“He’s waited 100 years for this event, so it doesn’t hurt us to wait an hour,” emcee Robert Old Horn said, as Doctor Joseph Medicine Crow was on ‘Indian time,’ for his own birthday party. Medicine Crow entered the Apsaalooke (Crow) Multi-Purpose Building to thunderous applause as the Crow Nation and other guests stood up as he walked past on October 27.
Medicine Crow holds among his titles being a tribal historian, anthropologist, educator, as well as decorated World War II veteran. In 2009, President Obama bestowed upon Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Prior to WWII, Medicine Crow – who was the first of his tribe to graduate from college – was studying for an advanced degree in anthropology before volunteering for the Army and being sent to Europe.
It was on the European battlefields Medicine Crow completed all of the four tasks needed to become a Crow War Chief. As a scout he led several successful war parties deep behind enemy lines; he stole German horses; he disarmed an enemy; and he touched an enemy (counted coup) without killing him.
His grandfather was Medicine Crow, a renowned fierce warrior and scout during the Plains and Indian wars during the 19th Century. “My grandfather trained me to be a warrior,” notes Joe Medicine Crow. “The Crow people were so-called, ‘warlike.’ We were a very militaristic people.”
He told of how he counted coup on an enemy during Ken Burn’s 2007 documentary, The War. It wasn’t really planned after Medicine Crow saw a lone German soldier walking past in a narrow alley as he hid waiting to ambush someone. “I saw his rifle and I knocked it out of his hands,” he recounts. “All I had to do was pull the trigger, but for some reason I put my gun down and tore into him.”
After a violent struggle, Medicine Crow held the German soldier’s throat by his hands, and he was ready to finish him off. The soldier gasped, “Momma!” and Medicine Crow let him go out of sympathy. With that deed and without meaning to, he had committed two of 4 deeds to becoming a war chief.
Coming upon a farmhouse, they spotted a small group of soldiers and with around 50 horses in their possession. (While the German Army was renowned for being mechanized, they and the Soviets did deploy more than 6 million horses during WWII.) Medicine Crow decided that before they bombarded the area with artillery, they should make off with the horses. They did so just before dawn as the explosions started.
“The one I was riding was a sow with a braid, so I felt pretty good riding it,” he says. “It was a beautiful horse.” As he rode, he sang a Crow praise song.
It wasn’t until after he came home and told elders of his deeds he was informed that he’d actually committed the acts necessary to become a Crow War Chief. “So I guess you’re looking at the last Plains Indian War Chief,” he says.
During Medicine Crow’s birthday feast, Crow tribal members recounted stories of how they were inspired by their ‘grandfather’ Medicine Crow from their decisions to join the military to pursuing higher education. Prince Albert II of Monaco gave him a birthday card thanking him for an earlier gift Medicine Crow had given him during a visit, as did the historian and emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Herman J. Viola.
But perhaps expressing the sentiments best via a tribute poem was Longmire writer Craig Johnson, who’d written about Medicine Crow the previous month. Old Horn read it out loud:
Stand, my friends, Joe Medicine Crow is walking past… To see the things that those walnut stained eyes have seen… To hear the things those leathery ears have heard… To feel the things that the still beating heart has felt… Stand my friend, Joe Medicine is walking past. Stand, my friend, history is walking past.
Just months ago, members of the Haida First Nation raised a carved totem pole in Gwaii, a protected area, for the first time in more than 130 years. The celebration marked the 20th anniversary of the agreement that the Haida people have with the Canadian government to protect their homeland.
Jason Aslop, from the Haida Heritage Centre, talked to BBC News about the importance of the raising legacy totem pole. “Raising a pole again in Gwaii signifies our resurgence and our resilience to repopulate and take back our culture and began to put place markers back into our traditional village sites.”
Like many of Canada’s First Nation people, from the 1870s to until the 1970s, Haida children were taken from their parents and sent to boarding schools, where their cultural practices and languages were banned.
Haida First Nation peoples surround the legacy totem pole before it was raised in August. (VancouverSun.com)
The Canadian government has apologized, but despite what happened in the past, today, the Haida culture is thriving. And tourism plays a big role in the Haida people’s success.
