2024: I have read new comments on this case. If you have information, please email me: tracelara@pm.me
It will be kept confidential.
Back in 2011, I posted a story on this blog about the book SUDDEN FURY and the grizzly murder of Maryland adoptive parents Kay and Larry Swartz who had adopted three children, Larry, Michael and Annie. (This old post is still getting comments and questions.)
In the book (right) it stated that Michael Swartz was a Native American adoptee who was removed from his family at age 4 and adopted by the Swartz couple in Maryland.
Three days after their parents' funeral, adopted son Larry Swartz confessed that he was the killer.
What Happened to Michael Swartz?
Michael continued to get into trouble and at age 25, he was
given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, for
participating in robbing and murdering a man. Today Michael would be 48 years old.
Here is a profile of the case from 2004: Profile of Larry Swartz
I have contacted Leslie Walker, the author of Sudden Fury, to ask her if she followed up on this case and if she might be able to help me locate Michael.
If you know where he is, what prison, please email me: tracelara@pm.me
White Clay Nebraska is a within walking distance and a few miles from Pine Ridge, SD...
Fall update 🍂
Our space has been buzzing with activity!
From creating beautiful ribbon skirts to many other artistic projects,
our community has been busy expressing their creativity and bringing
their unique visions to life. It’s been inspiring to see so many makers
come together to collaborate, learn, and share their talents.
We’re also thrilled to announce that the
mural outside our space is nearing completion! This vibrant piece, which
has been in the works for some time, truly reflects the spirit of our
creative community. We can’t wait to share the final results with you!
Painted imitation Eagle feather
Regular price
$35.00
Thank you for being such an integral part of
this journey. Your support allows us to continue providing a welcoming
space for artists and makers of all kinds, and we’re excited for what’s
still to come! - Whiteclay Makerspace
Welcome
to the Whiteclay Makerspace online store: offering Lakota creators'
arts and crafts made on the Pine Ridge Reservation and at our facility
in Whiteclay. Learn more by clicking here - whiteclaymakerspace.com
A portrayal of the Pine Ridge Reservation by a YouTube personality with
more than 2,000,000 subscribers is drawing criticism for focusing on
stereotypes of poverty and substance abuse. Tommy McGee, who goes by the
name “Tommy G”, makes a name for himself producing what he calls
“documentaries” that depict extremes of American life. His video of the
Oglala Lakota reservation, called “The poorest place in America”, has
more than 3,000,000 views. He paints a picture primarily of meth and
alcohol addiction, unemployment, squalor, and crime. Pine Ridge
residents, including one Native youth organization, say the video
crosses the line into “poverty porn.” We’ll explore current approaches
for responsible media representation of Native people.
As rally preparations were underway, early arrivals showed their support for ICWA with signs in hand. Photo by Alex Perez.
Amid drums, smudging and chants to “bring our
children home,” supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act gathered
early this morning outside the Minnesota Capitol building, as the
state’s highest court considered the latest legal threat to the bedrock
1978 law.
The rally outside the Supreme Court today was deeply personal for
Korina Barry, of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. After losing her
siblings to foster care, now she worries that her 2-year-old daughter
could be taken from her by child welfare workers.
Korina
Barry and her daughter joined those rallying in support of the Indian
Child Welfare Act and the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act.
Photo by Alex Perez.
“For me that trauma is very real,” she said. “And that’s why I’m here
because we should be pushing back against these attorneys who are
challenging ICWA’s constitutionality.”
A crowd of more than 50 people attended what became part celebration,
part protest — including state lawmakers, activists, mother-daughter
pairs and county workers, some wearing regalia and dancing, others
pushing strollers.
“We’re all part of the solution,” state Rep. Heather Keeler, a member
of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, told the assembled. “If we’re mad that
Native children are getting placed outside of our homes, that means we
need more of us to step up — it’s a job for the entire community.”
Keeler, in an orange dress, joined others wearing the color to mark
Canada’s Indigenous holiday marking National Day for Truth and
Reconciliation, which commemorates survivors of Indian boarding schools
and their descendants.
Rose, a young Lakota woman, said she showed up to dance for children
“dealing with generational trauma.” Tamra Edwards, who works with
Minnesota’s ICWA Guardian Ad Litem program described herself as an
“ally,” working “to keep children with their families and relatives.”
Red Lake Nation case
Inside the Capitol building later that morning, Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in the case named
for parents L.K. and A.S., which centers on two Red Lake Nation foster
children. The case is before the state supreme court following a June appeals court ruling.
