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Professor Breaks Down Sovereignty and Explains its Significance

Shaawano Chad Uran, Indian Country Today Media Network

Sovereignty is one of those terms we toss around without much thought. It is an important word within contemporary American Indian discussions. The term itself draws from legal, cultural, political, and historical traditions, and these traditions are connected to both European as well as Indigenous philosophies in complicated ways. A shared understanding of the term would be helpful to both local people working on their own issues, and working with surrounding communities. Rather than defining sovereignty as a term, what I hope to do here is acknowledge aspects of sovereignty that have become sticking points as Indigenous people assert their own self-determination. I won’t go into Indigenous philosophies about sovereignty because it’s probably none of your business.

Sovereignty is a type of political power, and it is exercised through some form of government. For the sake of simplicity, I will focus on the United States and its treaty federalism. In the US, there are basically three types of sovereigns:

–The US Federal Government

–Each of the 50 State governments

–Tribal governments

The US Federal government is sometimes called the supreme sovereign of the United States. Its powers are defined and limited by the US Constitution. It represents the largest focus of political, economic, and legal power, and has some (but not absolute) power over other sovereigns within the US. As a constitutional democracy, its power is supposed to come from the People—its citizens.

The State governments derive much of their sovereign power from the US Federal government. The US Constitution explicitly grants States residual powers—those powers that are not explicitly given to the Federal government. The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution reads,

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Tribes have sovereignty that is obviously older than the US Constitution. Tribes had their own form of government, and many had legal codes written into their own documents, their own stories, their own practices, and their own memories. Tribal sovereignty is derived from the people, the land, and their relationships; tribal sovereignty was not a gift from any external government. Tribal sovereignty is not defined in the US Constitution. But anyone at all familiar with the history of US Indian Policy knows that many limitations—as well as possibilities—for tribal sovereignty have been defined over time.

Tribal sovereignty is recognized in the US Constitution. Article VI, Clause 2 (sometimes called “the supremacy clause”) of the US Constitution says:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

This clause is why American Indian treaties are so important to understanding sovereignty. Treaties are agreements made between sovereign entities—usually called nations. The US has signed several hundred treaties with Indigenous nations and other nations around the world. International relations occur through, and are often defined by, international treaties. Therefore, by signing a treaty, both sides are showing that they recognize the sovereignty of the other, and the treaty spells out how each nation will relate to the other as nations.

The relationship between many tribes and the US Federal government is based on treaties. The US Federal government did not have treaties with the individual States. The supremacy clause recognizes that tribal nations and other international laws are just as powerful as the US Constitution itself. This also means that the sovereignty of tribal nations is different—and in many ways higher—than the sovereignty enjoyed by individual States

Tribal sovereignty was immediately (if inconsistently) recognized by Europeans as they explored the hemisphere. Christopher Columbus himself wrapped his descriptions and interactions with “Indians” in the language of nationhood. This wasn’t progressive or respectful, though. It was a holdover from the Inquisition and other efforts to destroy and/or exploit nonchristian nations.

We all should know by now that Columbus was genocidal. Despite being a violently domineering slave trader, usurper, and land thief, the fact that he used the language of nationhood gives us a clue that sovereignty does not need to be absolute for it to be real, or legal, or recognized by other nations.

In fact, we can look to the Roman philosopher Cicero to explain how national sovereignty may be recognized despite a very unequal power relationship. He said:

“Every nation that governs itself, under whatever form, without dependence on any foreign power, is a sovereign state. Nations or states are body politic, societies of men united together for the purpose of promoting their mutual safety and advantage by joint efforts of their combined strength.”

At first, this seems like the usual understanding of sovereignty as meaning absolute power, or at least absolute independence. This is the type of sovereignty celebrated by US patriots, anti-treaty rights activists, the TEA Party, and others who think that “might makes right” is a good idea. However, Cicero continues:

“We ought to include as sovereign states those who have united themselves with another more powerful by an unequal alliance, in which, as Aristotle says, to the more powerful is given more honor, and to the weaker more assistance. Provided the inferior ally reserved to itself the sovereignty, or the right of governing its own body, it ought to be considered as an independent state that keeps up an intercourse with others under the authority of the law of nations.”

The fact that other nations lack power, or may be dependent upon other nations, does not detract from their status as sovereigns. The US Supreme Court once defined tribes as “domestic dependent nations,” but this does not prevent the use of the term, “sovereignty,” to describe tribes. The treaties between tribes and the US Federal government are recognized as being equal to the US Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Even the ancient philosophies of Europe demand legal, ongoing treaty relations between nations that may be unequal in power.

Thus, absolute power is not necessary for sovereignty to exist. In fact, the US Constitution limits the sovereignty of the US, not only by recognizing the co-supremacy of international treaties, but by delegating some powers to the States. Most importantly, the US Constitution has recognized that the citizens themselves hold residual powers, or all those powers not granted to the State and Federal governments.

This is similar to a feature of American Indian treaty law, where those powers—those rights—not explicitly given up to the US Federal government are still held by tribes. Here is where we find the inherent sovereignty of tribes, and this is where many tribes have exercised their self-determination in ways like language revitalization, treaty rights, and Indigenous governance.

Absolute independence is also not necessary for sovereignty to exist. After all, how “independent” is the US? Does the US have energy independence? Trade independence? Manufacturing independence? Technological independence? Military independence? Resource independence? Agricultural independence? Economic independence? In many respects the US is dependent upon other nations for these things, but I rarely hear anyone doubt the sovereignty of the US. While the economic situation for most tribal nations is dire, we have to remember that tribal economies were based on access to land. Lands were ceded to the US by treaty in exchange for tribal economic security and other provisions. It is ridiculous to blame tribes for economic dependence, when that dependence arose from loss of the very lands that allow Americans to enjoy economic success, especially since holding 97 percent of the land base is still somehow not enough to support the desires of the US: they’re still after our lands and resources.

