Renee Iron Hawk (Tituwan Oohenumpa) first heard years ago about annual “Bearing Witness” retreats at the infamous Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. She instantly felt a “calling” to attend. In November 2022, Renee and her husband, Manny Iron Hawk (Titunwan Okowozu), of Red Scaffold SD on the Cheyenne River Reservation were among 35-40 participants who spent four days […]
2023-02-16
‘Smiles A Lot’ arrested on sex trafficking charges
LAS VEGAS – When he played Smiles A lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves” Nathan Chasing Horse won over the hearts of many movie goers with his boyish antics. Now, 33 years later, the actor is being charged with using his influence to sexually abuse young indigenous girls. On January 31, Nathan Chasing Horse aka Nathan Chasing His […]
Montana Indian Legislative Caucus not detoured by Republican majority
HELENA, MT—The Montana State Legislature, now in bi-annual session has the highest number of tribal elected officials in the Nation. They are about seven percent of the Legislature, slightly higher than the census count of Indians in Montana which is slightly over six percent. Yet in the 2023 legislative session they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by an extremely conservative Republican majority, […]
Cross was a powerful advocate for meaningful change
Native attorney Dick Trudell often talks about how fifty years ago there were only a handful of Native attorneys across the country, but then came a new generation of young, skilled and knowledgeable attorneys, who would have a critical impact on the course of tribal history. Raymond Cross, who entered the spirit world last week at the age of 74, […]
Native American Artist creates key design for NFL Super Bowl LVII
For the first time, an Indigenous artist’s works will be featured at the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl, adorning 60,000 game tickets, displays, limited edition Wilson Footballs, and a massive Super Bowl mural in downtown Phoenix. The NFL chose Phoenix-based artist Lucinda Hinojos — who is Mexican American as well as Pascua Yaqui, Chiricahua Apache, White Mountain Apache, and […]
Speculation about Suicide
It is difficult to write about suicide – tragedy that affects nearly every Native American family. Even if not directly, indirectly, because we are all closely related. Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and South Dakota lead the nation in suicide statistics, all rurally isolated areas, home to many Native Americans. In Montana, for example teens are twice as likely to die from […]
Our world should be the whole world
Over the past century and a half, the Oceti Sakowin have been traumatized and marginalized by an invading power no opposing force on this planet can subdue. Like Northern European tribes trapped in the 600-year nightmare that was the Roman Empire, our tribe is deeply trapped in a world not of their making, a world rife with alien ideas and […]
Rapid City tribal members left out of the loop
There was recently a Tribal Meth Summit in Pierre, however those of us living in and around He Sapa, which tribes adamantly claim is 1868 Treaty Territory, and thus their mantra “The Black Hills are not for sale,” are left out of the loop when it comes to how meth impacts our tribal members. The addiction issues that affect tribes […]
‘A dictatorship without tears…’
For years I have had this reoccurring dream, that I am sitting at the back of a bus, full of oblivious people, and the driver is not slowing down for sharp turns, so the back of the bus fishtails, wheels spitting rock off the edge of a sheer cliff. I can look out the window, and see jagged rocks hundreds […]
Francheska Jo Two Lance
FREEJanuary 24, 1979 ~ January 23, 2023 OGLALA – Francheska Jo Two Lance made her journey to the Spirit World on January 23, 2023 at her home in Red Field, SD. Francheska was born on January 24, 1979 in Sioux Falls, SD to Rick Good Weasel and Violet Two Lance. Francheska is survived by her siblings, Thomas W. Two Lance, […]
