead story: a look at some of the MMIWG events across the country for Monday's National Red Dress Day, when communities gathered to honour and remember the lives of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls.

 

MONTANA, USA:  https://youtu.be/bbuOPWniKTI?si=8WH0PW5hbJ7iH4x7

 

 

Starved into Submission

Herb shot this photo in the Badlands. He was so happy.

Now is the time, we are the ones we have been waiting for... —Hopi Prophecy

By Trace Hentz, blog editor

My entire childhood I had plenty of food.  This is not true for all humans, I know.  Look at the news across the world, like in Gaza.   When it comes to writing about adoption or world events, I know I’m doing something right if I am afraid.

I spent most of my life afraid of upsetting people, avoiding that.  Some might say that is low self-esteem but I think being afraid, fear itself, is a call to action.  If you are afraid, then you know you are doing something right.  You are challenging yourself and breaking down your thoughts into something you can fix or not.

I could not change what happened in my childhood but I could change how I looked at being adopted.  I could drop judgment.  I could stop blaming my adoptive parents and my natural parents.  I could turn “being adopted” into something good—or try to make my life and other lives better.

Years ago, I heard Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now describe how the occupiers of Palestine are using food insecurity to keep Palestine children alive but not enough to thrive!  Too little food and starvation can be used as a weapon of war—with long-term consequences.  Brains and bodies are affected long-term.

That is exactly what has happened here on American soil. YES!  The American government only feeds American Indians junk with commodities (boxed or canned food and very little vegetables).  The diabetes epidemic is living proof it’s working.  Plus there are not enough jobs to feed ourselves.  That way we Indians will be too weak to protest reservation living conditions. That way we’ll stay depressed or immobile.  That way we’ll self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. That way many of our men will be imprisoned.  That way we won’t be in the way when the government and industry wants to take more resources like copper, coal, uranium and shale gas.  Reservations were purposefully isolated so American (and Canadian) governments could totally control what we received—especially food, blankets, housing, medical care, etc.

Governments still keep Indians poor.  The occupiers claimed they wanted Indians to be farmers, settle in one place, but not exactly on “farm-able land.”  Think of the Badlands, a dry arid remote place, not exactly farmland.

Most of us Lost Birds who were adopted out didn’t have food insecurity or starvation growing up.  It was not something we had to worry about.  Lost Birds/Adoptees need to realize the WAR is still being waged on Indians in many subtle ways.  And if we use our minds in a good way, and come together, maybe WE can tackle food insecurity on reservations that still exists!

Maybe just maybe being adopted out was destined to give us the mind and ideas and courage necessary to feed our tribal families who have been occupied and starved into submission.

 

2004:

When I got married in 2004, my husband Herb flew out to Rapid City, South Dakota (where I was visiting my relatives) and I drove us through the Badlands to Porcupine (Oglala Lakota Reservation) to see my relative Ellowyn Locke.  (Herb had never been to South Dakota and I also drove him to see the town of Deadwood.)

One of the chores we needed to do was to go pick up commodities.

We drove my Chevy Tracker to the distribution center and Herb had many boxes of canned food on his lap.  My small SUV was stacked and packed and Ellowyn was holding a box of cans as I drove us to her house.

Mostly this food was canned, but there were some cans of peanuts, powdered milk, lard, flour, boxed cereal, etc.  None of this food is good for you... long-term. Ellowyn was on dialysis for her diabetes, and it's true the food sent from the federal government is not healthy and meant to harm their health.  (Porcupine and Wounded Knee is a food desert, with no grocery stories close by, but Sharp's Corner had a gas station filled with junk food, snack foods, and sugary drinks.)

Herb told Ellowyn that he grew up in Harlem (New York City) and his family had the same commodities - boxed cheese, powdered milk, and cans of fruit and vegetables. Nothing was fresh.

It was not the first time I noticed that Ellowyn had one head of cabbage to last one month, along with a few carrots and a few potatoes.  That was all the fresh food she had until the next distribution.  We usually drove south to Chadron, Nebraska to buy meat, when I was there every summer.

Ellowyn tried to grow fresh vegetables on her land, and had a small patch down by a creek that was totally hidden from the road and her brother's roaming horses could not get to it, or they'd eat it all.

Since the 1990s, if I drove to Pine Ridge, I'd stop at a grocery store first to buy fresh lemons, oranges, veggies and fresh meat, before I got to her house.  And I'd buy the biggest bag of dog food I could carry, since Ellowyn usually had at least one big dog guarding her house in Porcupine.

I also brought her supplies, like beads and fabric, since she sewed quilts, to sell to tourists.  I never went there without a carload of gifts and supplies.  And I never left without a carload of gifts she made me!  (She made my wedding dress!)

Please be generous with your relatives, and send money, or bring gifts and supplies if you go to visit.  Many of us do not live on the rez, and we don't learn generosity growing up.  

If you do go home, bring them seeds and fresh ideas on ways to grow fresh food.

MMIP: This American Life

 

Episode 858: How to Tell a Dumb American Story

Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.

Prologue: Prologue

Ira Glass

Sierra Crane Murdoch has been on our show before. She reports on Indigenous communities out west. Back in 2023, she got a call from a man in Montana, Kevin Howard. He said his daughter Mika had been killed in a hit-and-run. Local police were dragging their feet. He thought the driver might get away with it. The driver was white. Mika was Native, a citizen of the Blackfeet Nation.