So what is the defining aspect of sovereignty? It’s not independence. It’s not absolute power. The defining aspects of sovereignty are the international relationships carried out as sovereign nations. Treaties are the most obvious evidence that one nation recognizes or acknowledges the sovereignty of another nation. This is why it is possible to say that the United States, as a nation, was not born in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, or in 1789 with the establishment of the Constitution. No, the US became a nation with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Put another way, the US only became a legitimate, recognized nation by entering into a treaty relationship with other recognized sovereign nations.

So next time someone says that Indigenous nations are “only quasi-sovereign” or “only domestic dependent nations,” kindly teach them about law, history, and philosophy. And if that someone is a Governor, tell them they’re just jealous of the inherent superiority of tribes over states.

Shaawano Chad Uran (Shaawano.com/Alex Colby)

Shaawano Chad Uran, a member of the White Earth Nation and professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington, received his PhD in Anthropology, concentrating on Ojibwe language revitalization, in 2012 from the University of Iowa. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Minnesota. Urah has taught at Bowdoin College in Maine, the University of Victoria in British Columbia, The Evergreen State College in Washington, and the University of Washington.

Uran’s research areas are: Indigenous language revitalization, language and identity, American cultural studies, language ideologies, American Indian sovereignty, critical theory, Native American studies, and coloniality. He is also known for applying Indigenous critical theory to zombie films and literature.

He currently lives north of Seattle, Washington.

New Exhibition Challenges Preconceptions about Native Americans

Exhibition Opens at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia Saturday, March 1, 2014

PHILADELPHIA, PA—Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now, a new exhibition opening at the Penn Museum March 1, 2014, challenges visitors to leave preconceptions about Native Americans behind—and discover a living tapestry of nations with distinct stories, identities, and contemporary leaders.

The exhibition opens with a public celebration 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, featuring Native American music and dance, presentations by Native American community leaders, arts, crafts, workshops and children’s activities—all free with Museum admission donation.

The richly interactive new exhibition features a wide range of contemporary Native American voices—including artists, activists, journalists, scholars, and community leaders—from around North America. They speak out in video and in audio, sharing stories, poetry, and short essays on issues that matter to them today: identity, political sovereignty, religious freedom and sacred places, language, celebrations, art, and cultural continuity. Through a central introductory video, and at dramatic touch screen towers and multimedia stations throughout the gallery, visitors encounter Native American perspectives on key themes.

More than 250 Native American objects—ranging from 11,000-year-old Clovis projectile points to contemporary art—drawn from the Museum’s expansive collections from around the United States and Canada, help to tell the stories of Native American peoples today, their aspirations, histories, art, concerns, and continuing cultural traditions.

Material highlights include Lenape objects from the Delaware Valley region, war bonnets and regalia from the Plains and Prairie, intricately woven baskets from Maine and California, robes and regalia, moccasins, jewelry, children’s toys and clothing, contemporary Native American art, and world renowned stone tools from Clovis, New Mexico that are among the oldest objects in the Museum’s collection. Over the course of five years, nearly 300 objects representing more than 100 tribes will be rotated on display. At interactive digital stations visitors may investigate and sort these objects according to personal interests, fashioning their own unique experiences while gaining insight into the materials on display.

A Tapestry of Nations

Far from having disappeared into the American “melting pot,” today’s Native Americans are culturally distinct and diverse. Today there are more than 565 federally recognized tribal entities in the United States alone (far more if one counts U.S. tribes that are not federally recognized, and Canadian First Nations).

The exhibition touches in on topics raised by today’s Indigenous leaders—including issues of personal and group identity, tribal sovereignty, language retention, and Native American representation—while exploring four main themes:

Local Nations focuses on the histories and living communities of the Lenape people—the original peoples of Philadelphia and the Greater Delaware Valley region. The Lenape are known as the “grandfathers,” the peoples from whom all other Algonquian-speaking groups are descended. Escaping persecution in the 1800s, many, but not all, Lenape moved to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Canada where many are now federally recognized as sovereign Delaware nations. Several of today’s local Lenape who chose to stay in our region now hold state recognition in New Jersey, and some are seeking recognition at the federal level. Ancient artifacts from this region as well as more recent and contemporary Lenape objects and regalia are part of this theme.

The roles and meanings of Sacred Places are explored as a second exhibition theme. Natural landmarks are important to Native peoples, and ongoing issues around access to those sacred places, are explored. Places are important to Native Americans for many reasons; these are places where their ancestors once lived, where special events may have occurred in their histories, and others hold special resources needed today to continue traditions and strengthen Native American identities. Objects often hold related stories and histories such as family crest objects from Alaska; Southwest pottery made of clay dug from mother earth; and clothing, moccasins, and beadwork that hold associations and imagery of the land. Projectile points excavated in the 1930s at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico by Penn archaeologists John L. Cotter and E. B. Howard revealed evidence of an early “Clovis Culture” that flourished more than 11,000 years ago—some of the first solid evidence that Native Americans have inhabited North America for many thousands of years.

A third section of the exhibition explores Continuing Celebrations—the many ways in which contemporary Native American communities come together to mark and sustain their cultural identities. These range from familiar powwows (more than 1,000 powwows are held each year in the U.S. alone), to newer events such as Celebration, a biennial event in Juneau, Alaska that brings together Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian families to celebrate the survival of their cultures. Today’s celebrations often include dance regalia and clothing, oratory, art, traditional foods, language workshops and more. Many Penn Museum objects come from traditions of celebration, and today’s Native artists continue to draw inspiration from objects made by their ancestors and elders. Examples include regalia such as shirts, headdresses, and leggings, as well as paintings, feasting dishes, and crest objects.

A fourth theme of New Initiatives explores ongoing economic, health, and educational initiatives in the Native American community. Native American activism has changed governmental policies and continues to create opportunities to raise economic and health standards in new ways. Highlights include the role of casinos, the development of cultural centers and language programs, the tourist market for native arts, new initiatives in the Academy, the return to traditional Native American foods, and repatriation legislation. Many objects in the Penn Museum’s collections speak to these issues: jewelry, basketry, and textiles created at different times and places for the tourist industry, and objects associated with continued health and well-being.

