Veteran broadcaster and Ho-Chunk Nation member to lead publication’s next chapter MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Circle News, one of the longest-running independent Native American newspapers in the United States, has named Robert Pilot as its new Chief Editor, the organization announced in April 2026. Pilot, a St. Paul resident and enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk […]
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Story and photos by Jenn Hall Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble, in partnership with the Guthrie’s Native Advisory Council, held “Stories for Indigenous Resilience” on Wednesday, February 4. The evening of stories, poetry, music, and more was organized to raise funds for mutual aid for the Native community. Proceeds from the show will go to NATIFs […]
By The Circle As winter temperatures plunge in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in south Minneapolis (MIWRC) continues to operate an Indigenous-led warming center that provides food, shelter and critical services to people facing homelessness and housing instability. The center has become a steady refuge during subzero conditions, offering not only warmth and meals, […]
By Jenn Hall Driving west on Lake Street toward the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, traffic slowed as marchers strolled along in the cold holding signs protesting the current ICE occupation. Those of us crawling the other direction beeped our horns and waved at the dedicated citizens from all walks of life, thanking them for […]
By Leah Lemm/MPR News Jingle dress dancers gathered on February 1 to hold healing ceremonies at the locations where Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal immigration agents while observing their operations. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony in south Minneapolis, many in ribbon skirts and regalia. Star Downwind was […]
NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, REMEMBER: You have the right to remain silent Do not lie to ICE Do not physically resist or obstruct Carry your Tribal or state issued ID Tip: Some state-issued IDs are not enough to prove you are a U.S. Citizen. Keep reading for what to know about IDs if you […]
By Nicolas Scibelli/Sahan Journal The Immigrant Defense Network is expanding its training efforts to 30 cities across the Midwest, activating more residents to document federal immigration activity. With the wind whipping outside, driving wind chills down to minus 20, First Unitarian Universalist Church in Rochester, Minn. was full of people looking to help their neighbors. […]
By Winona LaDuke We owe Venezuela a debt. I remember when Venezuela paid our energy bills right after Hurricane Katrina and US refinery capacity was down. Oil prices skyrocketed, it was a hard winter, and the oil companies were making huge profits while many Americans experienced real hardships. Congress asked if they would give the […]
By K.E. MacPhie Shashana SkippingDay is dreaming bigger than a building—she’s helping build a future where Indigenous birthing people receive care that is safe, supported, and sacred. As the planner for a developing Native-led birth center, she’s deep in the work of creating something our communities have long needed and deserved. The vision isn’t new. […]
By Lee Egerstrom The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) as started a $6 million campaign with partners to provide facilities and conduct research on ways to improve the physical fitness and mental wellness of Minnesota’s Native American youngsters. Don’t expect to see a lot of lab coats, test tubes, syringes or scales. The laboratories will be […]
By Arne Vainio MD The whole getting into medical school thing was not something I was aiming for. My parents owned the Good Luck Tavern in Sturgeon, Minnesota and my dad wasn’t a good businessman. He committed suicide with a gun when I was four years old. My mom kept the tavern going for a […]
By Arne Vainio M.D. (Editor’s note: this was orginally pubished in 2021.) Tashia Hart is putting together a cookbook featuring manoomin (wild rice) and other wild foods of Minnesota. This was published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in the fall of 2021. I like to cook and she asked me for my manoomin recipe. At first […]
By Arne Vainio MD (Editor’s note: This was written in 2015.) At the end of August I danced for the first time. George Earth has wanted me to dance ever since he came back in to our lives. He introduced my mother and father back in 1957 when my father owned the ill-fated Good Luck Tavern […]
Editors note: Written in June 2020 Difficult times. Uncertain times. How many times have we heard that in the past few months? The COVID-19 pandemic came to us in March and social distancing has caused millions to lose their jobs and countless businesses won’t make it. Hospitals in some parts of the country are overwhelmed. In […]
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By Winona LaDuke Akiing, the land to which I belong. That’s how I feel about this land. It turns out that I am a patriot to a land, not a flag, and yet some of the basic principles that the US was founded upon resonate with me. Those principles are about dignity, respect, having a […]
By Diane Pavlat A political act aimed to restrict women’s rights. In June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade (1973) leaving the onus of access to abortion on individual states. Since then, six states have taken measures to codify reproductive rights while other states ramp up efforts to abolish […]
By Michael Meuers From the Left (Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC) to Right (Wall Street Journal) Agree Today; The global war on terror isn’t ending, nor was it as long as the American Indian Wars. I take issue with the characterization that the war in Afghanistan is America’s longest war. America’s real longest war was the […]
By Ricky Defoe and Janet Keough As the year gets ready to renew itself, we have a chance to heal ourselves, our human communities, and the larger community of all beings in the natural world. We have a chance to restore our relationships to the environment and to each other. We can rid ourselves of […]
By Winona LaDuke I don’t actually have a dog in this fight, I am technically a member of the Green Party, not a Democrat or a Republican. I may not be fond of the candidates running for President – Joe Biden and Donald Trump – but what I do know is that I am going […]
By Winona LaDuke It’s 2020 and the stakes are high. In every area of civil society, from the rights of women, the right to clean water, the right to security of home, immigration, and the right to a future, the American election in 2020 will count. Being president of the U.S. is like being president […]
By Eddie Chuculate The Guthrie Theater’s free five-session acting from a Native perspective class reached capacity so quickly that workshop leader and actor Ernest Briggs (White Earth) hopes to see another one this summer or fall. “I was shocked that it filled up so fast,” said Briggs, 40, of Minneapolis. “We wanted to keep it […]
By Dan Ninham For the past three years Joe Covert has been the social studies and music teacher at Nay Ah Shing School on the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation. By night for the past two years he and his select students have been performing rock and roll music with their band called Fry Bread. […]
By Fern Williams I recently finished binge-watching seasons one and two of “Resident Alien” on Netflix, and I couldn’t resist starting it over because even though it’s a sci-fi series that doesn’t focus on Native Americans, the show is brimming with Native characters and takes place near the Ute Reservation in Colorado. Based on the […]
By Lee Egerstrom Minnesota’s sports world and Native American communities learned this past month that hockey great and former Olympian Henry Boucha died while being treated for a heart ailment. He was 72. That won’t end Boucha’s influence in the state. His memory will live on for generations to come and his advocacy work and […]
By Dan Ninham LeRoy Staples Fairbanks, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, has been appointed to the Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors. He lives in Cass Lake, MN, with his family. “I’ve worked in the various areas in my professional career including construction, human services, and executive leadership positions, […]
By Jon Collins/MPR News On an unseasonably cold and windy Sunday morning, dozens of players cluster together at the center of the football field at Hamline University. Each player, ranging from elementary school kids to the parents of high schoolers, is carrying a wooden stick that’s bent into a small net at the end. One […]
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