Guest Opinion . Yesterday, Senecas asked what concrete next steps would follow Gov. Hochul's apology. The Seneca people have called for reparations, foremost is for resources to support language preservation and cultural revitalization. Others suggest land back and monetary reparations for survivors.

Guest Opinion. In the 183 years since New York became a state, a governor has never visited the Seneca Nation territories. Governor Kathy Hochul, who is from Hamburg, a short 23-mile jog up the road from Cattaraugus, made a historic visit to the Seneca Nation to make history in two, maybe three ways. On May 20, Hochul made an apology to the Seneca people for the state’s 72-year operation of the Thomas Indian School on the Cattaraugus territory, a boarding school that overwhelmingly contributed to the destruction of Seneca families, culture, and language for 102 years.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe welcomed a May 9 federal court decision that temporarily halts the U.S. government’s plan to transfer Oak Flat—sacred Western Apache land within the Tonto National Forest—to Resolution Copper, a company backed by Chinese interests.

A federal court has issued an order halting the U.S. government’s plans to transfer Oak Flat—the most sacred site of the Western Apaches—to a multinational mining corporation for destruction. In the case Apache Stronghold v. United States , the government recently indicated it could hand over the land as soon as June 16, 2025, to Resolution Copper, a mining company with Chinese ownership, which intends to transform the sacred site into a massive copper mine. This would effectively end Apache religious practices tied to the land. Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Western Apaches, other Native communities, and allies, filed an emergency motion to pause the transfer while the case awaits review by the U.S. Supreme Court.