Telling Stories of Today

Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now is an exhibition more than five years in the making. In 2003, Dr. Lucy Fowler Williams, exhibition curator and Senior Keeper of the Penn Museum’s American Section, with Keeper William Wierzbowski and then-Curator Dr. Robert Preucel, invited more than 70 established and emerging Native American artists, leaders, and scholars from around the country to tell about the ongoing importance of objects in the Penn Museum’s North American collections which contain more than 150,000 objects representing tribes and nations from across North America. The result was Objects of Everlasting Esteem: Native American Voices on Identity, Art and Culture (2005), a hardbound book featuring Penn Museum objects paired with essays, poems, and commentary by 78 living Native Americans.

“We know the objects in Penn Museum’s collection are extraordinary as documents of different communities, times, and places in history—but we also wanted our collection to speak to the ongoing concerns and changing traditions of the people whose ancestors made them and first imbued them with meaning,” notes Dr. Williams.

Twenty-eight of the objects—and Native stories—from the book are included in the exhibition. In addition, the exhibition features new and recent work by several contemporary Native American artists—Cippy Crazyhorse, Denise Dunkley, Cliff Fragua, Nicholas Galanin, Dorothy Grant, Jason Garcia, Les Namingha, Virgil Ortiz, Teri Rofkar, Diego Romero, Abraham Anghik Ruben, Susan Point, C. Maxx Stevens, Roxanne Swentzell, and more.

More than 80 Native American consultants and collaborators have contributed to the exhibition. Four Native American advisors provided key assistance in refining the themes and stories that bring Native American Voices to life: Tina Pierce Fragoso, Assistant Director of Equity and Excellence, Coordinator of Native American Recruitment, University of Pennsylvania (Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape); Suzan Harjo, Executive Director, The Morning Star Institute (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee); master weaver and artist Teri Rofkar (Tlingit); and journalist and videographer Patty Talahongva (Hopi). In 2010 Ms. Talahongva worked with Dr. Williams to record video documentary interviews with 20 Native American specialists in the Southwest, Alaska, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., portions of which appear in the exhibition. Many of the consultants have also worked closely with American Section staff members William Wierzbowski, Keeper of the American Collections, and Stacey Espenlaub, NAGPRA Coordinator, on a variety of issues pertaining to the collections and exhibition. Several Penn students have also assisted in the development of the exhibition.

Penn Museum’s Exhibition Department, led by Kate Quinn, Director of Exhibitions, developed and designed the exhibition. Multimedia interactives were developed with the Penn Museum team and designed by BlueCadet, with casework fabricated by Universal Services Associates.

Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now opens in the Museum’s Ruth and Earl Scott Gallery, adjacent to the Kamin Main Entrance. The exhibition has been made possible with lead support from Adolf A. and Geraldine S. Paier, Ph.D., and Frances and John R. Rockwell; additional support has been provided by The Annenberg Foundation/Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, the Coby Foundation, Joanne H. and William L. Conrad, Delaware Investments/Macquairie Group Foundation, and A. Bruce and Margaret R. Mainwaring. The Lead Education sponsor is PECO.

The Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 300 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind’s collective heritage.

The Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn’s campus, across from Franklin Field). Public transportation to the Museum is available via SEPTA’s Regional Rail Line at University City Station; the Market-Frankford Subway Line at 34th Street Station; trolley routes 11, 13, 34, and 36; and bus routes 21, 30, 40, and 42. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and first Wednesdays of each month until 8:00 pm, with P.M. @ PENN MUSEUM evening programs offered. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $15 for adults; $13 for senior citizens (65 and above); free for U.S. Military; $10 for children and full-time students with ID; free to Members, PennCard holders, and children 5 and younger.

Hot and cold meals and light refreshments are offered to visitors with or without Museum admission in The Pepper Mill Café; the Museum Shop and Pyramid Shop for Children offer a wide selection of gifts, books, games, clothing and jewelry. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call 215.898.4000. For group tour information call 215.746.8183

Photos, top to bottom: Arapaho Woman’s Moccasins, ca. 1890. Though Native people across North America wore moccasins, the beadwork design of these is distinct to the Plains region (image courtesy of Penn Museum Archives #240765); members of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, an active community from southern New Jersey where they hold state recognition (image courtesy of Lucy Fowler-Williams); John Echohawk, at left, is a Pawnee lawyer and founder of the Native American Rights Fund, which works to defend the rights of Native peoples nationwide. Suzan Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee), at right, is President of The Morning Star Institute, a Native American rights organization. They share perspectives on their work in the exhibition (image courtesy of Lucy Fowler-Williams).

The Evergreen State College Creates New Position for Tribal Relations

The Evergreen State College

With the goal of deepening and expanding relationships with tribal governments in the Pacific Northwest, The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington has named former Makah tribal chairman Micah McCarty to the new post of Special Assistant to the President for Tribal Government Relations.

“Micah is a noted tribal leader and artist, with great experience in health care, cultural survival, treaty resources, sustainable development, and energy issues,” said Evergreen President Thomas L. “Les” Purce. “We know his expertise and passion will help us strengthen our relationships with Native communities.”

McCarty is working with the Washington state-based Tribal Leaders Congress on Indian Education to review curricula and educational pathways for Native students, from the Head Start program up to the Ph.D. level. McCarty has also established a relationship between local tribal governments and the college’s newly formed Center for Sustainable Infrastructure to improve tribal water systems.

Some 4.5 percent of current Evergreen students are Native American. Evergreen hosts the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, the first Native longhouse built on a public college campus in the U.S. The college also offers a master of public administration degree with a concentration on tribal governance, a program of study on Native American and world Indigenous Peoples, and sponsors a reservation-based program where classes are offered locally and the study topics are determined in partnership with tribal authorities.

McCarty previously served on the National Ocean Council Governance Coordination Committee and former Governor Christine Gregoire’s blue ribbon panel on ocean acidification. He is also focused on what Native communities have to offer Evergreen.

