We’re hosting an urgent call to provide updates on the status of Keystone XL, what we’re doing to fight back in the midst of COVID-19, and how we can win in November.
Sign up below to join our call on Thursday, May 14th at 8pm ET/5pm PT to hear from Bill McKibben, key partners, and members of the 350.org team about what’s next.
If you can, please have some paper and a marker or pen available to participate in a quick activity during the call.
Time
May 14, 2020 07:30 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
We have a potentially explosive situation at the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations. If you’ve been looking at the news, you may have seen that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has threatened our tribes with legal action because we have taken the rational step of setting up COVID-19 checkpoints on roads entering our homelands.
Caption: In our new video, my colleague, Chase Iron Eyes — who serves as public relations director for Oglala president Julian Bear Runner — discusses the urgency of protecting our citizens. (Photo courtesy of Warrior Women Project.)
Governor Noem has failed to mandate common sense protections for tribes and all the people of her state during the COVD-19 pandemic, so the Oglala and Cheyenne River Nations have taken matters into our own hands by setting up these checkpoints on reservation roads to limit the pandemic’s spread.
They are not roadblocks, and there is no truth to Governor Noem’s repeated assertions that essential or emergency traffic is being detained or turned back. Here at Cheyenne River, we are requiring visitors to fill out a health questionnaire or travel through the reservation without stopping. And just yesterday, two more positive cases at Pine Ridge forced a 72-hour lockdown to enable contact tracing and keep folks safe.
Although Governor Noem asserts that the tribes have not engaged in adequate consultation with state officials, both the Oglala and Cheyenne River Nations have interacted with a swath of state agencies on this issue. 17 state senators have now published an open letter declaring that she has no legal authority to regulate activity on reservation roads without tribal consent.
Governor Noem in no position to issue threats. She’s failing to protect her own constituents within our jurisdiction, so we will. This is a life or death situation, and we have a right to live.
Wopila tanka — my gratitude for your action!
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project
A federal judge on Monday denied the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ request to amend his earlier ruling regarding TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline, reaffirming that a permit issued by the Army Corps was invalid.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris ruled again that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) violated the Endangered Species Act when it issued Nationwide Permit 12, which allows companies to construct energy projects at water crossings.
“The court rightly ruled that the Trump administration can’t continue to ignore the catastrophic effects of fossil fuel pipelines like Keystone XL.”
—Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity
Climate action and Indigenous rights campaigners have for years fought the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which if built would cross bodies of water hundreds of times along its nearly 1,200-mile route from Alberta to Nebraska. TC Energy plans to send tar sands oil along the route, which opponents say would put Indigenous communities as well as wildlife at risk for dangerous leaks and exposure to toxic waste.
“The court rightly ruled that the Trump administration can’t continue to ignore the catastrophic effects of fossil fuel pipelines like Keystone XL,” said Jared Margolis, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Constructing pipelines through rivers, streams, and wetlands without analyzing the impacts on imperiled species is unconscionable.”
The USACE had asked Morris to narrow his April 15 ruling, but the judge only changed his decision on Nationwide Permit 12 to allow non-pipeline construction, such as electrical transmission lines, to move forward.
“Our courts have shown time and time again that the law matters,” said Cecilia Segal, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) attorney. “Today’s ruling makes clear that climate-busting pipelines like Keystone XL cannot be built until the federal government does its job and properly analyzes these projects’ devastating effects on their surrounding communities and wildlife. If that analysis is based on science and facts, pipelines like Keystone XL will never see the light of day because they remain, and always will be, a dire threat to our water, wildlife, and climate.”
I write to you today with sad news that highlights so many of the layers of injustice we face as Native people.
Here at the Lakota People’s Law Project, we’ve seen a lot and worked hard to address a variety of important issues over the past 15 years — among them criminal justice reform for American Indians. Now, in the coronavirus era, this problem has raised its ugly head again: a 30 year-old woman from my tribal nation, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, died in federal custody in a Texas prison on Tuesday, Apr, 21, just three weeks after giving birth. The cause of her death? COVID-19.
Andrea Circle Bear and her newborn.
How is it that one of our tribal members was taken from my homelands into custody by South Dakota state officials bent on ignoring the threat of coronavirus, and then shipped to a prison in another state that also ignores science — Texas — where she contracted a preventable disease that killed her?
At no point in this process did Andrea have the power to protect herself — an age-old crisis here in Indian Country: lack of sovereignty. Who will someday explain to Andrea’s infant child how and why her mother died in the hands of the enemy?
