Apology pleases, surprises Indian leaders (helenair.com)

Two American Indian leaders in Montana say they are pleased and surprised at the Senate’s actions this week apologizing to American Indians.

The apology is an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization, which the Senate passed Tuesday by an 83-10 vote.

Both Robert “Tim” Coulter, founder and executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, and state Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, said they believe the apology is sincere.

However, both added that Congress needs to take the next step of changing ongoing policies that continue to harm Indians.    read more

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Indian party eager for convention (Billings Gazette)

The Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer “will be a red-letter day in Indian history,” a top American Indian party official said Thursday, and Democrats are hoping that more than 100 Indians will be elected as delegates nationally.

“We will never have an opportunity like this in our lifetime,” Frank LaMere, chair of the national party’s Native American Coordinating Council, told reporters during a conference call. “We will have an opportunity to tell those leaders how things could be and should be in Indian Country.”

The convention, which is set for Aug. 25-28, will draw 35,000 visitors, including 15,000 media representatives, he said.    read more

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Rez Got Game aims to break down communication barriers (Indian Country Today)

After taking his toys away for a punishment, Leslie Hamerberg noticed that her 5-year-old foster son invented and drew a new game on paper to play with to occupy his time.

The game implied that he if made good choices, he’d have a safe place to live – and his toys – as a positive result.

”When I realized the affects of a child actually having to live out their consequences, the idea for Rez Got Game was born,” Hamerburg said.

The American Indian-owned and operated company located on Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation manufactures and produces the colorful, silk screened tipi canvassed Rez Got Game board game, with naturally polished rocks as game pieces.

Hamerberg said that the name is derived from the fact that she likes the movie starring Denzel Washington, ”He Got Game,” and for the affinity that American Indians have for basketball.     read more

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Study of Native American genes searches for way to reduce cancer (Leader & Advertiser)

The future of cancer on the Flathead Indian Reservation could be changed by a tablespoon of blood.

The Montana Cancer Institute Foundation (MCIF), in collaboration with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Department, is sponsoring a new program looking at Native American genes. Researchers are hoping to find out whether Tribal people might have certain genetic traits that can help fight cancer, or identify barriers to recovery.

According to Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, a Tribal liaison coordinating the project, patients who come into Tribal Health for regular appointments will have the chance to give blood for research.

“It’s a study that looks at cancer’s genetics,” she said.    full story

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Indian leader says Republican meeting chance to open dialogue (Great Falls Tribune)

A tribal chairman picked to headline the Montana Republican Party’s winter meeting says the GOP will have to work to take American Indian voters away from Democrats.But James Steele Jr., chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal council, said Democrats can no longer take the tribal vote for granted.

Steele is scheduled to speak at Saturday night’s banquet of the Montana Republican Party’s winter kickoff in Billings. He said it’s important that Republicans are stressing more dialogue with tribes and their leaders.     read more

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Traditional means: Man teaches ways of his Native American ancestors (Missoulian)

Not to let the cat out of the bag, but Tim Ryan reaches this certain point when he’s explaining to schoolchildren how he built a knife the same way his ancestors would have.

Understand, it’s been fascinating up to this point: shaping and sharpening the obsidian blade on sandstone, carving out a section in the wooden handle to insert it, concocting a glue made of tree pitch and black charcoal to hold it, tying strands of wet rawhide around the base of the blade that, when it dries, pulls the blade even more tightly into place.

Ryan has also fashioned a rawhide wristband so the knife can dangle at his side. One flick of the wrist and the knife is in his hand, ready to cut whatever needs cutting.

The wristband is attached via a hole in the handle, and this is that certain point in the presentation.“Do you know how I made the hole in the handle?” Ryan asks.When they shake their heads “no,” Ryan gives the kids his sheepish answer.

“With a cordless drill,” he admits, eliciting “that’s cheating” groans from the children.

Then Ryan shows them his “cordless” drill – a sharp bit made of chert rock again attached to a handle with the tree pitch/black charcoal glue and rawhide, and twisted by hand through the handle to carve out the hole.

A handmade tool, in other words, to help make other handmade tools.    full story

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Learning Native American history with the Crow (The Buffalo News)

Most students are taught Native American history and culture throughout grammar school, high school and sometimes even in college. They read about Indian rituals like sweat lodges and buffalo hunts and see old photographs of teepees in their textbooks. Students are usually outsiders looking in on a way of life very different from their own.

But each summer, a group of Canisius College students experience life with the Indians first-hand, living with a Crow family for five days.

Last August, Canisius College professor Keith “Kiki” Burich accompanied a group of students to southeast Montana, as guests of the Crow Indians and participated in Crow Fair, an annual gathering of various Indian tribes from all across the country, who come together to celebrate Native American past and present.   read more

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First induction ceremony held for Montana Indian Hall of Fame (kxnet.com)

The first ever Montana Indian Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held this past week in Billings. And seven exceptional American Indian athletes were honored as the first inductees.

They are Pete Conway, Larry Pretty Weasel, Sam Horn, Malia Kipp-Camel, Marvin Camel, Louis Longee and Philip Red Eagle.

The inductees are NAIA All-Americans, college and high school hall of famers, All-State high school team members, and even a world championship-winning boxer.   read more

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Indian teen meth use drops dramatically (missoulian.com)

Montana’s American Indian high school students report using the drug methamphetamine at more than twice the rate reported by all Montana students.

However, meth use has fallen dramatically since 1999, when more than one-fourth of Indian high school students on Montana’s reservations reported using meth at least once.

Almost 11 percent of Indian high school students on the state’s seven reservations reported using meth at least once in their lives in the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a routine questionnaire distributed to high school students around the state every two years. For Indian students in urban areas, the rate was 10.5 percent.   full story

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University of Montana establishes Native American research labs (Glacier Reporter)

The University of Montana announced recently the establishment of a Native American Research Laboratory dedicated to training Native students in basic sciences.

The laboratory is the first research lab at any university in the nation developed specifically to provide hands-on cross-disciplinary research training opportunities for Native American undergraduate and graduate students.

The goal of the lab is to provide a cultural “comfort zone” where Native students can learn how to use state-of-the-art research instrumentation and modern laboratory techniques to study research questions.   read more

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