January 03, 2025
The U.S. Department of the Interior has confirmed the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s aboriginal rights to a contested property in Hampton Bays, New York, potentially derailing state and local efforts to regulate the tribe’s development projects there.
Currents
During 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led the passage of 16 bills and helped secure historic investments which will benefit Native communities nationwide. Specifically, Schatz worked to deliver record funding for Native housing, totaling more than $1.3 billion, as well as more than $7 billion to strengthen Native health care. Additionally, 4 bills were enacted into law, and several others – including the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act – advanced to the House for further consideration.
From Our Partners
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB), an agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior, was created by Congress to promote the economic development of American Indian and Alaska Natives (Indian) through the expansion of the Indian arts and crafts market. As part of its promotional services, the IACB maintains the Source Directory of American Indian and Alaska Native Owned and Operated Arts and Crafts Businesses , a great resource for people looking to buy authentic Indian art or Indian artists interested in a free business listing.
Opinion
Opinion. Throughout American history, the federal government has adopted various policies to address its relationship with Native Americans.
Guest Opinion. The Coalition of Large Tribes, an intertribal organization representing the interests of the more than 50 tribes with reservations of 100,000 acres or more, encompassing more than 95% of the Indian Country lands and more than half the Native American population, warmly welcomes today’s announcement that the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement guidance on the tax treatment of wholly-owned tribal entities.
Sovereignty
Guest Opinion. Fifty years ago, President Ford signed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 into law. This seminal law – the product of tireless Native activism that rallied against a centuries-long status quo – changed how tribal governments serve their people. It solidified that, while the federal government is a partner with trust and treaty obligations to tribes, it is tribes that know best what their people need from their governments.
On January 4, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, a piece of legislation that fundamentally reshaped federal-tribal relations.
Education
Legislation has been introduced in Congress by two Kansas lawmakers that will give the Haskell Board of Regents governance over Haskell Indian Nations University. If enacted, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) would be removed from operating the Lawrence, Kansas-based university.
Native American students continue to face alarmingly high rates of chronic absenteeism, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Associated Press reported last week .
Arts & Entertainment
Thanks to a $2 . 5 million grant the museum received from Lilly Endowment Inc., expressions of religion and spirituality among Native peoples and within the American West will be the focus of major projects at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
THACKERVILLE, Okla. – A life-sized bison bust made of paper towels captured Best of Show honors at Hushtola Art Market.
Health
Environment
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) has signed Public Land Order 7956, solidifying protections for the Pactola Reservoir–Rapid Creek Watershed within the Black Hills National Forest. This decision aims to safeguard the area from potential impacts of mineral exploration and development.
As mining activities escalate in western states and jeopardize indigenous lands and resources, the National Congress of American Indians called on Congress to enact legislation to protect Indigenous sacred sites from mining. The group’s General Assembly passed the resolution at its 2024 annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. NCAI is the oldest, largest and most representative Native American and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.