Andrea’s tragic story shows why your attention to our Indigenous communities is so important. In the coming days, the Lakota People’s Law Project media team will work with journalists to ensure they have support on the ground as they uncover what happened to Ms. Circle Bear. Moreover, we will redouble our efforts to resist willful ignorance in states like South Dakota and Texas in the face of this pandemic, and we’ll work in every way we can to strengthen tribal nations. We live in poverty and we are vulnerable, but we know how to fight.
Please stay with us. With courage, everything is possible.
Wopila — My gratitude for your solidarity,
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project
I hope you’re staying safe! Here in South Dakota, it’s getting crazier by the day. Governor Kristi Noem refuses to implement common sense rules to protect the people of her state — and among those most vulnerable are 72,000 Native people representing nine different tribal nations. Right now, Sioux Falls is home to one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation, yet Governor Noem has failed to issue a general stay-at-home order, hasn’t shut down nonessential businesses, and has begun using some of the city’s workers as hydroxychloroquine guinea pigs.
Watch our new video, in which Chase Iron Eyes gives context and Rachel Maddow details the horrific situation in Sioux Falls.
As Standing Rock’s Robert White Mountain recently shared with you, Governor Noem has also failed to issue statewide suspensions of utility shut-offs and evictions, forcing Native families into the streets in sub-freezing temperatures during the pandemic. Her willful ignorance of recommendations by medical professionals puts our tribal nations — where public health infrastructure is already often lacking — in extreme jeopardy. Both Pine Ridge and Standing Rock have positive cases. An uncontrolled spread among our people would be devastating.
Here at Cheyenne River, we’ve taken matters into our own hands by closing off roads into the reservation. So far it is working, but we can’t protect ourselves for long if South Dakota’s chief executive continues taking her queues from Trump.
The White House is largely at fault for inadequate testing and shortages of personal protective equipment. While the president calls to reopen the economy and praises oblivious protesters ignoring social distancing rules, only one percent of the U.S. population has been tested for COVID-19. Experts agree that the pathway to recovery includes testing millions of Americans every day.
Only five states in the country remain without stay-at-home orders, all here in the heartland, all with conservative governors. An extreme outlier and part of a renegade, right-wing movement to ignore science at the expense of (disproportionately Brown and Black) lives, Noem must hear the truth.
In solidarity,
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project
“Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation President Bernadine Burnette closed the We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort last month. Casinos with less than 500 employees are making the case to be included in the government’s payroll protection plan. (Photo by Patty Talahongva, Indian Country Today)
Mark Trahant
‘Congress said ‘any’ small business can get paycheck protection for its people, the SBA has no right to say anything less to small tribal gaming businesses’ * Updated 12 MSTPresident Donald Trump has been clear about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration announced further details on the Paycheck Protection Program, which was made possible by the 2-trillion-dollar relief bill I signed into law last week,” he said at a White House briefing. “Nearly $350 billion in loans will soon be available through lending partners to help small businesses meet payroll and other expenses for up to two months. These loans will be forgiven as long as businesses keep paying their workers. This includes sole proprietors and independent contractors.”
However there remains uncertainty about whether tribal enterprises — namely casinos that employ less than 500 people — will even qualify for the program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (or CARES act).
John Chao created this beautiful photography book and has a chapter about Standing Rock. Check it out. People who were there have their names listed. I am listed there and am very proud to say that I was there, I was a witness, I contributed, and I tried to help in any way I could by waking up my school community on Sacramento to what was going on in North Dakota.
The struggle continues as we battle through a rogue government and a pandemic.
It will always be the artist, writers, and educators who will document and tell the tale.
It’s more important now than ever to unite and support each other. That’s why, on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we’re launching a massive livestream from April 22-24 where you can join activists, celebrities, musicians, and more in an epic moment of community and hope for our future. Together, we’ll:
Drive donations to benefit the COVID-19 relief effort
Call on world leaders to take emergency action to build a more sustainable and just world
Inspire millions to pledge to vote for our future.
For 50 years, we’ve been losing the fight for our planet. But we can make this the century we saved the world — starting on Earth Day. Here’s how you can spread the word and make this as big as possible.
After I wrote to you last week with news that the McLaughlin City Council had shut off the power to my son’s home, you came through in a big way. You flooded the council with nearly 10,000 emails demanding that they stop this harmful practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you, and good work! However, though my son’s power is back on, the council still hasn’t stopped shut-offs citywide.
If you have already sent your message to the city council, please share our action on social media using the buttons below. Ask your friends and family to join our call for Standing Rock safety now.
My son, his wife, and my grandchildren.
I am happy to tell you that a conscientious reporter from the Rapid City Journal also followed up on a press release we sent and wrote an article, later picked up by the Bismarck Tribune. We hope that the continued pressure from you and the media will pay off in policy change soon. The council will meet again on Apr. 21. Let’s make sure they know we won’t accept their failure to provide public safety for the people of Bear Soldier District (our Lakota name for McLaughlin).