A report from First Nations in British Columbia says the tourism industry is one of the largest economic sectors in the province, worth copy3.5 billion. The government wants to grow tourism to copy8 billion by 2016 as part of its “Gaining the Edge” policy. This amounts to a 5 percent growth each year, according to the report.
Tourism continues to grow because 1 in 4 visitors come to the province seeking an authentic aboriginal tourism experience.
Tourists are drawn to Haida Gwaii Islands on the northwestern coast of British Columbia because it is famous for sea kayaking. A BBC News report says that most tourists rent kayaks for a week, which costs about $400 for two people. An 8-day guided kayaking tour costs around $2000 per person.
Many tourists visit the centuries-old cedar poles, and long house remains at the Haida heritage sites in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. The Haida Heritage Center in Skidegate allows tourists to learn about their culture.
Art is one of the main ways that tourists connect with the Haida people. An art route created throughout Gwaii Haanas allows visitors to meet local artists.
Ben Davidson, a Haida wood carver, is one of the artists that tourists can meet during their tour. “My generation and my children’s generation, really, are stepping up to the plate and relearning old traditions and wanting to be part of the culture as well as the art,” Davidson told BBC News.
Mark Williams, is founder of the Native American Paranormal Project (NAPP). He describes his group of part-time explorers as “enthusiasts” as opposed to the professional paranormal investigators portrayed on such hit shows as “Ghost Hunters” and “Ghost Adventures.”
What also sets the NAPP apart is that all the members are Native American and that the group specializes in investigating Native American landmarks rumored to be haunted.
How it all began
Mr. Williams said that he has a lifelong interest in the supernatural and is a fan of television shows like “Ghost Hunters.” One night after viewing the program, he was inspired.
He posed the following question to a friend: “How cool would it be to see Native Americans on that screen?”
NAPP was started in the fall of 2011. Since then, the group has grown to nine team members who seek out paranormal phenomena in Indian country. The group films its investigations and turns the footage into documentaries shown to audiences during film screenings.
Interest in the NAPP’s explorations has quickly grown with more than 11,000 “likes” for the group’s Facebook page.
One NAPP member is Steve Jacob, a staff member with Chickasaw Nation Arts and Humanities. Mr. Jacob and Mr. Williams met a couple of years ago at the McSwain Theatre after a screening of one of the movies in the Chickasaw Nation’s Holba Kanali Native American film series.
Their conversation revealed that both shared an interest in the supernatural and the unknown. Mr. Jacob decided to join the NAPP shortly after their meeting.
“It’s kind of like a hobby. It’s a scary hobby at times but it’s a good hobby,”
Mr. Jacob said.
Mr. Jacob’s wife, D.D. Jacob, a Chickasaw, is also an NAPP member. She decided to tag along during the group’s investigation of the Concho Indian Boarding School. Dubbed the group’s “resident skeptic,” Mrs. Jacob said she only went that first time to help her husband with the drive back from Concho.
However, based on what she has witnessed during the NAPP’s past investigations, Mrs. Jacob admitted she has become more open to the possibility the group has witnessed paranormal phenomena. She is now a permanent member of the group.
Ghost hunting
So far, the group has investigated various Native American sites in Oklahoma including the Concho Indian Boarding School in Concho, the Wheelock Academy in Millerton and Fort Washita near Durant.
Group members scout out possible sites to explore via the Internet and from word-of-mouth. Then, they approach and get permission from the appropriate tribal officials to explore the selected location.
Once at the site, members are assigned an area to record. The group doesn’t use any specialized recording equipment. All of their equipment is consumer-grade audio and video electronics.
Mr. Jacob said the group approached each site respectfully and was careful not to disturb the surroundings or any ghostly inhabitants.
At first, Mr. Williams was concerned there may be fellow Native Americans, particularly tribal elders, who might object to investigating tribal landmarks. However, the feedback the group has received after film screenings has been mostly positive.
“What’s funny is that some of our biggest supporters are the elders,”
Mr. Williams said.
Mr. Williams believes the investigative approach has been the key to success.
As a way to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, Cox Communications in Virginia will air “Hampton Roads Community and Culture,” a television program that highlights several powwows in the Virginia and North Carolina areas and teaches about Native culture in the region. The show was produced and hosted by ICTMN correspondent and Schilling Media Inc. owner and executive vice president, Vincent Schilling.