Plaintiffs Kellie and Nathan Reyelts of Fairmont, a white couple,
seek custody of twins who now live with their maternal grandmother.
The Fairmont couple say they should have custody of the twins, who
lived with them for more than a year shortly after they were born in
2022. Their legal argument centers on a constitutional challenge to the
Indian Child Welfare Act, as well as the local version of the law, the
1985 Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act, or MIFPA.
“What
ICWA was all about was because our country had proceeded along a path
designed to disrupt the tribes. It’s about the tribes being able to
control their future and their children.”
– Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson
The justices did not rule from the bench today. A lower court has already struck down
the couple’s claim that the two laws — which seek to ensure the
preservation of tribal families — discriminated against them because of
their white race.
The Fairmont couple, who have fostered more than 30 children, are
represented by the same attorneys who took a similar challenge all the
way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brackeen v. Haaland case. Thus the case is being closely watched by legal experts across the country.
The Reyelts’ attorney, Mark Fiddler of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, has devoted much of his legal career
to dismantling the 45-year-old ICWA law. In this case — similar to
Brackeen v. Haaland — his clients are white foster parents who allege
that ICWA’s provisions are discriminatory. In a previous interview,
Fiddler said when the twins went to live with their relative, they “were
harmed by ICWA by being removed from a loving home where they were
thriving.”
The Reyelts continue to request the children be returned to their
custody. Arguing on their behalf alongside Fiddler is attorney Timothy
Sandefur, the vice president of legal affairs for Goldwater Institute.
The Arizona-based Libertarian think tank has opposed ICWA in more than a
dozen cases since 2015.
They are opposed in court by attorneys for the Red Lake Nation, and the Minnesota Attorney General.
They’re joined by the biological mother of the two children at the
center of the case. She is being named only by her initials, L.K., to
protect her confidentiality.
But a statement sent by her attorney Ryan Gustafson reads:
“The Mother wants it to be known that she is grateful for the
protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Minnesota Indian
Family Preservation Act. She recognizes that these laws have helped her
Native community and its children, both in Minnesota and elsewhere.”
Gustafson further stated that “the children’s Mother agrees with her
tribe and the state of Minnesota that ICWA and MIFPA are constitutional”
and remains opposed to the current attempts to dismantle them. She said
remaining with her children’s relatives is in their best interests and
they are thriving, even as “this litigation has dragged on.”
In oral arguments, the Minnesota Supreme Court justices queried both
sides intently, at times having heated debates during the hour-long
proceeding.
Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig. Provided photo.
Chief Justice Natalie Hudson and Associate Justice Anne McKeig, a descendant
of the White Earth Nation, questioned Sandefur on a number of his
arguments. There was particular focus on whether his clients, the
Reyelts, had “standing” in the case — in essence, whether they had
grounds to bring the constitutional issue before the court.
McKeig wondered aloud whether ICWA opponents had larger aims — and
were using the state court as an “avenue to try to get the issue of
constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act before the United
States Supreme Court.”
The justices also debated why the court should, or could, review the
challenge to the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, based on
the claim of racial discrimination before the court today. Both ICWA and
MIFPA grant special status for people who are members of tribes or who
are eligible for membership, not because of their race, but because they are citizens of sovereign nations within this country.
In his opening remarks, Sandefur said due to ICWA and MIFPA, his
clients “compete on an unequal playing field when they pursue their
custody petition, and they are currently injured because of this pending
matter.” He maintained that the laws were based on “biological” and
“immutable characteristics determined by the accident of birth.”
Justices Hudson and McKeig repeatedly challenged that assertion.
“Your argument appears ahistorical to me, when you’re talking about
federally recognized sovereign tribes,” Chief Justice Hudson said.
“There is a history there that we cannot ignore, but I hear you
minimizing that history.”
Sandefur shot back: “These children are citizens of the United States
and citizens of the state of Minnesota,” Sandefur said, “and they are
entitled to the same equal protection rights as all other children.”
Hudson had another quick retort:
“But that undercuts the whole purpose of ICWA,” she said. “What ICWA
was all about was because our country had proceeded along a path
designed to disrupt the tribes. It’s about the tribes being able to
control their future and their children.”
Attorney Joe Plumer, representing Red Lake Nation said that to date,
the Reyelts have not been granted standing by lower courts, have been
unable to establish any injury, and have not explained how the bench
could redress their grievances.
Like some of the justices, Plumer pointed to the appearance of a
larger aim sought by the plaintiffs, one that goes well beyond the best
interests of the Red Lake Nation twins.
“We believe the appeal on the constitutionality should be dismissed
because it’s not properly before the court,” Plumer said. “This Court’s
not in the business of issuing advisory opinions, and that’s exactly
what they would be issuing.”
ICWA supporters vow to fight on
Dozens of ICWA supporters who rallied in the early morning on a
bright and windy day say they will be watching intently for the state
Supreme Court’s decision, which is expected in the coming months.
Rep. Keeler said her Native-rich state continues to be a battleground
for opponents of the laws that preserve Indigenous families, and she
pointed to the toll that takes.
“Minnesota is a stomping ground for cases against ICWA and it’s just
really exhausting and harmful,” Keeler said in an interview.
Dozens
of ICWA supporters rallied today outside the Minnesota state Supreme
Court, after Fred Desjarlait led them in prayer. Photo by Alex Perez.
Those who gathered alongside her wore orange to honor Phyllis Webstad,
the inspiration behind the “Orange Shirt Day” campaign and ongoing
efforts to honor and preserve the legacy of boarding school survivors.
Their centuries-long history is closely connected to the forced removal
of tribal children into white foster and adoptive homes.
Webstad’s orange shirt movement is represented by a wound she
suffered. Her grandmother gave her an orange shirt to wear on her first
day at the Canadian boarding school that she was forced to attend. It
was snatched from her the day she arrived. That shirt never made its way
back to the family.
Rep. Alicia Kozlowski, who is of Ojibwe descent, and state Sen. Mary
Kunesh, who is of Standing Rock Lakota descent, also attended the rally.
“When they come to us and say ICWA and MIFPA are unacceptable, we
have to fight back and educate them — it’s not a racial issue,” Sen.
Kunesh told the crowd gathered on the Capitol steps.
Some of the assembled came to honor family members who they’ve lost
contact with in the child welfare system, and to reflect on ongoing
attempts to erase Indigenous culture. Chairman Faron Jackson of the
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe noted his personal loss.
“My brothers were in foster care — taken away from our families
before ICWA was established,” he said. “That law was put in place to
keep our families together, learn the language, learn to trap, learn to
hunt.”
Now, it’s up to supporters to teach the public on the vital importance of the law, he added.
“We’re going to keep educating and we’re going to talk about things
that are important to us — and most of all, we’ll never leave our
children behind.”
Oct. 1 correction: This story has been revised to clarify that the twins’ current placementis with their maternal grandmother.
Murray
Sinclair made his mark on Canadian society as a judge, activist,
senator, the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission and the co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry — and now
he writes all about it in his memoir Who We Are. The
book answers the four guiding questions of Sinclair's life — Where do I
come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I? — through stories
about his remarkable career and trailblazing advocacy for Indigenous
peoples' rights and freedoms.
Murray
Sinclair is a former judge and senator. Anishinaabe and a member of the
Peguis First Nation, Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge appointed
in Manitoba and the second appointed in Canada. He served as Co-Chair of
the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and as Chief Commissioner of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He has won awards including
the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Manitoba Bar
Association's Equality Award and its Distinguished Service Award (2016)
and has received Honorary Doctorates from 14 Canadian universities.
Sara
Sinclair is an oral historian of Cree-Ojibwa and mixed settler descent.
She teaches at Columbia University and is currently co-editing two
anthologies of Indigenous letters.
Niigaan Sinclair is a
writer, editor, activist and the head of the Department of Native
Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is the co-editor of Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories. He won the Peace Educator of the Year award in 2019. He is also the author of the book Wînipêk.
LISTEN | Murray Sinclair reads from his memoir on The Current:
Former
judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Murray Sinclair reads an excerpt from his book Who We Are: Four
Questions For a Life and a Nation. The memoir draws from his personal
experiences to reflect on truth and reconciliation in Canada.
Cheri
Power stands in front of Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, where she
has received health services for 16 years. She recently was asked to
provide proof she's Indigenous, documentation she says she doesn't have. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)
When Cheri Power tried to book a new round of therapy this week at her clinic of 16 years, she got an unwelcome email.
"You must provide proof of Indigenous ancestry," it said.
It
was a new policy, the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health informed her.
She would need a status card or an official letter from a federally
recognized band.
Power has relied on the Ottawa
clinic for her doctor, for mental health and addiction support and for
everything from nutritionists to chiropractors. Though she's able to
hold onto her doctor for now, she was devastated to read that she would
lose access to other services with so little warning.
"It's just not fair," Power said. "To do this without any notice to their clients is cruel."
Wabano
says the new policy is needed to combat fraudulent claims of Indigenous
identity and that it will offer a transitional period to allow people
to gather documents.
But Power doesn't think she should have to revisit past trauma to keep care.
