Water Protectors Protest Wells Fargo Bank in Duluth
TEXT/PHOTOS BY WECOPWATCH On October 23, 2017 Water Protectors from Camp Makwa Front Line Camp blockaded Wells Fargo Bank branch in Duluth, Minn. to oppose the bank’s investments in the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline. Wells Fargo currently has $743 million dollars in corporate lending to Enbridge LLC. Enbridge has proposed building the Line 3 “expansion” project. […]
ADY’s Housing For Young Adults
BY LEE EGERSTROM St Paul’s Ain Dah Yung Center has been helping Native children and families since 1983 but is now preparing to provide affordable, transitional housing for young people who normally “fall through the cracks” of social services and foster care programs. The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency recently announced it is providing $9.4 million in housing […]
IT AIN’T EASY BEING INDIAN: Oct 2017
BY RICEY WILD My big black ‘kitten’ The RZA (who is only four years old) was walking in front of me in the hallway with his tail up high. He clearly wanted something, like treats, and I said to him, “You have all that food, clean water and a soft bed!” I stopped in my tracks and […]
Lake Superior island returned to Grand Portage tribe
BY MPR NEWS STAFF An island at the tip of north-eastern Minnesota has been returned to the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe. The 142-acre Susie Island is the largest of 13 small and rocky islands in Lake Superior, just before the Canadian border. The islands are home to some of Minnesota’s rarest […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: Oct 2017
By Mordecai Specktor The next Standing Rock Enbridge Energy’s proposed replacement of its Line 3 oil pipeline is meeting popular opposition – and some nonviolent civil disobedience. On Aug. 29, six opponents of the oil pipeline were arrested for obstructing construction. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported: “Alexander Good-Cane-Milk of the Yankton Sioux Tribe in South […]
Fond du Lac Band restores wild rice to keep harvest tradition alive
BY DAN KRAKER/MRP NEWS On the shore of Deadfish Lake on the reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in September, Ed Jaakola and Jerrad Ojibway scooped handfuls of wild rice from the bottom of their canoe into big plastic bags. The rice was tough to harvest because of the wind, Jaakola […]
Sioux Chef picked as restaurant for new Minneapolis riverfront park
The Sioux Chef, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and Minneapolis Parks Foundation will partner to open a riverfront restaurant and food service venue for the future public pavilion at Water Works. The Sioux Chef is a diverse, Indigenous-led team committed to revitalizing Native American Cuisine and reclaiming an important culinary tradition that has been long […]
A Native Homecare Business Booms
By LEE EGERSTROM The growing and unmet needs for Native health and home care weren’t going away. Patricia (Pat) Yager, who grew up at Bena on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and bounced back and forth between Cass Lake-Bena and as an urban dweller in the Twin Cities, knew she needed to become an entrepreneur in […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: Sept 2017
By Mordecai Specktor Indians who rocked Here’s something uplifting and fun, unlike most of this column’s usual fare. “Rumble,” a new documentary that opened Sept. 1 at the Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis, explores a little known aspect of popular music: the contribution of American Indians. The film’s subtitle is “The Indians Who Rocked the World,” […]
“A Bag Worth A Pony” is a well-illustrated study of bandolier bags
By Deborah Locke For students of American Indian history in general – and of niche Ojibwe history in particular – “A Bag Worth a Pony” is for you. Or if you’re a fabric and textile wonk or College of Design instructor or student at the University of Minnesota, “A Bag Worth a Pony” is for you. […]
Indian Horse Relay showcases Native American horse athletes
Story and photos courtesy of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community High-speed American Indian bareback relay racing was on display at Canterbury Park August 24-26 in Shakopee, Minn. The event was presented by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC). Relay teams consisted of three horses and four warriors. Riders in full regalia raced bareback down the track […]
White Earth tribe holds high hopes for hemp
By Dan Gunderson/Mrp News There’s a lot of expectation invested in a few acres of hemp growing on a hill overlooking the small town of Callaway on the edge of the White Earth Reservation. “I’m kinda nervous,” says tribal secretary-treasurer Tara Mason. “I don’t think I’ve been this concerned about how a crop is doing on […]