Lots of Native people are killed in hit-and-runs, and the drivers are rarely brought to justice. And Sierra thought she might be able to document why by diving into Mika's case, because Mika's parents had recordings of nearly all their interactions with law enforcement. Mika's parents did some other things, too. They were very strategic and did some extraordinary things other families had not tried to make sure Mika's case was one that the authorities could not ignore.

That story and how it unfolded, and what it's like to be a couple making that happen, that's going to be our whole show today. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass. And with that, I hand it over to Sierra.

LISTEN:   https://www.thisamericanlife.org/858/transcript

 

Native America Calling MMIWG May 5th 

How can you settle the First Nations and leave the Métis and non-status out?

 

Court gives green light to part of '60s Scoop' class action

OTTAWA — The Federal Court has rejected the federal government's motion to dismiss a claim for monetary relief in a class-action lawsuit brought by non-status individuals and Métis who were involved in the so-called "'60s Scoop.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press a day ago 

The Canadian flag catches the morning light on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — The Federal Court has rejected the federal government's motion to dismiss a claim for monetary relief in a class-action lawsuit brought by non-status individuals and Métis who were involved in the so-called "'60s Scoop."

It's also granting the plaintiffs' request for a motion declaring that the Crown had a duty of care to these kids — but only the ones placed or adopted through Saskatchewan’s Adopt Indian Métis [AIM] program.

The '60s Scoop refers to a period when governments in Canada oversaw the large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their homes to live outside of their communities, mostly with non-Indigenous caregivers.

A class-action settlement for survivors saw the federal government pay about $750 million in compensation — but Métis were largely excluded from that because child welfare services for them were run by the provinces.

Métis and non-status individuals who were apprehended as children from their families filed a class-action lawsuit arguing Canada should compensate them as well — but the Federal Court says Ottawa is not liable.

The Federal Court says that only those who were placed or adopted through Saskatchewan's AIM program fall under Canada's duty of care because that program received federal funding.

NABS 2025

 PLEASE SUPPORT THEIR WORK, thank you and megwetch... Trace

Searching for a Loved One’s Boarding School History? Explore the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive (NIBSDA) to Uncover Their Story. The NABS Digital Archives team has made significant strides to expand the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive by preserving and providing access to vital boarding school records. As a national digital platform and repository, NIBSDA is committed to truth-telling and ensuring survivors and descendants have the resources they need to understand this history and its lasting impact on Tribal Nations.  What Does NIBSDA Do? It serves as a presentation platform for the records and collections that NABS digitizes from a variety of national repositories who have boarding school relevant material. It serves as a centralized hub for hosting a variety of existing digital collections or digital projects from partner institutions such as The Carlisle Digital Resource Center and The Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project by the Genoa U.S. Indian School Foundation and The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Key Accomplishments in Quarter 1:  5 week-long site visits conducted in Q1 of 2025 to the National Archives at Seattle, Riverside, Fort Worth, and Chicago. Materials digitized include Albuquerque Indian School, Fort Bidwell Indian Training School, Pawnee Boarding and Training School, Seneca Indian Boarding School, and many others. Digitized 80,000 pages of records, which are now in the process of being cataloged for inclusion in NIBSDA. Created approximately 900 catalog records in Q1. Enhanced access to records for survivors and descendants by assisting with community requests for support in locating relatives boarding school records. Revised archival practices to honor our commitment to data sovereignty and strengthen partnerships with Tribal communities. This includes updating our collections management policy and cataloging conventions guidelines.  By exploring the NIBSDA, individuals and communities can engage with historical records that shed light on the past while fostering healing and cultural sovereignty.  As we continue this important work, we invite you to explore the archive, share our mission, and join us in advocating for truth, justice, and healing for Indian boarding school survivors. ARCHIVE: https://nibsda.elevator.umn.edu/

Explore the Archive

For any inquiries about the digital archives, please don’t hesitate to contact us at history@nabshc.org.

Call to action: You can make a difference today. Join us in preserving the true history of U.S. Indian boarding schools for truth, justice, and healing. We are racing to safeguard records before access is blocked.

DONATE TODAY

Thank you for your invaluable support in preserving history and amplifying Indigenous voices. The Digital Archives Team, Fallon Carey (Cherokee Nation), Digital Archives Manager Tsinni Russel (Diné), Digital Archives Specialist River Freemont (Umoⁿhoⁿ/Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Descendant), Digital Archives Specialist

MMIP San Diego

 

In southern California, a coalition of Native American tribes, community advocates, and law enforcement are holding their first-ever summit to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).

Danielle Bush is the program director for MMIP San Diego, which will host the summit this Saturday at the Viejas Casino and Resort. She says one of the breakout sessions will be on human trafficking.

“What are the warning signs, red flags of that? And what to do if you or a loved one, or you just see someone who might be in that situation what steps you can take, because we’re trying to end that heinous crime in the community.”

Another breakout session will be with regional law enforcement.

“The goal of that is to educate people about the Savannah Act and about the Feather Alert, and what are your rights, and how to proceed if you have a missing relative or anything that law enforcement can provide support on and building those relationships.”

The final breakout session will be on healing and support services, specifically for the tribal community.

Bush says the San Diego area is close to the U.S-Mexican border, which poses challenges.

“With our proximity to the border and for other reasons, San Diego is a hotspot for human trafficking. I believe third in the country, it’s up there. It’s definitely an issue in the community that we’ve been trying a multi-pronged approach to attacking.”

Bush says MMIP San Diego hopes to grow its resources, so invites anyone in the southern California region to reach out and connect with the organization.

National Native News:  https://www.nativenews.net/