“Tribal governments are great educational resources, because of their growing diversity in expertise. It only seems logical that we find more ways to work together for the advancement of education as a whole,” said McCarty. “Long-term tribal leadership is based on interdisciplinary experience and creative thinking—both of which are great Evergreen attributes,” he said.

Indian Country Chooses Sides for Super Bowl XLVIII

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The beginning, middle and end of the 2013 season had plenty of ups, downs and surprises for Native American NFL fans.

For starters, the Rams’ Sam Bradford, Cherokee, lost his season in October to a torn ACL. But there’s good news. According to FanSided.com, Bradford was cleared by the team’s medical staff to run on the treadmill on Wednesday, and ESPN reported that Les Snead, the Rams’ general manager, remains committed to Bradford as the starting QB for the 2014 season.

A loss that Cherokee Nation fans could not recover from so quickly was the passing of Bud Adams. Adams, a Cherokee descent, was the founder of the Houston Oilers and owner of the Tennessee Titans who died in his Houston home at age 90.

On a happier note, Kansas City Chiefs backup QB Tyler Bray, citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, threw his first touchdown pass in the NFL while helping the Chiefs beat Green Bay 30-8. Who cares if it was a preseason game?

And speaking of Green Bay, don’t forget about the Native (and non-Native) Packers fans who braved freezing temperatures to make sure that the Washington Redskins did not get a warm welcome to Lambeau Field during the Packers home opener in September. Members of Wisconsin’s local chapter of Idle No More, various tribes, as well as local and national leaders led those demonstrations outside the stadium; perhaps achieving their own, personal dig at Dan Snyder’s decision to “Never — put that in CAPS” change the team’s name.

Protests against the nickname for the D.C. franchise started early and grew louder every week; many Natives protested at every away game for the ‘Redskins.’ This all became the fodder for a growing name-change debate; taking the Change the Mascot campaign from a grassroots organization to a national movement.

But, through the good and bad, the beginning and middle of the 2013 NFL season, the ending of the season was the most exciting and rewarding time for Indian Country.

The two most popular NFL franchises in Indian Country — the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos–will battle in the 48th Super Bowl — and Native fans are supporting them all the way.

“The most Native support used to be for the Dallas Cowboys,” said Ken Frost, Southern Ute, to ICTMN. “But it’s no longer America’s team.”

Frost said he’s been a hardcore Denver Bronco fan since he was a child. He’d holler and scream at the TV with his grandma. He said Natives in the West claim the Broncos because the team is in the “heart of Indian country” and close to several reservations.

Ken Frost tailgating at a Broncos game. Beside the “Broncos car” which has been around since the John Elway era. (Courtesy Kenny Frost)

It’s probably not a shock to hear that Frost picks Denver to prevail in the Super Bowl. “Peyton’s going to pick apart the Seattle defense,” he said over the phone. “Denver’s gonna win it. I think it’s gonna be around 37-23.”

Seahawk fans disagree.

“Alaskans support the Seahawks as if they are our team,” said Myrna Gardner, Tlingit Indian tribe, who flew into Seattle from Alaska to watch the NFC Championship game last week. “My love began when I was born. My whole family watched the Seahawks. I recall Steve Largent’s poster on the walls in the hallway at my parent’s house.”

“Being at the game, experiencing the power of the ’12th Man’ was a Bucket-list event,” said Gardner. “Representing Heinyaa Kwaan, ‘the water people from across the bay,’ was an honor,” she said.

Myrna Gardner and Debra Guerrero are Tlingit Haida Seahawks fans thrilled by the team’s NFC victory. (Courtesy Myrna Gardner)

Chuck James, Treasurer of Tulalip Tribes, has been a Seahawks season-ticket holder for more than 30 years. He and his wife, Illene, attended last Sunday’s playoff game as well, and expect Seattle to take home the Lombardi trophy next week.

“The Seahawks have always been a big part of our lives here on the reservation and they’ve inspired our young people to want to compete and win,” James told ICTMN.

“If you go to the Tulalip Tribes administration building before a game, you’ll see the excitement, with everyone wearing Seahawks gear and showing pride. We even have tribal members who design Seahawks gear that is sold in our casino resort gift shop,” he said.

“Win or lose, the Seahawks are our team and we’ll be there to support them,” James said.

Abused Mohawk woman fears becoming statistic among growing number of missing and murdered

By Kenneth Jackson, APTN National News
The bedside alarm clock said it was 1:58 in the morning.

That’s the exact moment when she was awoken from her bed by a man who had broken into her home and was grabbing her.

Groggy and frightened, as she lived alone with a cat, she thought she was having a nightmare.

She was.

In fact, she’d be living it for several years.

Before the sun would come up she was punched, choked, kicked and threatened to be killed by her ex-boyfriend, a Caucasian who always ridiculed her Indigenous roots.

“He said: ‘Only one of us is going to wake up tomorrow and it’s going to be me,’” the young women recounted to an APTN National News reporter who agreed to protect her identity and some details of the attack because she fears for her safety.

The Mohawk from Tyendinaga thought she was going to die, but somehow was able to survive and call police.

She gave a video statement to police and went to the hospital.

He wasn’t arrested until two days later and was then released from the station. She spent a weekend thinking he was being held for a bail hearing only to find out that wasn’t the case.

She said a police officer refused to tell her they released him.

He was charged with mischief and assault. She questions why he wasn’t charged with more.

She can no longer live in the small town near Ottawa anymore, where the abuser and his family live.

She has to quit her job and move away – far away – from him.

“It’s not safe for me to be here anymore,” she said. “I don’t want to become a statistic. I don’t want to be another murdered First Nations woman.”

That statistic, which she refers to, is apparently climbing according to a recent study by Maryanne Pearce, an Ottawa researcher, who says she’s compiled over 800 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women dating back to 1946.

A few years ago that number was pegged at about 600 by the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

Pearce, who is part Mohawk, told APTN her work was done, in part, for her doctorate in law at the University of Ottawa.

“Issues of violence against women are very important to me, so I wanted to help in any way I can,” said Pearce.

Pearce used online media stories, archives and other related work to make her list.

