DECOLONIZING YOUR NEWSFEED

THE VIRUS | 9.11.20

Guwadzi. Hi there! I just wrapped up a road trip and what lingered on my mind - obviously - was paying witness to various communities’ care, or lack thereof, for the coronavirus. It was heartfelt to see my fellow New Yorkers finally nestle in at outdoor patio restaurants with ease, after so much anxiety from earlier months. And it was fascinating to see that once I passed the Ohio state line, how diminishing mask mandates had become. No more obvious was this than in Rogers County, Oklahoma - situated in the heart of the Cherokee Nation - and also where my mother has called home for the last thirty years, or so. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone wearing a mask, including my mother. A career-long health care professional with the Indian Health Services, she is perhaps the most skeptical person I know about the data and pandemic news stemming from Indian Country. (A story for another time.)

As my reflections turned to the virus, which this week, marks six months since the WHO declared a global pandemic, it has also been a major week of developments from Indian Country. Earlier today, a DC appellate court heard oral arguments in a case that has stalled forty percent of CARES Act relief aid from getting to tribal nations - all based on an emerging realization of corporation’s ability of coronavirus profiteering. Meanwhile, dozens of women are considering a class-action lawsuit against the country’s only female medical prison where the first woman inmate died of the coronavirus - a Cheyenne River Sioux mother, Andrea Circle Bear. Also involving the Cheyenne River, the tribe may have its case dismissed by the Trump Administration over its virus checkpoints on the reservation. There was also news from the Navajo Nation, reportedly one of the hardest hit from the virus, that announced for the first time - no new cases of Covid-19. So many developments ahead of a new season still stymied by the pandemic in the midst of a high-stakes election. I express more of these arcs in this week’s Indigenously Index.

As I returned from the road to wild weather in Santa Fe - a crazy cold front - it reminded me to embrace what’s left of the warmer climate. I’m using this time to be still in the natural world as much as possible while also recognizing that those in fire-zones like in California are not as fortunate. Be kind to you and yours. - Jenni

THE INDIGENOUS INTERNET

INDIGENOUSLY INDEX

Total women plotting a prison lawsuit where Andrea Circle Bear died from Covid-19: 73

Number of female inmates who have died from Covid-19 at the prison medical center: 6

Percentage of Native votes reportedly suppressed by the pandemic in New Mexico: 1%

Maximum ballots a new Montana law limits others to deliver for individuals: 6

Estimated total of MT reservation-based ballots delivered by a single person in 2018: 47 

Total Montana counties out of 56 favoring all-mail ballots due to Covid-19 concerns: 45

Total number of lawsuits challenging Montana’s all-mail voting: 3 

Number of months before the Navajo Nation stopped reported new Covid-19 cases: 6

Total paid by an undercover agent for virus “cures” sold by a “Navaho” shaman: $460

Average number of letters per week the feds send to those claiming a Covid-19 cure: 13

Total weeks that virus checkpoints have been in effect on the Cheyenne River rez: 23

Total days added to publicly comment on the Chaco drilling plan due to virus: 120

Number of days remaining to file a comment online (form here): 14

Estimated number of new oil and gas wells proposed for Chaco Canyon area: 3,000

Total US states the tribes of Venetie, Arctic Village joined in ANWR lawsuits: 15

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

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