Her
Cree mother was a day school survivor facing homelessness and drug
problems, Power said, when she was born. Put in foster care and then
adopted out to a white family, Power said she was always told she was
Indigenous.
She said she finally found her birth mother five years ago.
"I
don't have the paperwork to prove any of that," she said. "All of a
sudden, there's this incredible barrier to service that I don't know how
I'm going to overcome."
'It's a lot of bureaucracy'
Colleen Hele-Cardinal of the Sixties Scoop Network said the barrier can be high and it can sometimes take years to surmount it.
"If
you know that you're First Nation, but you can't prove it and the band
doesn't sign you on as a member, it's very difficult for you to get
status," she said.
"The
time it takes to write for this information [and] to get it back [is
substantial]. And if you don't get the right information, you have to
send out more requests. It's a lot of bureaucracy."
Survivors
can face redacted child welfare records, she said. The problems can be
far worse if their father is the one with status but doesn't appear on
their birth certificate.
"Once you get the information,
you have to apply to [Indigenous Services Canada], and there's a huge
backlog for that as well," said Hele-Cardinal.
Wabano blames fraud that denies Indigenous people care
In
a statement to CBC, Wabano's director of administration, communications
and engagement, Natalie Lloyd, said the centre will accept other ways
of confirming Indigenous identity.
Those could
include "a letter of kinship connection" for Indigenous people who were
caught up in the Sixties Scoop or have no formal records, Lloyd said.
But
that possibility was not mentioned in the email to Power, who said it
also never came up in subsequent phone calls with the centre.
Lloyd
told CBC the policy change was necessary to conserve limited resources
for Indigenous people in the face of increasing fraud that deprives
Indigenous people of health resources they need.
"Akin
to other organizations across Canada, we have seen an increase in
individuals fraudulently claiming Indigenous identity to access services
and benefits," she said.
"Over the last two years we
have consulted with subject matter experts and community stakeholders to
assist us in developing our eligibility policy to prevent misuse of
limited resources funded for First Nations, Inuit and Métis."
Lloyd
would not share how many of Wabano's clients could be affected by the
policy change, citing privacy reasons. She said the centre will help any
patients who can't prove their Indigenous identity find appropriate
health and wellness services elsewhere in Ottawa.
She did not respond to follow-up questions on how long the transitional period will last and whether it applies to all services.
The
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health has been providing health and
social services to Ottawa's Indigenous community for 26 years (Jean Delisle/CBC)
Revisiting past 'filled with emotion and turmoil and pain'
Power
said she'd have little chance of getting an official letter from a band
she has never been to. She said she has previously tried to get her
status card but faced similar issues to those Hele-Cardinal described.
Since finding her mother, she now has more information.
"I
have a place to start, but this isn't something I ever expected I'd
have to deal with or be forced to do," she said. "All of it is so murky,
and so filled with emotion and turmoil and pain that it's really hard
to even think about starting."
She called the experience
of having her Indigenous identity questioned and losing access to
medical care "painful and traumatic."
"It's difficult,
because a lot of us don't know where we come from," she said. "It
touches a really sore spot for a lot of people."
As for
the transitional period, Power said it wasn't offered for mental health
services. She confirmed she is still being allowed to see her
doctor, and saw a nurse on Thursday, though she doesn't know how long
that will continue.
"I have a recent diagnosis of a
genetic condition that requires a lot of medical follow through right
now, and I'm in a bit of medical turmoil requiring a lot of care with
surgery and specialists and a lot of co-ordinating," she said.
Kelly Church, “Before and After” (2024) (photo by Michigan Photography)
On the occasion of the major exhibition showcasing renowned black ash basket weavers, Kelly Church & Cherish Parrish: In Our Words, An Intergenerational Dialogue,Stamps Gallery is proud to organize an important public discussion
on the tragic legacy of American-Indian Boarding Schools in the United
States and the intergenerational trauma and suffering they inflicted on
Indigenous communities. Church and Parrish explore the consequences of
this time through their boundary-breaking basketry as they pay homage to
their community’s resilience, strength, and bravery.
Rochelle Ettawageshik is
a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and serves
as vice chair of the tribe’s child welfare commission. She currently
sits on the board of directors for the National Indian Child Welfare
Association and is vice president of the Michigan Indian Education
Council. Ettawageshik recently retired from the State of Michigan as the
director of Native American Affairs in the Child and Family Services
Administration, where she developed policies to improve services to
American Indian families in Michigan.
Benedict Hinmon is
the Director at Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. Little
Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Hinmon is
the grandson of Obwaandiak (Chief Pontiac) and comes from a proud
family of Michigan Anishinaabe.