“Most were from 1980 and beyond, and more from 1999 onward,” she said, mainly because the Internet made it easier.

Pearce said she was inclusive and detailed as possible when collecting the date, but is upfront it can’t be 100 per cent.

“Inevitably, I will have missed cases or included case has changed and shouldn’t be there any more,” she said, adding a newspaper recently spotted two in her database that had been found alive.

But her work has sparked others to submit names she never had.

“Since the media began reporting on the research, I have also been sent emails with names or numbers of women that were omitted. One of the cases brought to my attention I have yet to be able to find in any public source,” said Pearce.

Many have called for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he won’t call one.

Pearce isn’t necessarily against an inquiry. She does question how it would work.

“I certainly understand the reasons behind calling for a national inquiry. We all want answers and action. While I am not against a national inquiry per se, I have many questions about how it would proceed and function,” she said.

That includes how it will be funded and involve the provinces and territories.

“If we did have an inquiry, would the non-binding recommendations in a report be acted upon, or sit on a shelf?” she wondered.

Still, she hopes her research can attempt to help other work in the area, and try to fill any gaps.

Shawn Brant is also from Tyendinaga, and a well-known Mohawk activist willing to stand up against what he perceives as injustices against Indigenous peoples.

Brant is about to begin a campaign “to force the federal government” to call a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

It’s what he calls the first step in a plan to protect Indigenous women in Canada.

“There’s no limit in how far we’ll go to resolve this,” said Brant.

He said that includes “direct conflict” if required.

Brant is aware of the Mohawk woman and her situation.

“I think that she models the circumstances that inevitably lead to tragedy,” he said.

A Year of Action for Indian Country

Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today Media Network, 1/30/14

The thing I like about state of unions – the national kind, the NCAI kind, and the tribal kind – is that it’s a to do list. Leaders see this as a list of “action items” while I see this as a list of fascinating issues that are worth exploring in future columns.

I want to start with an idea raised by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union message: “Let’s make this a year of action. That’s what most Americans want – for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations.”

What would a “year of action” look like in Indian country? And, more important, how do we get there?

National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby began this year’s State of Indian Nations by talking about so many of the success stories from Indian country. “Tribal leaders and advocates have never been more optimistic about the future of Native people,” he said. But that sense of possibility is “threatened by the federal government’s ability to deliver its promises.”

President Cladoosby released NCAI’s budget request for the coming fiscal year. That document calls for funding treaty obligations with the “fundamental goal” of parity for Indian country with “similarly situated governments.” As a moral case, and cause, this is exactly right. This is an aspirational document, as it should be.

But in a year of action there needs to be another route forward. This Congress is incapable of honoring treaties. Even in a more friendly era, members of Congress proudly called Indian health a “treaty right” only to appropriate less than what was required. This year’s federal budget essentially is flat (which means less program dollars because Indian country’s population is growing). NCAI puts it this way: “However, the trend in funding for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior does not reflect Indian self-determination as a priority in the federal budget.”

But it’s not the Interior Department. It’s all of government and especially the Congress.

To my way of thinking, this particular moment in history is especially important. The demographics of Indian country – a young, growing population – exactly matches the greater need of the nation as a whole (a nation that is rapidly aging). Cladoosby said in the past 30 years the number of American Indian and Alaska Natives in college has more than double.

Cladoosby, who is chairman of the Swinomish Indian Community, said that his tribe is providing scholarships for their young people to the colleges of their choice. That’s smart. I wish more tribes could afford that approach. But there are other ways that this can happen, too.

So here is one idea: What if President Obama, when he visits Indian country this year, partners with tribal leaders to raise private money for tribal colleges? How much is possible, a new billion dollar endowment? Why not?

Or what about expanding efforts to forgive student debt? Too many young Native Americans are burdened by loans. If tribal members choose to be teachers or serve tribal governments, erase what they owe. (And expand similar programs for young people who choose health care careers.)

Two other items in the State of Indian Nations that are important and exciting are tribes building international partnerships, President Cladoosby mentioned Turkey, as well as tax reform so that tribes can raise their own funds. He said tribes should get at least the same tax treatment as states. This could be new money. Action dollars.

In a year of action, it seems to me, the most lucrative funding routes do not involve Congress or appropriations.

In his congressional response, Montana Sen. Jon Tester hit on a couple of billion dollars just waiting to be picked up, and that’s the Affordable Care Act. Congress is not going to fully fund Indian Health Service. But that full-funding could happen if every eligible American Indian and Alaska Native signed up for tribal insurance, Medicaid, or purchased a free or subsidized policy through an exchange. This is money that Congress does not have to appropriate.

A couple billion dollars? Just waiting for a year of action.

Mark Trahant is the 20th Atwood Chair at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is a journalist, speaker and Twitter poet and is a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Comment on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TrahantReports.

Under Tribal Scrutiny, Cantwell Exiting SCIA; Tester to Take Charge

Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today, 1/30/14

After a tenuous year of leading the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) has confirmed that she is moving on.

Following weeks of speculation that she would step down to lead the Small Business Committee after a leadership shuffle among Senate Democrats following Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-Montana) retirement, Cantwell made her intentions clear at a January 29 hearing in Washington, saying it has been a pleasure to serve alongside vice-chair John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) and to work with current Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn.

“It has been a smooth working process,” Cantwell assessed of her work relationship with Barrasso. “We will certainly appreciate working with you again in the future.”

Reid Walker, a spokesman for the senator, said after the hearing that she will remain on SCIA as a member “and remains committed to Indian country.”

Cantwell, while praised as the first female chair of SCIA, has been criticized by some tribal leaders and advocates for not holding as many hearings and for not pushing for as much pro-tribal legislation as immediate past SCIA leaders by this point in their tenures.

Mary Pavel, Cantwell’s staff director and chief counsel, has held several listening sessions with tribal leaders and citizens, but these have not translated into firm action on many economic and social issues facing tribes today.

