Category: Munsee

Michelle Falkenstein  |  For The Journal News

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COVID deaths of Native Americans linked to limited access to resources and healthcare

COVID ravaged McKinley County, where roughly 74% of the population is non-Hispanic Native American — mostly Navajo and Zuni — and access to resources is scarce.

Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

ANCRAM, N.Y. — Writer and environmental advocate Jasmine Neosh, a member of the Menominee Nation, laments that her people have forgotten centuries of knowledge about native plants. During the pandemic, she says, this lost wisdom was felt even more acutely.

“Many tribes were hit hard by economic hardship,” says Neosh, a student in the Sustainable Development Institute at the College of Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. “In my panic, I realized that we are going to have to learn how to feed ourselves.” And so, Neosh undertook a project to find out about edible flora on the Menominee reservation.

In recognition of her efforts to create a more sustainable food system for her people, Neosh was named one of four inaugural winners of a Forge Project Fellowship, a program designed to support established and emerging Indigenous leaders working in land justice, education, food security and culture.

The fellowship includes financial support of $25,000 and a residency…

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Editor’s note: This piece is part of Communities of New Jersey, a new series meant to highlight, showcase and cover communities underserved by large media organizations like NJ.com.

For the owners of the 14-acre Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm in Newton, farming is more than just a means of generating profit — it’s a means of survival.

“This is what we have to do to save our people’s lives,” said Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan Chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation and co-founder of the farm.

Mann and Michaeline Picaro, an elder member of the Turtle Clan, co-created the for-profit farm in 2019 to address food insecurity in their community, they said. But, they have much bigger plans in the works.

Through the cultivation of cash crops, the pair hopes Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm will serve as a sustainable source of revenue for their nonprofit, the Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation. Working in partnership, these two ventures hope to provide the Turtle Clan community with opportunities for nourishment, healing and justice.

Turtle Clan Chief Vincent Mann holds a hemp plant at the Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Chickens of different varieties are raised at the farm. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The Ramapough Lenape Nation is one of New Jersey’s state-recognized Native American tribes whose members live in northern New Jersey counties, as well as in surrounding areas in New York. It suffers from high rates of poverty, not unlike other indigenous communities across the country. But the Turtle Clan also has a unique threat all its own, having lived for the past 57 years on a Superfund site, a federal designation for areas that have suffered severe…

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By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press

For years, many Native American tribes have felt their history has not been given its due by schools in Connecticut, a state that takes its name from an Algonquian word meaning “land on the long tidal river.”

Soon, however, schools will be required to teach Native American studies, with an emphasis on local tribes, under a law passed this year at the urging of tribes including the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, best known today for its Foxwoods Resort Casino.

“When you’re in Connecticut, to not learn about the Eastern woodland tribes, the tribes that Connecticut was founded on, (that) was the issue that we were pressing,” said Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots.

It has been a long-running goal of many Native Americans to have more about their history and culture taught in grade schools. New requirements have been adopted in Connecticut, North Dakota and Oregon and advocates say their efforts have gained some momentum with the nation’s reckoning over racial injustice since the killing of George Floyd.

The legislation affecting schools has advanced alongside new bans on Native American mascots for sports teams and states celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Christopher Columbus Day.

The push for curriculum requirements has not been without challenges, with some legislatures deeming new laws unnecessary because Native American history already is reflected in school curriculum. There also have been some steps in the opposite direction amid battles over how topics related to race and racism are taught in classrooms.

In South Dakota, a group of teachers and citizens charged with crafting new state social studies standards said last month that Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration deleted from their draft recommendations many elements intended to bolster students’ understanding of Native American history and culture. They said changes made to…

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FARMINGTON TWP., Pa. (EYT) – Charges have been filed against a Leeper woman who allegedly refused to return over $8,000 of items, including 13 firearms, that police say rightfully belong to a known victim.

Court documents indicate the Marienville-based State Police filed criminal charges against 46-year-old Tina Elizabeth Zacherl.

According to a criminal complaint, on August 10, a known victim reported that “his ex-girlfriend was refusing to return items that a judge had deemed his property.”

The complaint notes the victim provided police with paperwork showing that on June 17, 2021, President Judge Seidle-Patton issued an order for multiple items belonging to the victim to be relinquished by Tina Elizabeth Zacherl.

Representatives from the Clarion County Sheriff’s Office then accompanied the victim to his former residence in Farmington Township on August 2 to retrieve the items on the court order.

According to the complaint, the victim reported that of the 55 items to be returned to him by court order, only 18 items were returned.

Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee indicated that there were 13 firearms on the list of items to be relinquished to the victim and none of the firearms were relinquished by Zacherl. Zacherl then agreed to meet Sheriff Munsee on August 4 at a business in Tylersburg to relinquish the firearms, but she reportedly failed to arrive at the location as agreed, the complaint indicates.

The complaint states that Zacherl remains in possession of approximately the following firearms, valued at a total of $2,995.00:

– Savage Axis II .243 valued at $275.00
– Savage Axis .243 valued at $275.00
– Marlin XS7 .308 valued at $375.00
– Savage Axis .308 valued at $295.00
– Remington .243 valued at $375.00
– Mossberg 12 Gauge valued at $225.00
– Mossberg 20 Gauge valued at $200.00
– Three – Savage .22…

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CHIPPEWAS OF THE THAMES FIRST NATION – Dozens of people gathered Tuesday in this Indigenous community southwest of London to mark Overdose Awareness Day.

About 50 people gathered at the site of a former residential school for the walk, part of an international event intended to honour people who’ve died or been affected due to drug overdoses.

“This is a small piece of our healing and we have a long way to go,” said Gloria Boutcher of the Cultural Outreach Harm Reduction team at Chippewa Health Centre, which organized the local event.

“We’re all connected and interconnected across Turtle Island. Every community suffers from high numbers of overdose, addiction and trauma.

“To end overdose, we need to meet people where they’re at.”

Boutcher’s team provides supports and services to people who are dealing with substance abuse. It serves three First Nations communities: Chippewas of the Thames, Munsee-Delaware First Nation, and Oneida Nation of the Thames.

Tuesday’s event began with a sunrise ceremony, followed by a breakfast and two-kilometre walk from the Mount Elgin Residential School monument to Chippewa Ball Park. It closed with a sharing circle, where some participants shared their stories of strength and healing in defeating drug overdose.

Though recognized on an international scale, the event hits home for many in the First Nations communities.

Amber MacDougall, of Oneida Nation of the Thames, didn’t just survive drug overdose, she overcame it. The 34-year-old said she’s been in recovery for the past 10 years.

“I know several people struggling with addiction and some who have passed,” Logan said. “I’m really glad people are bringing awareness to this issue,” she added, as she embarked on the two-kilometre walk.

cleon@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/CalviatLFPress

Calvi Leon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press

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The Gamescom 2021 showcase finally revealed the Halo Infinite release date, but that’s not all – there will be a limited edition Halo Infinite Xbox Series X console and controller coming out, too, and preorders are live. 

If you’ve already got a system, there’s also an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller patterned after the Master Chief that’s up for pre-order now, too. 

The console pre-order is live on Microsoft’s Xbox store for $549 / £479 (around AU$755), and pre-orders should go live soon on other retailers. 

The console itself dresses up the Xbox Series X with a Halo-themed skin – sorry, there’s not a speck of Master Chief green in sight, but series fans will appreciate the geometric gray and black with burnished gold detail as feeling a bit more USMC, making the ‘black fridge’ console look a bit more like the Pillar of Autumn. The top of the console has a cool starfield effect, so perhaps it’s more like peering out of a cockpit? Interesting choices here.

Xbox Senior Marketing Manager Josh Munsee first tweeted the news, which was followed up by an official tweet with pre-order link:

20 legendary years of 117. ​Introducing the @Halo Infinite Limited Edition Xbox Series X – pre-order today: https://t.co/Lw3KEYkHho | #XboxGC #OpeningNightLive pic.twitter.com/0XVi4FCLMYAugust 25, 2021

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The limited-edition Xbox Series X’s controller gets its own skin, too, with the same light gray and black-rimmed with gold look. Munsee confirmed in a follow-up tweet that fans won’t be able to buy this separately, so your way way to get a new one is ordering the limited edition console outright.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The Master Chief gets his own controller

For fans who desperately need Halo flavor in their gamepads, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series…

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Committee member Andrew Art read the text of the resolution at Monday’s meeting. It demands Williamstown carry out a citizens’ petition passed unanimously at its 2020 town meeting.

“The DIRE Advisory Committee strongly recommends that Williamstown boards, committees and agencies, including the select board and interim town manager, begin to take actions to implement Article 37,” read Art. “And the third paragraph says, to assess progress towards the goals of Article 37, the DIRE Advisory Committee asked the interim town manager, the chair of the Select board, and the chairs of limbs, town boards, committees and commissions, commissions and bodies to respond promptly by email to direcom@williamstownma.gov to the following questions.”

The questions include asking official bodies to analyze their efforts towards making Williamstown more accessible, equitable, and better trained to address systemic racism and structures that leave marginalized groups excluded.

“And then the last question is whether they will commit to sharing quarterly reports to the DIRE committee going forward,” continued Art. “So this request for information is really to try to gain some more definitive information about what has been done to implement Article 37.”

In meetings past, the DIRE committee has noted that the town has not delivered the quarterly reports mandated by the article on equity efforts.

“I want to make sure that the other boards and committees in town know that this is a part of their work and it’s a part of our work, and that we hope to do this work together as a community, so that it isn’t about, it’s not about DIRE saying, you’re not doing a good job,” said Chair Kerri Nicoll. “But really trying to understand what’s happened in the past and how they’re thinking about Article 37. And then how we might work together to implement it more fully.”

In…

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A part of the “Forge House” in Taghkanic, New York

The artist Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) and three other recipients have been awarded $25,000 fellowships from the Forge Project, an initiative launched this year that aims to address disparities around the representation of Indigenous artists. The residencies will take place for various durations in Taghkanic, New York, within a modular home the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei designed in 2006 for the art collector Christopher Tsai.

The initiative was founded by the American philanthropist Becky Gochman in collaboration with the directors Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) and Heather Bruegl (Oneida/Stockbridge-Munsee). It was envisioned as “a point of influence for the broader art world” that will support the creation of a comprehensive collection of Indigenous artworks and educational programmes that aim to prompt dialogue around decolonisation, according to Hopkins.

The project has amassed a collection of more than 100 works by living Indigenous artists, including Nicholas Galanin’s (Tlingit/Unangax̂) Never Forget (2021)—an appropriation of the Hollywood sign with the words Indian Land—and Cannupa Hanska Luger’s mirrored shields (2016) from the Standing Rock protests.

“There are some significant examples of an artist’s practice and contemporary art as a whole in the collection, and from the beginning it’s been intended to be a working collection,” Hopkins says. “It will be loaned, open for research and digitised and available online.”

She adds, “There’s a great imbalance between how works by Native artists are valued versus works by non-Native artists, and many Native artists don’t even have gallery representation. Part of what Forge can do through the collection is try to address that gap in value, make their work more public and give Native artists their due.”

Other recipients of the grant include the architect Chris T. Cornelius (Oneida), the…

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