Matthew L.M. Fletcher
is the Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law at Michigan
Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of federal Indian law, American
Indian tribal law, Anishinaabe legal and political philosophy,
constitutional law, federal courts, and legal ethics. He also sits as
the chief justice of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Poarch
Band of Creek Indians, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians.
Wenona T. Singel is an
Associate Professor of Law at Michigan State University College of Law
and the Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center. Her research
and writing address issues related to Tribal Sovereignty and Indigenous
Rights. She is working on a book about the intergenerational impact of
federal Indian law and policy on Native families.
On
view through December 7, this exhibition centers the subjectivities of
two contemporary Indigenous artists whose practices have sustained and
bolstered the relevance of the age-old Anishinaabe practice of black ash
basket-making in the 21st century. Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish
explore the themes of Native women’s labor as carriers of culture, the
legacy of boarding schools, treaties, and stories from ancestors who
walked on through their work.
Curated by Srimoyee Mitra with Curatorial Assistant Zoi Crampton.
“My
vision is to see First Nations protecting their traditional lands and
waters by developing and implementing their own Self-Determination Plans
for Community Development and Nationhood based on restoration of stolen
lands, territories and resources, or restitution where lands and
resources aren’t returned.”
On
September 19, 2024, Russell released an updated summary of his
analysis, CANADA'S WAR ON FIRST NATIONS, which opens with this
statement:
My
belief--which is based upon my policy experience and observations over
the past 4 decades of First Nations-Canada relations--is that the Crown
(governments & courts) is continuing to empty out (limit &
restrict) the meaning (scope & content) of Aboriginal and Treaty
Rights….
First
Nation Peoples would be better served focusing on internal organizing,
networking and capacity building instead of hoping a federal political
party will save us.
Getting rid of the Indian Act? That's colonialism (2024) in action... Trace
Darrell Waters, a brash young attorney,
returns to his childhood home in Montana to broker a deal between a
large energy company and the Blackfeet Nation. In the process, he is
forced to confront his reclusive father about their
painful past. Through a childhood sweetheart, Dorothy Dark Eyes, he
rediscovers his identity and feels his perspective shift: his clever
business deal will destroy her language school, further erode Blackfeet
culture and taint their land. Darrell must grapple
with the paradigm of being Native American in America.
Our
work matters because we are bridging the gap between generations,
offering a way for families to stay connected to their culture, their
language, and their stories.
In
the words of Quindrea Yazzie, a Navajo editor of the ICT Newscast, even
though not everyone can live on the reservation, their children still
get to experience their heritage in meaningful ways through ICT. This is
the heart of what we do—ensuring Indigenous stories and voices are
heard, preserved, and shared widely.
Tink Tinker (Osage Nation) is Clifford Baldridge Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, where he teaches courses in American Indian cultures, history, and religious traditions; cross-cultural and Third-World theologies; and justice and peace studies. Tinker is a frequent speaker on these topics both in the U.S. and internationally. His publications include “American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty” (2008); “Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation” (2004); and “Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide” (1993). He co-authored “A Native American Theology” (2001); and he is co-editor of “Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance” (2003), and Fortress Press’ “Peoples’ Bible” (2008).
This lecture is made possible through the support of Gerald Facciani ‘13 M.A.R., the Native American Cultural Center, the Department of Religious Studies, the Forum on Religion and Ecology, and the Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration.
I have often wondered about how we adoptees were affected by our adoptions, as far as our mental health. (I know there is damage.) And if our situation has long-lasting effects. This interview is about damage, psychopaths, the psyche and neuroscience.
About the video:
Chase Hughes retired from the
US military in 2019. After a 20-year career, Chase now teaches
interrogation, sales, influence, and persuasion. And he had a personal health crisis. And explains how he healed. (Very long interview)
READ: The Childhood Development Triangle
The Childhood Development Triangle consists of three critical elements, and each one is an element of something we absorb. These are the building blocks of our personalities, and they influence us well into adulthood.
Safety:
From a young age, we are programmed to seek out environments, relationships, and different things that make us feel secure and safe. This could be physical, or emotional safety, they can be different for each person.
Friends:
As humans, we are social creatures, and from the moment we start interacting with the world around us we're on a quest for connection with other people. This can narrow down to the friends we make, and the groups we belong to, and these all play an incredibly important role in how develop into adults.
Rewards:
The rewards are different for every person, and it's all about the feedback loop of action, and then some kind of gratification to be received. As children, we learn that very specific behaviors can lead to positive outcomes.