Pavel told Indian Country Today Media Network in an interview at the beginning of Cantwell’s term in 2013 that she expected the senator would be a strong leader of SCIA, which is not exactly the perception that many tribal leaders currently have of Cantwell’s one year in the position, although Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Cantwell’s home state of Washington, said she has done “a great job on behalf of Indian country” in his testimony before the committee on January 29. Tribal leaders from Cantwell’s region have generally been more pleased with her leadership than others.

In the weeks before the Small Business Committee chairmanship opened up, Cantwell had been working behind the scenes at tackling one of the major issues facing Indian country—a legislative fix to the controversial 2009 Supreme Court Carcieri decision that called into question the Department of the Interior’s ability to take lands into trust for tribes recognized by the federal government after 1934.

But Cantwell’s Carcieri legislation was mired in conflict before even getting out of the starting gate, since it was not drafted with wide consultation from tribal leaders. It called for a fix that would exclude the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island, and it made modifications to rules that would make gaming impossible or more difficult for some tribes. Many tribes and Indian organizations have argued that land-into-trust policy should not be tied to gaming policy, as they are distinct issues.

According to sources familiar with Cantwell’s effort on the Carcieri draft legislation, she worked with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on ideas involving historical connections tests for tribes that want to pursue off reservation gaming. Feinstein has long been controversial in Indian country for her desire to limit tribal gaming, especially in California. In a sign of their closeness, Cantwell sat next to Feinstein at the president’s January 28 State of the Union address, and they have introduced joint legislation in the past. Still, Feinstein’s office insists the senator did not play a role in drafting the legislation.

Tribal leaders who have seen the draft Carcieri legislation have generally let their displeasure with Cantwell’s work here be known, and the legislation is widely considered to be stalled with her moving on from the leadership.

Cantwell’s staff is well aware of the difficulties, but they say the senator has not given up. “Several ideas are being considered with input from multiple stakeholders, and more work needs to be done,” said Walker. “She and the committee remain committed to finding a solution.”

The Carcieri discussions and other issues within SCIA have been tense of late, and there were recent indications that the general tension of the atmosphere was affecting staffers there when Denise Desiderio, a deputy staff director at SCIA, decided to leave after five years with the committee. She has long told colleagues that she loved working there, so her decision was one indication of the difficulties surrounding Cantwell’s tenure, according to sources close to Desiderio.

A major highlight of Cantwell’s leadership was the passage of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013 that included strong tribal jurisdictional provisions for prosecuting non-Indian offenders on reservations. The senator strongly supported that legislation, and she helped Indian advocates make their voices heard on the issue. She’s also been strong on forcing the federal government to pay contract support costs to tribes, and she has played a role in holding up Indian Health Service Director Yvette Roubideaux’ re-nomination to the position due to tribal concerns.

With Cantwell making her intentions to exit SCIA known, all eyes now turn to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), who will take on the chairmanship, Senate sources have confirmed.

Tester, who has served on the committee since his first term in Congress that started in 2007, has been angling for the position with support from Senate colleagues, including the retiring Baucus. Other contenders were Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), but he is retiring from Congress at the end of this year, and Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) were also interested, according to Senate sources.

Tester, with the strong backing of the tribes in his home state, ended up with the gavel, and he is quickly signaling his intentions to be a proactive chairman. In mid-January, he introduced legislation that would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide increased federal financial support to Native American language programs at American Indian-focused schools. And on January 30, he provided the congressional response to the annual State of the Indian Nations address hosted by the National Congress of American Indians. He’s also been meeting behind-the-scenes with many tribal leaders and advocates.

“I serve on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs—we work hard, and the accomplishments are many, from the Native American protections in the Violence Against Women Act to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to water settlements to my work with veterans to the Tribal Law and Order Act to NAHASDA,” Tester told ICTMN in a 2012 interview. “I am very proud of my record. I also visit every reservation in Montana every year.”

Photographing Native America – Matika Wilbur

by Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

Imagine using photography to change cultural stereo types of Native Americans in a society that currently glorifies the Native American as a tomahawk-wielding sports mascot, a feather clad underwear model, a provocative Halloween costume or a drunken advertising pun.

Matika Wilbur, a Tulalip and Swinomish native, developed Project 562 and is using her talent of photography to counteract these active and misconstrued perceptions.

“My project is dedicated to photographing every tribe in the U.S. to breakdown the historical inaccuracies and stereotypical ways that we are represented in mass media.”

Wilbur’s portraits depict the contemporary Native American in a generic setting; the portraits are in black and white with little distraction to put emphasis on the Native American as person within the evolving U.S. culture.

Wilbur, a former fashion photography major, as stated in Indian CountryToday, earned a bachelor’s degree in photography at Brooks Institute. Indian country stated that, “She had a change of heart after participating in a commercial shoot in Los Angeles. The resources expended to produce a single photo for a clothing ad — a rented house in Malibu, art director, hair and makeup person, publicist, three photographers, for a photo “I could have done for $5” — got her thinking: “This is what my life was going to be like. What kind of meaning did it have in the long run?””

“Can we relearn to see as human beings? Does the photographic image impact our lives and the lives of those around us and if it does can we use that image to encourage and inspire one another?” queries Wilbur in a recent TedX talk.

Currently in the fashion industry the Native American façade is being used in a sexual and/or irrelevant manner which debases the culture as it being attached to groups of people. There is a human disassociation that generates from these images; one that causes outsiders to view these people as objects rather than a culture.

“My hope is that when the project is complete, it will serve to educate the nation and shift the collective consciousness toward recognizing our own indigenous communities,” Matika quoted in her project blog at matikawilbu.com. The end result will be a compilation of portraits of the contemporary Native American instead of “the leathered and feathered vanishing race” stereo type of Native American.

For phase one of her project, Wilbur was able to raise $35,000 through Kickstarter to help fund her journey. This year’s goal, for phase two, that bar has been set higher at $54,000 to be raised by Feb 14^th 2014.

One of the many reward options for donating to Project 562 kickstarter

For information about Project 562 and to donate visit her kiskstarter.com page or Matikawilbur.com. Donators will receive rewards based on the amount they pledge. Rewards range from stickers and clothing labeled Project 562 to having the opportunity to spend time with photographer Matika Wilbur while she is on the road.