“Over the course of this past summer, I attended a lot of Native American powwows and I realized there are still a lot of people in the Hampton roads community who don’t know about Native culture,” Schilling said. “I filmed my adventures over the summer, asked a lot of questions and created this television program.”
During the program, Schilling interviews tribal members in Virginia and North Carolina from the Meherrin, Chickahominy and the Nottoway Indian tribe of Virginia powwows.
“Cox is pleased to partner with Schilling Media to air this special programming during Native American Heritage Month,” said Emma A. Inman, director of public affairs of Cox Communications Virginia. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to engage the community in the celebration of the rich history, culture and traditions of Native Americans from our region.”
In addition to providing several airtime dates for the entire month of November, Cox Communications Virginia will also be filming a segment of Schilling’s Native American Heritage Month Celebration at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach called “Hot Ticket,” this coming Saturday, November 9.
Brad Scott, CEO and president of Cetan Corp., a Native American-owned business software company has also been a major supporter of the event and the television program. “Cetan Corp appreciates this opportunity to support our region’s Native American community and this event by Schilling Media wholeheartedly,” said Scott.
“I think it is fantastic that a mainstream media company like Cox is so genuinely interested in the rich and vibrant culture in society including the Native American Community here in Virginia and outlying regions,” Schilling said.
The “Hampton Roads Community and Culture” television program will air most Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. in November on COX 11 in the Hampton Roads region in Virginia.
“I commend their efforts to pave the way for other media organizations. I hope folks can learn a lot about Native culture each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday this November,” said Schilling. “I had a fantastic time producing and hosting this program. I am also looking forward to the event on Saturday.”
The Native American Heritage Month Celebration at Pembroke Mall will be taking place this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, says the Affordable Care Act is a “very good thing for Indian Country.”
There has been much controversy about the Affordable Care Act, what some call Obamacare. The politics are beyond intense. And those computer glitches are making it virtually impossible for people to enroll.
Promise or not, treaty or not, the entire history of healthcare in Indian Country has been defined by shortages. There has never been enough money to carry out that sacred bargain.
The modern Indian Health Service was created in 1955. And over the following decades, more clinics were built, more doctors were hired, and health care for Native people improved. Still, the agency never had enough money.
In 1965 when Medicare and Medicaid were enacted into law there wasn’t even consideration about how these programs would impact American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Indian Health Service could not bill the agencies for serving eligible services. Native Americans were essentially left out of that health care reform effort.
That history of shortages is critical context to understanding the Affordable Care Act. Because from the very beginning of the legislative process, the Affordable Care Act included Indian Country. This happened because a decision was made by tribal leaders to roll the Indian Health Care Improvement Act into the larger legislation.
“Let me tell you why it was different this time,” said Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. For nearly twenty years tribes urged Congress to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Then the discussion began about a health care reform.
“We were sitting at an NCAI board meeting, tribal leaders around the table, and said we really have to engage in this health care debate this time around. There were those that said, “no, let’s stay where we are,’” she said. But former NCAI President Jefferson Keel knew the health care industry and he agreed with the broader approach. “So we immediately started to look at the overall health care bill, working with the members of Congress, to be able to find all those other places that it was important to insert ‘and tribes.’ So not only did we get Indian Health Care (Improvement Act) reauthorized permanently. But we were able to get provisions into Medicaid, we were able to get the tax exemption (for tribes that purchase insurance for members), we were able to include a lot of places where tribes should have been considered but probably wouldn’t have been if we didn’t integrate those two pieces of legislation.”
YouTube: Episode 1 of Treaty or Not? The Affordable Care Act & Indian Country
But there still is a question of why? Why American Indians and Alaska Natives need insurance of any kind when there is a treaty right, a statutory call to healthcare, that transcends this latest national experiment? Then recall the long history of shortages. The Indian health system has never been adequately funded, probably less than half of the appropriation that would bring about some sort of parity with other federal health systems.
The main idea in the Affordable Care Act is to require health insurance for all Americans because that lowers the cost for everyone, the so-called “mandate.” But American Indians are exempt from that mandate (even if the Indian health system does not count as insurance). So the way that exemption works, this year at least, is that American Indians and Alaska Natives will have to fill out forms for an exemption (once granted, it’s a lifetime deal). The good news here is that the whole website mess does not apply.
