Trahant Reports

Trahant Reports is going away. But there is what’s next: I am planning on spending the next year writing about Indigenous economics.

My weekly commentary as Trahant Reports is coming to an end. And this comes at a remarkable time when more people are receptive to the idea that Native voices must be included in any national conversation. We are the media (as well as its consumers).

One thing about Charlie LaDuff’s career .. he has often focused on those who do the hard labor. The working stiff. His 9/11 story is the same.

It’s easy to be impatient with COVID-19. We want this pandemic over. But the only way out is continued vigilance. The virus needs to have fewer places to spread.

Who is Native? That should be a simple question, right? Not so much. The answers are complicated by history … and generations. So the answers will come tribe by tribe as citizens sit down and debate what's next.

This is a unique moment for tribal nations. There will be more money flowing into tribal governments and enterprises than ever before in history. So how do we make sure that money is well spent … and how do we measure what success looks like?

This might be a moment for a new climate conversation. Jade Begay, who just was appointed to a White House advisory council on environmental justice, says a rethinking could “liberate us” from dependency on fossil fuels and create a space for practices that are more harmonious. This column previously aired in April.

The story we tell about sports, or about life, builds on the stories that have come before. In the days ahead we will know about the trials and successes of the Indigenous athletes in Tokyo. Each of those stories will go back to those that have come before, including Billy Mills.

Last week was a major gathering for Native people in Las Vegas -- sort of our first post-pandemic experience. It was a major reunion for people who really wanted to be together again. The Reservation Economic Summit or RES 2021 and the National Indian Gaming Association Trade Show and Conference. More than 8,000 people were registered at the two events. Both conferences decided to go ahead and meet because of the high vaccination rates in Indian Country, nearly 70 percent across the country but some tribal nations are higher than that, even reaching levels required for herd immunity.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians wasn’t interested in a traditional utility right of way. The tribe wanted ownership so a deal was put together to make that happen. And create a new model for economic development.

Indian Country Today had its 40th anniversary last week. The newspaper has published a lot of history in that time. And one narrative that stands out, the story of founder Tim Giago.

A new film explores the story of John Peabody Harrington. He was an ethnologist and linguist who spent more than fifty years conducting exhaustive research that preserved some 150 languages (including detailed notes with more than 1 million pages). (Repeat)

Are the United States and Canada ready to reconcile their national myth with a brutal truth of history? Secretary Deb Haaland’s op-ed in the Washington Post was a first step.

Cartoonists have the talent to take a complicated idea and boil it down to its essence. The best cartoons make us laugh. And then we think. So it’s disheartening when the Pulitzer Prize board cannot reach a conclusion and give its annual award.

There is a lot of complexity in criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. That’s because when federal policy changes … the law often does not. So some laws support tribal sovereignty while others undermine that same idea. And that’s how a common sense decision became a “bare minimum standard” for law enforcement in a tribal nation.

The return of inflation impacts people in a variety of ways. It’s an old problem, one that really hasn’t surfaced in recent years.

A memorial day story. American Indians and Alaska Natives have a long history of signing up for military service. Even the Public Health Service is a uniformed civilian branch of the United States. And so many people lost their lives wearing one of those uniforms.

The latest research confirms what we already know: The impact from sports mascots is harmful to Native people. And, as people learn more, they are compelled to be good neighbors. It only takes one visit to a team with a mascot, watching the fans in all their crazy and offensive celebrations, to understand.

The latest research confirms what we already know: The impact from sports mascots is harmful to Native people. And, as people learn more, they are compelled to be good neighbors. It only takes one visit to a team with a mascot, watching the fans in all their crazy and offensive celebrations, to understand.

As tribal governments decide the next steps to limit the spread of COVID-19, one thing is clear. American Indian and Alaska Natives have the highest rates of vaccination in the country, according to the CDC. Already nearly 40 percent of the total population has had at least one dose. That compares to 25 percent of white Americans.