Elaine Strongbow is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and has covered environmental law, tribal sovereignty, and federal Indian policy for The Circle since 2019. Her work focuses on the legal and political struggle over land, water, and natural resources in the Great Lakes region, with particular attention to treaty rights and the federal trust responsibility. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and was a 2023 fellow of the Institute for Nonprofit News. Before joining The Circle, she reported for the Duluth News Tribune and the Bemidji Pioneer.
By Associate Press When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flooded Minneapolis, Shane Mantz dug his Choctaw Nation citizenship card out of a box on his dresser and slid it into his wallet. Some strangers mistake the pest-control company manager for Latino, he said, and he fears getting caught up in ICE raids. Like Mantz, many Native Americans are […]
By Lee Egerstrom Staying healthy is already more costly and will become more difficult for many Minnesotans, including Native Americans, from changes in the federal Medicaid program. But it is important to know not all changes will affect American Indians and Alaska Natives. Cuts to subsidies approved by Congress last year have already raised costs. […]
By Winona LaDuke Napoleon LaDuke was my great uncle. I’ve always had a liking for that name. My great uncle was a brown man from the Northwoods who was in World War I and came back “shell shocked.” He wasn’t even a citizen of the US at the time but, nevertheless — like many Native […]
By Miacel Spotted Elk/Grist This story was originally published by Grist. In January, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to revise the Clean Water Act, specifically a section of the law that regulates water quality and limits states’ and tribes’ authority over federal projects, as well as how tribes can gain the authority to conduct those […]
By The Circle Pow Wow Groundsand NaCdi becomes hub of resistance in Mpls MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis Native-led arts gallery, coffee shop, and community hub is coordinating donations to support local residents and activists responding to recent federal immigration enforcement raids in the Minneapolis community along the Franklin Cooridor where many Native people live. The […]
By Shubhanjana Das/ Sahan Journal ICE isn’t just tracking your phone. The surveillance technology goes further than that. The advanced surveillance tools allow ICE agents to scan people’s faces to determine their citizenship, access highly sensitive personal data and monitor entire neighborhoods all at once. By now, the videos of immigration agents holding up their […]
By Mordecai Specktor It’s murder in Minneapolis I stopped by the Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop on Sunday afternoon, January 25. It was the day after Border Patrol agents gunned down Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the VA hospital in Minneapolis. Pretti was pumped full of US government bullets on Nicollet Avenue just […]
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 […]
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 […]