Then insurance itself is a complicated idea for Indian Country. What is called “third party billing” has been a small, but growing part of the financial resources for the Indian health system.
You see there is this odd American idea that links health insurance to our jobs. That’s how most Americans now get their health care — and will continue to do so even under the Affordable Care Act. But that one element is a big difference for Indian Country. Only 36 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have insurance purchased through work — that’s half the rate for most Americans — and 30 percent of us have no insurance at all.
But the Affordable Care Act is designed to change that. The new law offers incentives for people to get health insurance coverage at a reduced rate or even free. So why would American Indians and Alaska Natives purchase insurance?
“The Indian health system is only funded at about fifty percent,” said Valerie Davidson, senior director of legal and intergovernmental affairs at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Anchorage.
“Anybody who’s ever been to a tribally-operated program or an urban program or an IHS facility, they know the services are limited. Unfortunately there isn’t enough funding. And so we rely on those third-party reimbursements (or insurance) to make those ends meet, to be able to keep the clinic’s lights on.”
She said the Affordable Care Act is an opportunity to make sure that American Indians and Alaska Natives have additional health care coverage. “So the things that the Indian Health Service funding typically doesn’t pay for is medically-necessary travel (unless it’s considered life or limb). So generally an emergency is taken care of,” Davidson said. “But it may not cover routine travel.” She said an example would be people who live in a community without a dentist — so the only available option requires travel. “Having that extra coverage could cover the medically-necessary travel,” she said.
Insurance that covers medical travel is one reason for individuals to purchase insurance — and there are other reasons as well. A diabetes patient who’s insured would get better care, more access to the wider selection of procedures and drugs.
But the problem is that the rules for the insurance marketplaces are doubly complicated for Indian Country. Who’s eligible? How much? And, just what are the rules?
But if the law is to be successful in Indian Country there has to be a greater effort at educating people about their options. The Government Accountability Office recently said it will take a major campaign to make that so. That means hiring more people, lots of people, to help Native Americans navigate through this maze.
But there are already models for this kind of campaign. The Census was effective with “Indian Country Counts.” And, as NCAI’s Pata points out, last year’s efforts to register Native American voters is the kind of operation that’s needed. “It’s so critically important that tribes get engaged in giving direction. Tribes need to think about this the way they would with their Native Vote campaign,” she said. “They need to be able to have sign-up fairs, where they can actually answer the questions.”
So will American Indians and Alaska Natives sign up for insurance? If that happens it won’t because of a working web site in Washington, D.C. It will happen because every clinic in the Indian health system explains to patients why insurance matters and how it means more money for all.
The most important insurance program for American Indians and Alaska Natives is Medicaid.
When the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, the headline was that the majority affirmed the individual mandate. But the second part of that decision is that the United States could not force all 50 states to expand Medicaid coverage.
Medicaid is a particularly complex government insurance program for the poor. But what makes Medicaid so important is that its funding source is not appropriated by Congress. It’s an entitlement. If a person is eligible, then the money is there. Automatically.
Medicaid is also a partnership between a state government and the federal government.
But for American Indians and Alaska Natives, it’s an odd marriage. The federal government picks up 100 percent of the cost. But even though the bills are paid for by Washington, each state sets the rules for eligibility about who and what will be covered.
The result is that about half of Indian Country will be covered by states where Medicaid is expanding — and the other half live in states that have said no. This means that hundreds of thousands of American Indians and Alaska Natives will lose out on expanded insurance coverage that the Affordable Care Act was designed for.
So this means that the Indian health system will essentially be split in two. There will be more money for health care in states where Medicaid expands — and less in the states that have said no. In the “no” states that will be even less money for an already underfunded Indian health system.
Watch North Dakota and Arizona. Two conservative, red states, looked at their numbers — and especially their Native American population — have already decided to expand Medicaid. If the program works in those two states, then other states with large native populations, might join the party. But if not, there is always the possibility that Indian Country could be treated as a 51st state. (The Affordable Care Act even begins that consideration by allowing a beta test of sorts for the Navajo Nation.)
The numbers are huge. The GAO says: “Excluding those already enrolled, potential new enrollment in Medicaid could exceed 650,000 out of 2.4 million (27 percent) for those identifying as American Indians and Alaska Natives alone, and almost 1.2 million out of 4.8 million (25 percent) for those identifying as American Indians and Alaska Natives alone or in combination with another race.”