Because South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem stubbornly refuses to call for even the most basic precautions to slow the viral spread, the pandemic has now exploded in my state. (We will share more with you about this very soon.) Sioux Falls is home to the single worst hot spot in the nation, and there are also multiple cases in Bear Soldier. This just makes it all the more important that local officials — like those on the McLaughlin City Council — behave responsibly.
Our goal in this campaign is not to increase racial division or get free electricity for anyone. Rather, we’re hoping to encourage compassion and concern for public health on the part of our elected officials — and reconciliation between Native and non-Native residents of Standing Rock. But our goal of unity can only be furthered if justice is secured.
Wopila — I thank you on behalf of all the families of Bear Soldier!
Robert White Mountain
via the Lakota People’s Law Project
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer met with the Chinle Service Unit Command Team and Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Region 9 representatives Josh Allan and Ricardo Zuniga on March 31, 2020 to evaluate local facilities in Chinle, Arizona, to discuss the establishment of a federal medical station to help fight the spread of COVID-19. (Photo courtesy of Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer, Facebook)
Indian Country Today
Data, story summaries, lists of closures, resourcesIndian Country Today
COVID-19 Tracker in the United States
April 16, 2020 9:15 pm EDT
Cases confirmed in the Indian health system: 1,397
Good news: Two Phoenix-area women who were living in the U.K. when coronavirus cases began skyrocketing in Europe say they’re relieved to be back with family
Two pueblos in New Mexico have some of the highest infection rates in the United States. The numbers are stark. Zia Pueblo has 31 confirmed positive cases with a population of 900 people. And San Felipe has 52 cases with a population of 2,200.
‘Congress said ‘any’ small business can get paycheck protection for its people, the SBA has no right to say anything less to small tribal gaming businesses’
COVID-19 pandemic threatens health in Alaska Native villages and the thousands of workers who usually arrive for the short, lucrative Bristol Bay fishery.
Navajo Nation is an Indian Country COVID-19 hotspot, as medical supplies are dwindling nationally. A summary of COVID-19-related news for Saturday April 4, 2020
Ravn Air carried passengers, food, freight and mail to more than 120 communities announced it’s ending service to all but 11 villages. Ravn Air sent the message at 6 a.m. telling employees to stop operations that day.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said there are “’incredible spikes” of coronavirus cases in the Navajo Nation and that the virus could “wipe out” some tribal nations, according to a recording of a call between Trump and the nation’s governors obtained by ABC News.
“We’re seeing incredible spikes in the Navajo Nation, and this is going to be an issue where we’re going to have to figure that out and think about maybe testing and surveillance opportunities,” Grisham said.
Indian Country Today Reporters’ Roundtable, March 30
Another Monday. Another tranche of global COVID-19 cases on National Doctors Day. There are now more than 122,000 cases in the United States, resulting in 2,112 deaths. And in Indian Country there are 190 cases with at least 10 deaths confirmed.
The Lummi Nation in Washington state reported the sharpest increase so far this week. There are now 16 positive cases, 12 of them being Lummi citizens, and nine people who live on the Lummi Reservation. Two of the cases include members of the Lummi Business Council. The identified cases are likely to go up — there are 22 more cases pending, according to the tribe’s public health department.
Meskwaki Nation among others in Indian Country with confirmed cases
Weekends are usually days when people take time off. Not these days as the number of positive coronavirus cases continue to grow in Indian Country. Over the weekend, tribal nations reported new numbers, instituted new curfews and organizations asked for more donations to send to both students and community members. Others used this time to connect on social media. In Iowa, a 31-year-old Meskwaki woman was confirmed positive for the virus, the Times Republican reported. She has been identified as Lindsey Johnson.
‘Three weeks ago we were doing great! And now we’re done.’
It’s a sparse lunch crowd at the Bee Line Cafe in Payson, Arizona. Only four tables have guests seated and eating. Business has slowed considerably in the past week says owner Kassie Sexton.“People are not wanting to come in because they’re afraid they’re going to get cooties.” She laughs nervously as she looks around her nearly empty cafe.
The sweeping bill that President Donald Trump signed will help better equip health care systems that serve Native Americans, improve the emergency response time on tribal lands, provide economic relief for tribal members, and help with food deliveries to low-income families and the elderly.
Tribes have been lobbying Congress to help address shortfalls in an already underfunded health care system and to ensure the federal government fulfills its obligation to them under treaties and other acts. While the $10 billion for tribes in the $2.2 trillion package is less than they requested, tribes say it represents progress.
The number of coronavirus cases is growing globally.
