Category: Delaware Tribe

Parents all over Washington county are trying to find a place for their kids to go after three daycare facilities announced they’re closing this week. The Washington County Child Care Foundation operates two centers in Bartlesville and another one in Sperry. Nearly 160 kids across the three facilities will have to find new childcare centers after all the facilities close this week.

“When they called me and told me they got in, I cried happy tears,” said Rachel Swindell. Swindell waited a year and a half to get three-year-old Lucas into her dream daycare: Ivy Academy West in Bartlesville. She and her husband both work full time jobs.

“The people there are wonderful, she said. “I have nothing bad to say.”

However, Monday she got an email from the director saying the centers would be closing on Thursday. The Washington County Child Care Foundation operates the centers. A source from the foundation said they’ve worked hand in hand with the Delaware tribe 25 years and that’s how the foundation is funded.

But they say the tribe decided to cut those ties. Now, the foundation said the tribe owes them more than $4 million. However, the Delaware chief said they don’t believe the tribe owes any money and said the daycares were primarily serving non-native children, which was against the tribe’s federal contract. He also said their audits of the foundation showed it was spending money unwisely.

“I’m learning that I’m losing childcare for my son,” said Swindell. Swindell said regardless of why it happened, she wishes she had more notice. “I was frustrated at the situation, but my heart broke for Lucas,” she said “His friends and teachers and his daily routine.”

60 employees will also be losing their jobs. Swindell said she’s relying on her family members until she can find a new daycare.

The foundation said…

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Over a decade ago, Michael Nickerson-Rossi traveled from his then-home of Long Beach to Palm Springs with some friends. By the end of the trip, he’d fallen for the city and its vibrant, artistic feel, but there was one big thing missing: a professional dance company. 

“I saw these beautiful works of art, from landscaping to architecture to fine arts, but there was no dance. And I was kind of surprised by that, because we’re so close to Los Angeles,” he said. “And I wanted to bring it.”

Now, Nickerson-Rossi Dance is a professional contemporary dance company consisting of seven full-time members. Under that umbrella, there’s also the Palm Springs Dance Academy and the Palm Springs International Dance Festival, the latter of which takes the stage this weekend.

The festival includes nine days of programming ranging from a ballroom social to a student showcase, and each event purposefully features dancers across a variety of genres to introduce guests to artforms they may be unfamiliar with. 

The Desert Sun caught up with Nickerson-Rossi and a few of his colleagues to learn what events they’re most excited for at this year’s festival. 

Indigenous Dance Residency Performance

The festival kicks off with an evening of three postmodern dance pieces by Julenda Satow Freeman, a card-holding member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Lenni Lenape) and the Cherokee Nation. Freeman choreographed these works during a week-long residency at Nickerson-Rossi Dance Theater, during which she learned new ways to tell her family’s story through movement. 

This is the dance company’s inaugural Indigenous Dance Residency, which is something Nickerson-Rossi has wanted to do for years to honor the tribal land that checkerboards Palm Springs. He got one step closer in 2021 when the company partnered with the Cahuilla Band of Indians to present a modern bird song dance during a Modernism Week home…

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ANDERSON — Since the 1920s, Anderson High School has been represented by the Indian mascot, but a recent video posted to TikTok has the school under fire.

In the ’50s, the Indian mascot, and the Maiden mascot, which had been introduced a decade earlier, started performing a dance routine at home basketball games.

On Feb. 22, Sarah Holba, who is from Northern Indiana and goes by @rradregina on TikTok, posted a video critical of the dance to the app. The video also captured other AHS pregame rituals, such as cheerleaders passing around a ceremonial peace pipe.

As of Tuesday, the video, which carries the hashtag #culturalappropriation, had more than 688,000 views. Other TikTok users have overlaid their comments on the original video, as well, adding to the attention it has drawn. Newsweek posted an article about the video March 3.

Debora Haza, of Columbus, was sent the video by a friend in the Native American community. Haza is a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan.

“It triggers historical trauma in native people that we’ve had to live all of our lives,” Haza said of the TikTok video.

In an email to The Herald Bulletin, Brad Meadows, director of district and community engagement for Anderson Community Schools, said the district understands that the use of the Indian mascot at AHS has “not been endorsed by some tribes and tribal members but (we) trust they understand the historic and respectful context in which it has been used for many years.”

The school is committed, according to Meadows, to working with the Delaware Tribe of Indians, also known as Lenape people, to keep honoring Chief Anderson, the city’s namesake.

School district officials and representatives of the Delaware Tribe of Indians had a preliminary phone conversation Monday to open a dialogue, Meadows said.

ACS plans to…

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By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.

One Feather Staff

Several other federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations have joined with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to oppose groups seeking federal recognition as an Indian tribe through Congressional means.  A letter was sent to Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who serve as the chairperson and vice chairperson for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Monday, Feb. 28 that was signed by Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed and eight more tribal leaders.