NCAI’s Pata says the Affordable Care Act also “makes it really important for tribes, as they look at their health care clinics, to think of them as businesses. And not just as businesses for their tribal members, but businesses for their community, particularly the smaller tribes.”
The flip side of that idea is a shift in power from the clinic to the individual. Once someone has insurance, either through Medicaid, the marketplace exchanges, or another program, then that person might not choose to remain in the Indian health system.
“That’s the other reason why tribes need to think of (clinics) as businesses,” Pata said.
In some ways the urban Indian clinics are ahead of the Affordable Care Act. Because so little IHS funding — about one percent — goes to urban clinics, they have had to act like business enterprises.
“The greatest challenge is balancing the historical manner in which we have provided services, which have been geared around the needs of the population, with the growing demand for reaching out to other communities to get sufficient volumes to get the revenues to keep the doors open,” said Ralph Forquera, executive director of the Seattle Indian Health Board. “That balance of natives to non-natives … has always been a complex thing to manage. Some clinics around the country have seen a dramatic drop-off in their Indian participation in their clinics because the economics just don’t work. They need to go out and seek non-native people and enroll them in their programs to keep the doors open.”
He adds that Seattle has been fortunate because it’s been able preserve that balance.
But Seattle has a larger population base, something that is not true in all communities.
“It does change the dynamic,” Forquera said. “Those are some huge challenges but they are not unique to us. The tribal community clinics may be in even more challenging situation if the dynamic changes.”
He said one thing to watch is a shift away from fee-for-service payments to clinics to a more managed-care approach. For managed care to work, there has to be a larger scale, more people. “In order to be able to work in that kind of environment, you have to enroll large numbers of individuals in order to generate the revenues to pay for staff and the facilities, all the things necessary to provide the services” Forquera said. That concept could make it more difficult for Indian programs with small numbers of people.
But the Indian health system does have one huge advantage over the larger health system — and that’s underfunding. Underfunding as an opportunity? Yes. Because it’s already led to smarter, more efficient ways of operating. It’s made innovation possible.
Alaska’s dental health therapist program is a great example of that kind of thinking. “We recognized that we’re not going to be able to have a dentist in every community,” said Davidson. “So we developed a two-year training program to be able to train people to provide mid-level oral health care. Most of their work is in prevention, but they can also do exams, develop treatment plans, they can do fillings, and simple extractions.”
The payoff? “The tribal health system has been innovative by necessity. And a lot of these programs can and have served as models for the rest of the United States,” Davidson said. “Tribes have shown time and time again that we are a really good investment. We can do more with less. If you take a look at what we are able to do today, compared with what we were able to do before we were able to assume ownership of our own system, the difference is tremendous. We can take innovation to a whole different level.”
So will the Affordable Care Act work?
It’s too early to know that answer. But this is not new in history. More than sixty years ago the Bureau of Indian Affairs ran health care programs. It was awful. One doctor wrote: All we really need are good doctors, facilities and pharmaceuticals. I am weary.” Congress finally got the message in 1955 and created the Indian Health Service. But that shift — as dramatic as the one today — worked and it significantly improved the quality of life for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
SWAIA’s NextGen Intensive Performing Arts Workshop will explore art, traditional and contemporary music and dance, and spoken word. Nine select Native youth will work with four artist mentors to create a stage production at The Lodge Hotel on November 17th.
The NextGen SWAIA Intensive Performing Arts Workshop on November 16-17 will explore art, traditional and contemporary music and dance, and spoken word. Nine Native youth, Soorwhee Chewiwi (Isleta), Qootsvenma Denipah-Cook (Ohkay Owingeh), Chamisa Edd (Diné), Santana Edd (Diné), Sierra Edd (Diné), Ashleigh Hale (Prairie Band Potawatomi/Sioux), Thur-Shaan Montoya (Isleta Pueblo), Louvah Silver (Diné), and SWAIA Class X Film winner Forrest Goodluck (Diné/Mandan/Hidatsa/Tsimshian) have been selected to attend SWAIA’s inaugural program. Throughout the workshop weekend, the students will paint sets, write, sing, and dance under the mentorship of renowned Native artists and performers Brian Frejo, Louie Gong, Ehren Kee Natay, and Michelle St. John. The weekend will conclude with a performance on Sunday, November 17, 3 p.m. at The Lodge Hotel in Santa Fe. The performance is free and open to the public.
