Overview:
The weekend may be over, but the news affecting Indian Country doesn’t stop. Each Monday, Native News Online brings you “Articles
You May Have Missed”—a quick look at the important stories from across Indian Country that deserve your attention.
Happy Monday Morning!
Here are some of the articles you may have missed this past weekend:
Uranium mining expanded across the Navajo Nation beginning in the 1940s, then surged in the 1950s as the United States sought radioactive metal for its growing nuclear weapons program. The mines drew thousands of Navajo workers with the promise of steady wages at a time when jobs on the reservation were scarce.
Private companies ran the operations, and for nearly 30 years, the federal government was the sole purchaser of uranium from the Navajo mines.
Although it was known at the time that exposure to uranium could cause cancer, little was done to protect the Navajo miners from the deluge of sickness that would befall them and their families as a direct result of working in the mines.
The Santa Fe NDN Market Vibe Deep in American History
The overwhelming consumption of culture and commerce is palpable in the air. The vibe and energy in the historical setting has existed in war and peace for such exchange activity since the 1600s — first between Pueblo Indians and Spanish colonists, followed by Mexican generals and English settlers. An 1880 visit to Santa Fe by United States President Rutherford B. Hayes and Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Tecumseh Sherman laid claim to the New Mexico territory.
Sherman had choice words for the cultural exchange he observed in Santa Fe. In the book, Santa Fe’s Fonda: The Story of the Old Inn at the End of the Trail, by Allen Steele, Sherman is quoted as saying, “I hope ten years hence there won’t be any adobe houses in the territory.”
The famous Civil War general did not get his wish, as Santa Fe committed to revitalize and uphold the traditional adobe style in the late 19th century to attract tourists.
Alaska Native Polling Station Opened For Just 3 Hours on Election Day, A Sign of Continuing Problems
At least two polling stations in rural Alaska opened late for the Tuesday statewide primary election, the Alaska Division of Elections confirmed late Tuesday, and observers independently reported other sites also opened late.
The problem was most acute in the southwestern village of Nunapitchuk, where bad weather grounded flights and kept elections workers from opening a polling place until 5 p.m. That gave local voters only three hours to vote before the scheduled 8 p.m. close.