The letter states, “…we respectfully request that you defer consideration of groups seeking federal acknowledgment to the Department of the Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA).”

The letter is signed by Chief Sneed; Chief Ben Barnes, Shawnee Tribe; Chief Cyrus Ben, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Chairwoman Lori Gooday Ware, Fort Sill Apache Tribe; President Deborah Dotson, Delaware Nation; Gov. Bill Anoatubby, Chickasaw Nation; Assistant Chief Jeremy Johnson, Delaware Tribe of Indians; President Jeffrey Stiffarm, Fort Belknap Indian Community; and Chairwoman Margo Gray, United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.

The letter went on to state, “Federally acknowledged tribes are sovereigns with significant governmental powers impacting both Indians and non-Indians, including the authority to tax, regulate activity within tribal territory, and take away personal freedoms through the exercise of criminal jurisdiction.  Acknowledgment decisions should be made on merit and not politics.”

As of now, a total of four bills have been introduced into Congress that would provide federal recognition to a group including:

The tribal leaders state in the letter, “If the Congress enacts any of these bills, hundreds of other groups claiming to be tribes also will seek federal legislation to circumvent the OFA process.”

For years, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) have opposed federal recognition for the Lumbees.  Multiple…

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A viral video of a performance during a basketball game at an Indiana high school has viewers disgusted after two students dressed in traditional Native American clothing and danced.

Sarah Holba, who goes by the username @rradredgina, posted a video of the students culturally appropriating Native culture by having two students dress as the high school’s official mascot “the Indian” and “the Maiden.”

The video, titled “what in the #culturalappropriation” received more than 146,000 views and 3,800 comments since it was posted on February 22.

Cultural appropriation is the act of taking aspects of an oppressed or minority group’s culture without permission. WeRNative, a health resource for Native youth, provides resources to youth struggling to fight Native cultural appropriation.

WeRNative recommends individuals who see individuals appropriating Native culture start a conversation about why what they are doing is harmful and disrespectful, although the conversations can be uncomfortable.

“I literally hate Indiana,” the on-screen text read as Holba showed a student dressed in a reconstruction of a traditional Native American headdress running across the high school’s basketball court.

Holba told Newsweek the incident occurred at Anderson High School in Anderson, Indiana, on February 22. Although Holba has no association with the school, she was attending a basketball game for the school’s senior night when she started recording the school’s mascot.

In the video, a male and female student stood in the middle of the basketball court dressed as Native Americans including war paint, feathers, and a large feathered headdress.

At one point during warm-ups for the basketball game, the two individuals stood in the middle of a group of cheerleaders as the male student pretended to blow a horn.

“I have had several students at Anderson comment and reach out to me saying that this has gone on historically for years at the school,” Holba said. “When students…

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In the CBS Ghosts TV show, adapted from the BBC Ghosts, Sasappis actor Román Zaragoza had his Native American backstory revealed in episode 14. While Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) tried to create a website for their B&B, Sasappis offered to help tell their story, as he was a Native American storyteller when he was alive. Ghosts showrunners Joe Port, Joe Wiseman, and actor Zaragoza talked about the importance of Native American representation in the show and why they wrote Sasappis as a storyteller.

Román Zaragoza as Sasappis in ‘Ghosts’ | CBS via Getty Images

‘Ghosts’ Actor Román Zaragoza wanted a Native American Lenape consultant to help with writing Sasappis

The US Ghosts cast features spirits from across American history. This includes Civil War captain Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), lady of the Woodstone Manor Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), Jazz singer Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), Viking Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long), and Native American Lenape Sasappis (Román Zaragoza). CBS recently renewed the show for Ghosts Season 2.

And as a guest star on Ghosts, Gregory Zaragoza, Román Zaragoza’s father, played Sasappis’s father. After filming Ghosts Season 1,Episode 1, Zaragoza recalled talking with the showrunners about writing his character. Basing Sasappis in Native American history needed work.

“After the pilot, I had really good conversations with the Joes – Joe Port and Joe Wiseman – about bringing a Lenape consultant into the project,” he told Observer. “If you want him to be Lenape, you should be engaging with the tribe or someone who is associated with the tribe because otherwise, it could come off a little disrespectful. I’m like, ‘I’m not Lenape. I’m not knowledgeable on the Lenape…

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Contractor crews have started construction of the Bartlesville outpatient Veterans Affairs clinic after years of delays on the project. Though work is still in the early stages, it should be complete by the end of the year, said Jonathan Plasencia, associate director of the Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System.

“(The timeline) has slid a little more than we would like, but is on track now and moving forward,” Plasencia said. “We hope to be seeing patients at the end of the calendar year or right at the start of the next one.”

The clinic will be located in the former Hastings Entertainment building, at 3005 E. Frank Phillips Blvd.

Planning for the clinic started in 2018, when funding was allocated for a Bartlesville clinic to open in 2020. In October 2020, the agency awarded the construction contract for the facility, announcing plans for it to be operational in summer 2021. 

More: Bartlesville coalition takes community approach to prevent military veteran suicides

In May 2021, Plasencia said officials were “close to giving them notice to proceed to start construction,” and the clinic’s opening was delayed to January 2022.

Most recently, the construction delays were caused by workforce shortages and supply chain problems, Plasencia said.

Currently, contractor crews have removed the external Hastings sign, painted the building and gutted the former Hastings of its internal signage, registers and shelves that remained as recently as December.

More: Lenape Veterans Memorial Wall Ground Breaking Ceremony

When selecting the location for the Bartlesville clinic, officials considered several buildings, including a former church and grocery store, said Eugene…

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The Michigan Indian legal community is mourning the passing of Jim Keedy, who served as the executive director of Michigan Indian Legal Services (MILS) for 30 years before his retirement in 2018. Keedy passed away from complications from COVID pneumonia this past Tuesday. Keedy was 69.

During his long tenure leading Michigan Indian Legal Services, a statewide provider of legal services to income-eligible Native Americans and tribes, the organization assisted six Michigan Indian tribes gain their federal reaffirmation—recognition—and countless Michigan Native American families with Indian Child Welfare Act and Michigan Indian Family Preservation Cases.

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A product of Wyandotte, Mich., Keedy became acquainted with Michigan Indian concerns when he worked on a tribal enrollment/disenrollment case while working at UAW-Ford Legal Services in 1987,

“He contacted MILS attorneys at the time for insights and assistance. Coupled with his love of history, he was hooked and jumped ship and joined the staff at MILS by the end of 1987. Judge Mike Petoskey (Ottawa) was hired as the new executive director of MILS around the same time as when Jim joined the staff. When Mike left that position, Jim was the obvious choice given his prior experience managing a legal aid office in Jackson,” Cameron Fraser (Delaware Tribe of Indians), MILS’ current executive director, said to Native News Online.

The obvious choice lasted for over 30 years. After stepping down as MILS’ executive director, Keedy remained on the staff. During his long history at MILS, Keedy became well respected for his strong dedication to ensuring Native Americans strong legal representation.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), the editor of Turtle Talk and professor at Michigan State University’s College…

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David Shannon

He’s been The Phantom in “Phantom of the Opera.” Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” And Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Now on Feb. 15, David Shannon will be Ireland’s Greatest Showman as he reprises some of his most iconic Broadway roles on the Bartlesville Community Center stage.

Presented by the Bartlesville Community Concert Association, the concert will also feature music from Elton John, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran, Josh Groban, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Frankie Valli.

Shannon has performed Broadway songs on London’s West End, Australia, and the US, and most recently starred as Kevin T. in “Come From Away,” an original West End production.

David Shannon

More: Delaware Tribe breaks ground on veterans wall with smoke ceremony

Born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, he grew up and went to school in Ireland where he performed in the country’s many regional theatres. His first break came at the age of 21 when he won a role in the touring production of Les Miserables in Dublin, and then traveled with the company to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shannon’s accolades include a nomination for Best Actor at the Olivier’s (the British version of the Tony Awards) for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Beautiful Game.” Recently, he released a second solo album, “Abhaile,” which showcases some of his favorite Irish songs.

For tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, contact the BCC Box Office at 918-336-2787 or online at www.bartlesvillecommunitycenter.com. Minor students are free with a paying adult and college students are free with valid ID. Free student tickets are only available in person or over the phone.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Ireland’s Greatest Showman brings tour to Bartlesville

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He’s been The Phantom in “Phantom of the Opera.” Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” And Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Now on Feb. 15, David Shannon will be Ireland’s Greatest Showman as he reprises some of his most iconic Broadway roles on the Bartlesville Community Center stage. 

Presented by the Bartlesville Community Concert Association, the concert will also feature music from Elton John, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran, Josh Groban, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Frankie Valli.

Shannon has performed Broadway songs on London’s West End, Australia, and the US, and most recently starred as Kevin T. in “Come From Away,” an original West End production. 

More: Delaware Tribe breaks ground on veterans wall with smoke ceremony

Born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, he grew up and went to school in Ireland where he performed in the country’s many regional theatres. His first break came at the age of 21 when he won a role in the touring production of Les Miserables in Dublin, and then traveled with the company to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shannon’s accolades include a nomination for Best Actor at the Olivier’s (the British version of the Tony Awards) for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Beautiful Game.” Recently, he released a second solo album, “Abhaile,” which showcases some of his favorite Irish songs.

For tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, contact the BCC Box Office at 918-336-2787 or online at www.bartlesvillecommunitycenter.com. Minor students are free with a paying adult and college students are free with valid ID. Free student tickets are only available in person or over the phone.

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