About the mentors:
Brian Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole) is a cultural activist, motivational speaker, youth advocate, actor, musician, photographer and DJ. He is a member of the Grammy–nominated drum group Young Bird and plays the Native American flute. Additionally, Frejo has appeared in over twenty feature films and television series in his career.
Louie Gong (Nooksack) is an educator, artist, and activist. Gong is the founder of Eighth Generation, which combines elements of Salish icons and urban pop culture to create art that speaks to questions and statements on identity and culture. Gong is known for his workshops around the world, his partnerships with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and has been featured on NBC News, in the New York Times, and Native Peoples Magazine. Gong was also named in Native Max Magazine’s list of the “Top 10 Inspirational Natives: Past and Present.”
Ehren Kee Natay (Diné/Kewa) is a musician, dancer, actor, painter, and jeweler. Natay has toured the nation as a professional drummer and has been awarded various fellowships for his work as an artist, including the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian Fellowship and the SWAIA/Heritage Hotels Rising Artists Fellowship. Natay designed t-shirts and merchandise for the 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market Artist Designed Collection.
Michelle St. John (Wampanoag) is a two-time Gemini Award winning actor with over 30 years of experience in film, theatre, voice, and music. Her film credits include Smoke Signals, Northern Exposure, and The Business of Fancy Dancing. For ten years she was the co-managing artistic director for the award winning play The Scrubbing Project and co-founded the Native women’s theatre company Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble based in Toronto. St. John is currently a producing partner for Frog Girl Films.
John Herrington, Chickasaw, was the first American Indian to take to the stars when he blasted off in the Space Shuttle Endeavour in November 2002.
During Native American Heritage Month he appears on CBS in a short spot bringing attention to Indian contributions to the space program.
“As a Native American astronaut, I was proud to honor my heritage by carrying a Chickasaw Nation flag on a mission to outer space,” he says in the clip.
The astronaut is also a veteran, having served as a U.S. Navy pilot. On the Endeavour mission he worked as the flight engineer on shuttle STS 113, which brought equipment to the International Space Station. With him he carried several mementos from Indian country that had been presented him, including an eagle feather, a flute, arrowheads and some sweet grass “that I think represents a lot of the spiritual sense we all feel,” he told Indian Country Today Media Network on December 1, 2002, as the space station flew over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, just south of the equator.
“I was amazed at how massive the Earth is and looking at the atmosphere how it [is] so small relative to the rest of the Earth and to realize how insignificant we are in the great scheme of things,” he said. “In a spiritual sense it makes you appreciate how grand the grand scheme is of Mother Earth.”
Three spacewalks and two delayed landings (due to inclement weather) later, Herrington had returned to that mother, an inspiration to American Indians all over Turtle Island.
“It’s just a deeper feeling—one of your own, finally a Native American,” Deborah Coombs, Oglala Sioux, who works on the shuttle’s parachutes, told Indian Country Today Media Network in 2002 after Herrington’s shuttle landed, assisted by her handiwork. “It’s so important Native Americans be recognized in what they do.”
Since then he has been working to get Native children interested in math and science, most notably with a cross-country bicycle ride in 2008 that he named Rocketrek. That’s the same year that another American Indian whose work was key to development of the U.S. space program walked on: Mary Golda Ross, the first Native American female engineer.
The American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving cultural and economic well-being for individuals and tribes through graduate education, recently announced newly elected officers and new board members. Grayson Noley, Choctaw Nation, will serve as Board President; Melanie Patten Fritzsche, Laguna Pueblo, as Vice President and Rose Graham, Navajo, as Secretary and Treasurer. Walter Lamar, Blackfeet, and Joel Frank, Seminole Tribe of Florida, are new board members.
Other board members include Michael Bird, Kewa and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblos, and Danna R. Jackson, Esq., Confederated Tribes of Salish and Kootenai.
Michael Bird (American Indian Graduate Center)
Noley is Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He holds a master’s and doctorate degree in education from Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He has authored more than two-dozen refereed journal articles and book chapters and served for 13 years as chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at University of Oklahoma.