Currently, Wilbur is on the road in Arizona traveling by car to each reservation. In the past year she has photographed 173 tribes with just under 400 left. On May 17^th and 23^rd of this year a collection of Wilbur’s works will be on display at the Tacoma Art Museum and she has stated she will be in attendance to the art showing.

Wilbur has been taking photographs for over 10 years and some of her inspiration comes from photographers such as Phil Borges, Dorothea Lange and Coast Salish artists Shaun Peterson and Simon Charlie whose works she experienced through her mother’s La Conner art gallery.

Project 562 is estimated to be a 3 year project with a deadline set for the end of 2015. Upon conclusion, the compilation or portraits will be viewable across the U.S. Wilbur looks forward to being able to come home and work within her tribal community when her project is complete.

Northwest Starfish Experiments Give Scientists Clues To Mysterious Mass Die-offs

A dying Pisaster ochraceus sea star in the waters off West seattle dangles by its tentacles off an underwater piling that would normally be covered with a rainbow of sea stars. | credit: Laura James

By Katie Campbell, OPB

MUKILTEO, Wash. — Near the ferry docks on Puget Sound, a group of scientists and volunteer divers shimmy into suits and double-check their air tanks.

They move with the urgency of a group on a mission. And they are. They’re trying to solve a marine mystery.

“We need to collect sick ones as well as individuals that appear healthy,” Ben Miner tells the divers as they head into the water.

Miner is a biology professor at Western Washington University. He studies how environmental changes affect marine life. He’s conducting experiments in hopes of figuring out how and why starfish — or sea stars, as scientists prefer to call the echinoderms — are wasting away by the tens of thousands up and down North America’s Pacific shores.

Watch the video report:

Scientists first started noticing sick and dying sea stars last summer at a place called Starfish Point on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Then reports came from the Vancouver Aquarium in British Columbia, where diver biologists discovered sea stars in Vancouver Harbour and Howe Sound dying by the thousands.

It’s been coined “sea star wasting syndrome” because of how quickly the stars deteriorate. Reports have since surfaced from Alaska to as far south as San Diego, raising questions of whether this die-off is an indicator of a larger problem.

“It certainly suggests that those ecosystems are not healthy,” Miner said. “To have diseases that can affect that many species, that widespread is, I think is just scary.”

At first only a certain subtidal species, Pycnopodia helianthoides, also known as the sunflower star, seemed to be affected. Within a day or two of showing symptoms, the fat, multi-armed stars melted into piles of mush.

Then it hit another species, Pisaster ochraceus, or the common, intertidal ochre star. Then another. In all, about a dozen species of sea stars are dying along the West Coast. Sea star wasting has also been reported at sites off the coast of Rhode Island and North Carolina. But researchers say until they’ve identified the cause of the West Coast die-offs, they can’t confirm any connection between these outbreaks.

Scene From A Horror Film

Scuba diver Laura James was one of the first to notice and alert scientists when the morning sun star, Solaster dawsoni, and the striped sun star, Solaster stimpsoni, began washing up on the shores of Puget Sound near her home in West Seattle.

“I thought, ‘This is just getting a little too close for comfort, I need to go see what’s going on. And I need to document it,’” said James, an underwater videographer.

Laura James dives to film starfish die-offs in Seattle. Credit: Katie Campbell

She decided to take her camera to a popular West Seattle dive spot, a place she knew to be a home to a rainbow of starfish. Underwater James discovered a scene from a horror film.

“There were just bodies everywhere,” James said. “There were just splats. It looked like somebody had taken a laser gun and just zapped them and they just vaporized.”

She returned the site weekly, tracking the body count. At first, young stars seemed to be hanging on, a sign of hope that the next generation might be spared, but then even the smallest succumbed.

James has been diving in Puget Sound for more than two decades and says she’s never seen anything like it.

“People always ask me, ‘Do you see any big difference between now and when you started?’” she said. “I’ve seen some subtle differences, but this is the change of my lifetime.”

Reports from recreational divers like James have made it possible for scientists to track the ebb and flow of the syndrome. That’s what led Miner and his dive team to Mukilteo — a place where sea stars showing initial symptoms could be gathered.

“It turns out that you just need a lot of people out looking to be able to detect the spread,” Miner said.

Miner’s team surfaced, laden with 20 giant orange sunflower stars. They gathered stars that appeared healthy and others that had lesions and weren’t acting normal -— unnaturally twisting their arms into knots.

Miner trucked the stars to an aquarium-filled lab and placed one sickly star in with one healthy looking star. He also set up tanks containing only healthy-looking stars for comparison.

Then he watched to see what would happen.

Two sea stars share a tank, one healthy looking and one dying. Credit: Katie Campbell

Within a few hours, the sick stars started ripping themselves apart. The arms crawled in opposite directions tearing away from the body. While starfish have the ability to lose their arms as a form of defense, these starfish were too sick to regenerate their arms. Their innards spilled out and they died within 24 hours.

As for the healthy looking stars, Miner said they didn’t show symptoms anymore rapidly by being in the same tank with sickly stars.

A few weeks later divers returned to Mukilteo to find that most of the sea stars there have died. Miner concluded that all of the stars his team had collected were likely already infected just experiencing varying stages of illness. His team has since continued other infectiousness experiments collecting stars from other areas of Puget Sound where the disease hadn’t yet surfaced.

One such place was San Juan Island, part of an archipelago in the marine waters of Washington and British Columbia.

An Opportunity For Science

“We’re holding steady here and we’re not sure why,” said Drew Harvell, a marine epidemiologist from Cornell University who has studied marine diseases for 20 years. She teaches an infectious marine disease course at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs on San Juan Island and was at the labs when the disease broke.

Harvell immediately recognized the die-offs as an important opportunity for science. Marine organisms are often plagued by disease outbreaks, she explained, but seldom are scientists able to identify the exact cause.

“We have a problem of surveillance for disease in the ocean because they’re out of sight and out of mind,” Harvell said.