On Saturday, 103,321 cases were reported in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making the U.S. the country with the highest number of confirmed cases and 1,668 people have died from coronavirus-related complications.
Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is the highest in the world, with over 10,000 fatalities.
Federal and state services include monetary and food assistance, unemployment benefits, and more. The National Retail Federation also has over 70 corporations looking for workers
Updated: New coronavirus cases on the Navajo Nation have increased by 20 on Wednesday, from 49 to 69
Tribes in Minnesota are the latest across Indian Country to fall under a statewide stay-at-home order in the fight to prevent the coronavirus spread.Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order on Wednesday ordering Minnesota residents in nonessential jobs to stay at home. The order begins midnight Friday and is scheduled to run through April 10.
The Senate and White House reached an agreement on the bailout funds for America, the largest in history. The $2 trillion relief package includes $8 billion for tribal governments and $2 billion for emergency supplemental funding for federal Indian programs.
The Senate vote on the agreement is set to happen this afternoon. Even if passed by the Senate, they would need House approval.
Two Arizona tribes in the Phoenix valley see their first COVID-19 cases while the Navajo Nation adds 20 more reports. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reported its first case and the Gila River Indian Community has two positive cases.
These new cases bring the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Indian health system to 64 and two deaths. Eight out of 10 deaths due to the coronavirus in the U.S. have been people 65 and older, according to the CDC.
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community President Martin Harvier made the announcement Tuesday afternoon on the tribal government’s Facebook page.
Generations and generations … have had to deal with these pandemics and these viruses, and they’ve also had to get up in the morning and feed themselves, and make things run for society’
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people arriving from out of state to slow the spread of COVID-19. On Sunday Hawaii Governor David Ing took the action for travelers headed there.
Surgeon General: ‘America … It’s going to get bad’
This morning U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on national television, “I want America to understand this week, it’s going to get bad.” As if he needed proof, the number of positive cases for COVID-19 listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doubled over the weekend. There are now 33,404 cases and 400 people across the country have died.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan: Someone feeling well could still be carrying the virus … ‘then you walk past the next Ron, my big brother, in public’
Indian Country Today Reporters’ Roundtable, March 24
Zibaaska’iganagooday is the exploding sound in the Ojibwe language and it has a long history of healing
Community song and dance have always been a part of healing and prayer for Native people. In this time of social distancing, however, people are putting a digital spin on these healing traditions. People all over Indian Country are organizing virtual powwows and other social dances via social media as a means to offer hope and spiritual support during the Covid19 pandemic
Swords, rez dogs, Indian Country adventures and more
Bored at home? Nonsense. Practicing safe social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic can also mean opportunity. We can finally catch up on all the streaming shows, Native YouTubers, read all the books we never have time for and listen to all the saved podcast episodes tucked away on our devices.
Native artists, musicians, comedians, actors and writers speak on careers affected by the COVID-19 virus. Freelance Artist Resources website hopes to provide relief
American Indians and Alaska Natives clustered in camps or on the streets; ‘It’s been a crazy time’
Every major city has a virtual suburb for the homeless. Homes consisting of tents, scrap wood, shopping baskets and cardboard boxes. In shelters, a family dwelling might have a common kitchen and bedrooms with bunk beds. Others may have a large room filled with dozens of bunk beds or canvas cots. Some have dozens of rubber-coated thick pads placed a foot apart in rows laid across a concrete floor.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in the Navajo Nation has grown to 14, a dramatic increase from the three confirmed cases reported only a day ago.
The announcement came hours after a 55-year-old Cherokee Nation citizen was the first coronavirus related death in Oklahoma. Before the Navajo Nation announcement late Thursday, March 19, there were nine cases confirmed in the Indian health system.
The Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma have confirmed the first COVID-19 related death, according to the Cherokee Phoenix. A 55-year-old Cherokee man died on March 18 after fighting a cold and then contracted the coronavirus disease.
The death of a tribal citizen that has been confirmed is one of the nine cases reported in the Indian health system as of March 19. On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation confirmed its third case, a 62-year-old Navajo man.
The Lummi Nation in Washington state has confirmed three positive COVID-19 cases, according to Tony Hillaire, chief of staff of the Lummi Indian Business Council. This adds to the total of seven within the Indian health system; one in the Portland Area of the Indian Health Service, one in the Great Plains area and two in the Navajo region.
Of the three Lummi cases, one is a Lummi citizen who resides on the reservation. The other two cases are residents of King and Whatcom counties.
John Chao created this beautiful photography book and has a chapter about Standing Rock. Check it out. People who were there have their names listed. I am listed there and am very proud to say that I was there, I was a witness, I contributed, and I tried to help in any way I could by waking up my school community on Sacramento to what was going on in North Dakota.
Water is Life 