Melanie Fritzsche (American Indian Graduate Center)
Fritzsche is a staff attorney with the American Indian Law Center. Formerly, she was an Assistant Attorney General for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office in the Civil Division and an Attorney-Advisor for the Solicitor’s Office of the Department of the Interior. She received her Bachelor of Arts in history and government from Adams State College and a J.D. with a Certificate in Indian Law and Natural Resources from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Graham is the director of the Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance in Window Rock, Arizona, which serves more than 10,000 Navajo students pursuing post-secondary education. Prior to this, Graham worked with the Navajo Nation Council for nine years as Legislative Services Director, Legislative Advisory and Interpreter. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in humanities from Fort Lewis College.
Rose Graham (American Indian Graduate Center)
Lamar currently serves as president and CEO of Lamar Associates, a Native American-owned consulting and professional services company specializing in law enforcement, security, and emergency preparedness. Prior to starting his own business, Lamar had a 25-year career as a Special Agent of the FBI, a Deputy Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement, and a Senior Advisor to the Department of the Interior’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security.
Walter Lamar (American Indian Graduate Center)
Frank is the director of Grants and Government Relations with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. He is a founding member and former president of the National Indian Gaming Association and volunteers his time as an economic development adviser for the National Center for Tribal Economic Development. He also serves on the board of the AMERIND Risk Management Corporation.
Joel Frank (American Indian Graduate Center)
“The American Indian Graduate Center is proud to have a distinguished, diverse and dynamic group of board leaders to guide our organization,” said Sam Deloria, director of AIGC. “As a national organization, we represent American Indians and Alaska Natives with a range of interests and study areas. Grayson, Rose, Melanie, Walter and Joel offer a tremendous value to AIGC through their decades of collective experience.”
AIGC, over its lifetime of 44 years, has given more than 16,600 scholarships to American Indians and Alaska Natives who now hold high-ranking positions.
An auto accident at the intersection of Marine Drive and 27th Avenue NE in Tulalip is causing a delay in traffic traveling in both directions. Police and the fire department are on the scene.
In an effort to promote healthy living across Indian country, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released the following statement in honor of National Native American Heritage Month this November.
Each November, we recognize National Native American Heritage Month—celebrating the diverse histories and cultures of American Indian and Alaska Native people. This year’s theme, “Guiding Our Destiny with Heritage and Traditions: Leading the Way to Healthier Nations,” speaks to the vital role that cultural heritage plays in strengthening families and communities.
In July, I had the opportunity to visit the Navajo Nation in Arizona and meet with key leaders to discuss the health concerns of the Navajo. I attended a Special Session of the Navajo Nation Council and heard from the delegates about health issues such as diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. I also visited the Indian Health Service (IHS) Gallup Indian Medical Center, which was recently designated as a Level III Trauma Center, the first in the Indian health system. IHS work at this center, and throughout Indian Country, saves countless lives every year.
Our Administration is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of all Americans, which is why we are working with our tribal partners to reduce the health disparities that have historically burdened American Indians and Alaska Natives.
In order to address these issues, we need to make sure that American Indians and Alaska Natives have access to affordable coverage so they can get the care they need.
The Affordable Care Act is critical to that effort, partly by permanently reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, ensuring that IHS is here to stay.
Additionally, the new Health Insurance Marketplace made possible by the Affordable Care Act will make more affordable, quality options for health coverage available to uninsured Americans, including First Americans. IHS has trained staff to help its American Indian and Alaska Native patients enroll in Medicaid or purchase affordable insurance that they can use to continue to receive care at IHS facilities. If more IHS patients have health coverage, additional resources from reimbursements at the local facilities will help expand services for all patients served by IHS.
Health care is just one area in which we are working to increase support for Indian Country.
The Administration for Native Americans recently invested in new and continuing tribal programs to preserve Native American languages. We believe that language revitalization and continuation are important steps in preserving and strengthening a community’s culture.
We are also investing in Head Start and child care programs, innovative substance abuse and mental health initiatives, suicide prevention efforts, job training, economic development campaigns, and programs for seniors.
Please join me in celebrating National Native American Heritage Month and bolstering our commitment to ensuring that all American Indian and Alaska Native people have the opportunity for a stronger and healthier future through improved health care opportunities and partnerships that respect their culture and traditions.