For the past few months, Harvell has been coordinating a network of scientists on both coasts who received rapid response funding from the National Science Foundation to investigate the die-offs. The team has established a website and map run by Pete Raimondi from the University of California Santa Cruz. It’s one of the fastest-ever mobilizations of research around a marine epidemic.

“This is an opportunity for understanding more about the transmission and rates of disease in the ocean, so it’s important that we gather the right kinds of data,” Harvell said.

In her lab, Harvell anesthetizes a healthy sea star before cutting off one of its arms and slipping it into a sterile bag. She’s sending samples to Cornell where her colleague Ian Hewson, a microbial biologist, will compare them with samples of sick sea stars from along the West Coast.

Using cutting-edge DNA sequencing and metagenomics, Hewson is analyzing the samples for viruses as well as bacteria and other protozoa in order to pinpoint the infectious agent among countless possibilities.

“It’s like the matrix,” Hewson said. “We have to be very careful that we’re not identifying something that’s associated with the disease but not the cause.”

Ben Miner collects arms of dying starfish for lab analysis. Credit: Laura James

Ruling Out Possible Culprits

In the search for what’s causing this sea star die-off, it’s important for scientists to rule things out. Some have suggested that these die-offs could be linked to low oxygen levels in the water and environmental toxins entering the water through local runoff. Yet this seems unlikely, they say, because these conditions would normally impact a wider array of animals, not just sea stars.

Others have pointed out that marine die-offs in the past have been linked to larger environmental factors like climate change and ocean acidification. Warming waters and changing pH levels can weaken the immune systems of marine organisms including sea stars, making them more susceptible to infection.

Some have asked whether radiation or tsunami debris associated with the Fukushima disaster could be behind this die-off. But scientists now see Fukushima as an unlikely culprit because the die-offs are patchy, popping up in certain places like Seattle and Santa Barbara and not in others, such as coastal Oregon, where wasting has only been reported at one location.

Others have wondered if a pathogen from the other side of the world may have hitched a ride in the ballast water of ocean-going ships. Scientists say this fits with the fact that many of the hot spots have appeared along major shipping routes. However, the starfish in quiet Monterey Bay, Calif. have been hit hard, whereas San Francisco’s starfish are holding strong.

But at this point, there’s no evidence to entirely confirm or entirely rule out these hypotheses.

A Sea Without Stars

Sea stars are voracious predators, like lions on the seafloor. They gobble up mussels, clams, sea cucumbers, crab and even other starfish. That’s why they’re called a keystone species, meaning they have a disproportionate impact on an ecosystem, shaping the biodiversity of the seascape.

“These are ecologically important species,” Harvell said. “To remove them changes the entire dynamics of the marine ecosystem. When you lose this many sea stars it will certainly change the seascape underneath our waters.”

Because the die-offs are patchy, scientists aren’t concerned that sea stars will be wiped out entirely. But there’s no end in sight and the disease continues to spread.

“We may still be at the very early stages of this. We don’t really know,” Harvell said. “But it’s as important as ever right now, that we’re monitoring to know where the disease hasn’t been yet and when it first hits.”

New experiments in Washington state started this week to test possible infectious agents. The network of scientists collaborating on this project hope to make an announcement in a few months.

The Intricate Beadwork of Jackie Larson Bread [10 Pictures]

Dominique Godreche, Indian Country Today Media Network

Jackie Larson Bread is a beadworker from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana, who currently lives in Great Falls. She won the Best in Show prize at the 2013 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market for “Memory Keeper,” a beaded hatbox featuring members of her family and her tribe. Shortly after the win, she discussed her work with an ICTMN correspondent.

How did you come to be one of the Native art world’s most prominent beadworkers?

I have been beading all my life, since childhood. My grandmother, who passed away before I was born, beaded. So I have always been interested in how it was done, and taught myself the techniques by studying her items, and the beadwork done by the ladies of my tribe. Among the Blackfeet, everyone knows the basic techniques. When I was 14, I started to work at the Museum of Plains Indians, which I continued to do for ten summers, where I was amazed by the beadwork, so I learned even more techniques. Then I attended the Institute of American Indian Art, in Santa Fe, to study painting and printmaking. I wanted to figure out how to introduce beadwork, because I like the mix of traditional and contemporary imagery, using old photographs. First, I did Sitting Bull and Geronimo, then photos of our people — 90% of what I do is about the Blackfeet, telling what we look like, sharing our homes and designs. It takes so many hours that you have to be really passionate — it is time consuming! But I will always continue to do beadwork, even with the time factor, because I like it so much.

‘Memory Keeper’ beaded hatbox by Jackie Larson Bread, judged best in show at the 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market. Photo by Courtenay ‘Coco’ Sly.

Is there a specific Blackfeet aesthetic you need to follow, or are you free to choose whatever you like in terms of colors, designs, and subjects?

I used to confine myself to traditional ideas of beadwork, but now I do what I feel comfortable with — though I do not show any ceremonial things. I stay with what is right to tell. I share the lodges, the tipi designs.

Like the pictures of your family?

Yes, my dad’s aunts and uncles. I like to look through photos of our family members. Finding someone new is exciting — I would show the picture to my father, and he would explain how we are related to the person.

Beaded bag by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Where do you usually show?

I show at Indian Market in Santa Fe, at the Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in Tucson, and in Montana.

And now you’ve won Best in Show at Santa Fe Indian Market — probably the most prestigious award a contemporary Native artist can receive — after how many years?

I’ve showed for 15 years! I love coming to Santa Fe, and looking at what everybody does. It’s amazing. So to be recognized Best of Show is astounding, it’s the hugest honor. I am so happy I won, after 15 years.

‘Traveling Through Indian Country’ by Jackie Larson Bread is part of the National Museum of the American Indian’s collection. Image courtesy nmai.si.edu

Beaded bag by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Moccasins featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Detail of beadwork portrait by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Suitcase featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread (front). Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Suitcase featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread (back). Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Beaded lunchbox by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Beaded portrait by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread