Increase in Native American children entering the system + tweets

NEW MEXICO: There was an increase in Native American children entering the system—from 134 or 6.1 percent in 2019 to 147 or 7.4 percent in 2020. The increase of Native children in the foster care system happened after children’s biological or legal guardians have passed. Native American families often live with several generations in one house, and we saw that, tragically, many family members in one household would contract COVID. 

 

Take action now to stop this horrific attack on Native rights! https://t.co/WjXC3cDybi

There was an increase in Native American children entering the system—from 134 or 6.1 percent in 2019 to 147 or 7.4 percent in 2020. https://t.co/yvHl442Emf pic.twitter.com/IN2G0Xl72G

— Lakota Law Project (@lakotalaw) December 6, 2021

“Indigenous resistance” doesn’t cut it. Fighting back against murder and enslavement so widespread = genocide.

— Stacy Parker Le Melle (@StacyLeMelle) December 5, 2021

Those who refuse to acknowledge the trauma adoptees experience likely have never had to submit an empty page when attempting to complete "Family Tree" or "Life Timeline" assignments in school or write "N/A" in the Family Medical History section on forms at the doctor's office.

— Christina (@DiaryAdoptee) December 6, 2021

Bank of Canada to work with Indigenous groups on reconciliation https://t.co/phOk6Es43u

— Trace kalala Hentz (@StonePony33) December 6, 2021

Harbinger for things to come

Offering a "different perspective" on the coronavirus pandemic, we heard from Wanbli Máyašleča (Francis Yellow), an artist, healer, teacher and Indigenous elder from Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and living in Minneapolis.

A "Different Perspective" on COVID-19 from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.

I Can't Breathe

 Charles (left) and an actor playing Abe Lincoln.

By Trace L Hentz (taking a break/blog hiatus)
I can't breathe. That is the way I feel.

JUNE 2020: We have multiple pandemics: The 2020 Depression, Covid-19 and the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed man, shown on live TV.

Then I find out my cousin has died.  Dr. Charles Bland, a film scholar historian and genealogist, was almost 80 and he and I had been working on a Native history project for the better part of seven years. I have mentioned him many times on my wordpress blog.

For over a year Charles was suffering with Myasthenia Gravis.  The day before he died (on April 25), I texted and said I wanted to kidnap him and bring him here to western MA and break him out of that New York nursing home. (There were Covid-19 cases but he never caught the virus.)

He texted back, calling me Bonnie and my husband Clyde.

Sadly our rescue didn't succeed. Charlie stopped breathing.

I am raw. I can't breathe.

Everything we are seeing globally is seeding a new future. What kind of future? My husband is African-American and he is dealing with the murder of George Floyd in ways I am not. The violence, injustice, racism, what has been happening with the protests, has filled my husband's reality his entire life.  He can't breathe.

The scene in Minneapolis, where I lived for years, is beyond words.  I lived on James Avenue South near Lake Calhoun, or Bde Maka Ska, off West Lake St. I don't think I'd recognize it anymore.

I walked around the lake daily in good weather.  Recently the MN Supreme Court ruled that "Lake Calhoun" in Minneapolis will officially now be known as "Bde Maka Ska." Lake Calhoun was named after John C. Calhoun, the South Carolina senator who became vice president in 1825. Supporters of the change wanted to distance the lake from Calhoun, a documented supporter of slavery.  In 1837, Calhoun gave a speech on "the positive good" of slavery.   He also authored the Indian Removal Act. 

Bde Maka Ska is pronounced "b-day ma-kha skah" (translates to "White Earth Lake" in Dakota)

Mourning takes time. Protests take time. Changing the world takes time.

Headlines:

Migizi Communication burns in Minneapolis protests

NBC News| 5 days ago

Democrats on Friday slammed President Donald Trump for what they said was inciting violence against protesters who were demonstrating in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody.

Riots, arson leave Minnesota communities of color devastated

StarTribune|10 hours ago

When the nonprofit's executive director, Kelly Drummer, returned to the scene a few hours later and saw the destruction, she said, "I knelt down and I just cried." The riots and arson that followed protests of George Floyd's death have devastated organizations and businesses that serve communities of color.

The anger behind the protests, explained in 4 charts

The Risk of Extinction due to #Covid-19

Native communities in the U.S. have suffered disproportionately from COVID-19, with higher rates of infection and death. The Navajo Nation has implemented a series of strict lockdown measures in an effort to protect its population, but health care facilities have still been overwhelmed. In fact, tribes across the country see the pandemic as representing an existential threat. Stephanie Sy reports.

Back in New Mexico, there are significant clusters of cases in the state's Pueblos. By one estimate, 11 percent of the Zia Reservation of only 646 members were infected. At that rate, leaders are concerned about the risk of extinction.

WATCH: Native communities have been hit hard by COVID-19 -- and fear for their survival

For more information on reports, helpful prevention tips, and more resources, please visit the Navajo Department of Health’s COVID-19 website at http://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19.
To contact the Navajo Health Command Operations Center, please call (928) 871-7014.
For the latest news from the Office of the President and Vice President, please visit http://www.opvp.navajo-nsn.gov/ or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Rural Matters — Coronavirus and the Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation Doc: Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the New England Journal of Medicine, here.

The Navajo Nation, Diné Bikéyah, is 27,000 square miles of high-altitude desert, steep canyons, red rock spires, and extinct volcanoes, which, at this time of year, are still spotted with snow. The population density is among the lowest in the contiguous United States: seven people per square mile. If you didn’t know better, the vast landscape would seem a perfect setup for social distancing.

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