Indigenously: ANWR

DECOLONIZING YOUR NEWSFEED



	A 2017 newsletter cover of the Iñupiat-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corp. after Congress opened part of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration.

ANWR | 8.21.20

What a week - so many Natives were visible on the national stage during the streaming DNC convention. As my colleague, Maria Hinojosa tweeted about Tuesday’s roll-call:

“I loved hearing all of the languages spoken in this country. Maybe my favorite part-hearing all of the indigenous languages.”

After so much chronic ignoring, it’s an incredible thing that Indigenous Peoples in this country are being seen and heard. But such visibility in politics does not make a monolith. Historically, Indian Country has voted Democrat. Yet, for Native Republicans, they have their own agenda. And under President Trump, one of the most powerful Natives in politics right now is steadily advancing a long-standing goal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Tara Sweeney, has been advocating for ANWR oil-development from the time she entered politics two decades ago. An Iñupiat Native, she challenges popular assumptions of Indigenous environmentalism. Following this week’s decision by the Trump Administration to open the reserve for drilling, my Indigenous analysis takes a closer look at Tara Sweeney’s ANWR.

Also for your weekend reading, a media critique I wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review’s Spring 2020 magazine about being clear-eyed about Indigenous affairs when covering matters concerning climate change like energy development. The link to that piece is below in this week’s installment of “The Crisis in Covering Indian Country.”

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THE INDIGENOUS INTERNET



	Art: Quinton Pushetonequa / Video for context: Jo Reed

INDIGENOUSLY INDEX

Estimated acreage targeted for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: 1.5M

Percentage of US registered voters polled in 2017 who oppose drilling the ANWR: 70%

Total acreage Iñupiat-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corp has rights to drill: 92K

Total feet of water Greenland’s 2019 ice melt would cover California: 4

Exact fishing boundary in feet Metlakatla Indian Community is suing Alaska over: 3K

Total SCOTUS cases the late Slade Gorton argued including a fiery fishing rights suit: 14

Total days until Lezmond Mitchell’s execution, called a “insult to Navajo sovereignty”: 5

Total years a Native inmate spent in a men’s ward before a female sex-change surgery: 8

Number of US-trans inmates to receive court-ordered gender reassignment surgery: 1

Ratio of disproportionate COVID-19 cases among Natives compared to whites: 3.5

Estimated amount the CDC will add to Indian Country’s COVID-19 budget: $200M

Number of months tribes have waited to receive the remaining 40% of CARES Act aid: 5

Total lawsuits filed (and some failed) by tribes against US Treasury over delayed fund: 6

Total weeks the Navajo Nation enforced a stay-at-home virus order before lifting it: 21

Price for a six-pack of the controversial Code Talker Pale Ale: $12

THE CRISIS

In November 2019, a busload of Standing Rock tribal citizens left the reservation pre-dawn and waited - some as long as 15 hours - for their chance to publicly denounce the DAPL’s expansion efforts. It’s a story that barely got covered and just one example of how reporting about The Biggest Emergency, climate change, often neglects the Indigenous narrative. Read more in my piece for CJR.

ENDORSEMENT

With my mind on the Arctic, I naturally thought of the work of Iñupiat photographer, Brian Adams (we’re part of the same Natives Photograph collective). His Instagram feed is changing perceptions of Native Alaskans one portrait at a time. Please consider adding him to your feed.

FEEDBACK

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QUOTE

“The federal government doesn't wanna fuck with us because they are afraid of Indians. And they should be.” - Attorney Nicole Ducheneaux featured on The Daily Show about the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit defending its reservation-wide coronavirus checkpoint mandate.

Indigenously is a newsletter produced by Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo)