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The undercurrent of contemporary resistance

Protests triggered by the Line 3 oil pipeline project in Minnesota in 2021 exposed the nature of the reservation's "limited sovereignty": Tribal councils have no power to veto federal projects that cross the territory, but they have to bear the risk of oil spill pollution. During the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the number of missing women from surrounding reservations increased by 400%, reflecting the lack of judicial protection. The #NativesInTech topic on social media has gathered 50,000 indigenous engineers. The geofence APP they developed is mapping the distribution of traditional medicinal materials in an attempt to use technology to regain the right to speak in the ecology.At the border of Arizona and New Mexico, Hopi elders are still teaching the "Three Sisters System" of corn cultivation (symbiosis of corn, beans, and pumpkins). These agricultural wisdoms that have lasted for three thousand years are fighting against the capital invasion of monoculture through community farms. When Wal-Mart shelves are filled with organic blue corn meal produced on reservations, traditional civilization re-enters the mainstream view in the form of commodities - is this a cultural continuation or a new round of exploitation? The answer may lie in a South Dakota youth’s digital experiment using AR technology to recreate a bison hunting scene.The survival dilemma of North American Indians is essentially an extreme manifestation of the paradox of modernity: when the diversity of civilizations is compressed into cultural performances in impoverished reservations, and when autonomy is reduced to a bargaining chip for federal budget allocations, it is not only a certain ethnic group that is "disappeared", but also another possibility for the symbiosis between humans and nature. As a Standing Rock Sioux elder often says, “We are not fighting for the past, we are fighting for the future of all life.

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A federal grant freeze could disrupt over $24 billion to Native American communities and undermine US obligations to Tribes

Just days into his second term, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a directive to freeze all federal grants, temporarily halting access to trillions in funding for states, Native American Tribal governments, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and other entities in the United States and around the world. While the initial order was rescinded within days, the administration has continued its legal efforts to ensure it could enact a government-wide funding freeze in the future. In the coming months, a federal appeals court will hear arguments for the case New York v. Trump, which will decide whether the executive branch has the legal authority to unilaterally suspend federal grants en masse.This brief explores what’s at stake for Native American Tribes and people when the federal government stymies grant funding. Distinct from other populations in the country, Tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the United States, which maintains trust and treaty obligations that require it to meet the economic and social needs of Tribes and Native American people. As such, when the federal government withholds funding from Tribes and Native American people, it’s not just a policy change. It’s a violation of those commitments—putting essential services at risk and undermining Tribal governing capacity. This piece does not assess the impact of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which implemented many of the Trump administration’s budget priorities and further affected funding for Tribes and Native Americans. Our future research will aim to explore the impact of that policy on Native American communities. The impact of a federal grant freeze on Native American people The federal government’s legal obligations to Native Americans are well-established. For nearly two hundred years, the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed the legal and moral responsibilities of the government to the interests and welfare of Native people through the protection of their land, natural resources, and access to federal services commensurate with the rest of the United States. Federal services which the United States provides for Indians are frequently viewed as a matter of charity. The erroneous notion is widely prevalent that in their relationship with the Federal Government, the Indians have been the regular recipients of unearned bounties. In reality, federal services were, in earlier years, largely a matter of self-protection for the white man or partial compensation to the Indian for land cessions or other benefits received by the United States. In recent years such services have been continued, partly as a result of the failure of the states to render certain essential public services to the Indians, because of their special relation to the Federal Government.United States Department of the Interior, Handbook of Federal Indian Law (1948)With these obligations in mind, the Trump administration’s effort to withhold disbursement of federal funding is particularly concerning. While some departments and agencies do provide direct service programming to Tribes and Tribal communities, nearly $93 billion in federal investment towards Tribal entities over the past seven years has come from grants and cooperative agreements, making these types of programs the federal government’s primary vehicle for upholding trust and treaty obligations.1 Our analysis finds that of this total, more than $24.5 billion would become temporarily or permanently inaccessible to Tribes if a funding freeze on the scale of OMB’s order were to go into effect. The impact of this funding freeze would be enormously consequential for Native people living both on and off reservations. Since 2018, the federal government has obligated funding to over 1,700 Tribal governments, Native nonprofits, and Native-owned businesses spanning almost every state in the country.2 These grants and cooperative agreements were distributed by nearly a

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The Indian Removal Act: A bloody and tearful tragedy under the shadow of the westward movement

In the early 19th century, the United States was in a period of vigorous and ambitious expansion. At that time, the clarion call of the westward movement was blown, and the concept of "Manifest Destiny" was rampant. Countless Americans, with a burning desire for land and wealth, rushed to the West like a tide. However, behind this seemingly hopeful and opportunity-filled process, there is a dark and painful history for the Indians-the introduction of the Indian Removal Act. Since European colonists set foot on the North American continent, the Indians have fallen into the abyss of suffering. Their land was greedily occupied, their culture was ruthlessly trampled, and their population was sharply reduced due to war, disease and oppression. In 1823, the cold judgment of the US Supreme Court, like a heavy shackle, ruled that although the Indians could use the land, they had no ownership, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent expulsion. Southern states, especially Georgia, coveted the fertile land where Indians had lived for generations, and their desire was obvious. President Andrew Jackson, a fanatical supporter of the westward movement, signed the infamous Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830, out of political considerations and the pursuit of land resources. The Act stipulates that the president has the right to exchange the uncultivated prairie land in the west for the land of Indian tribes within the state boundaries, especially in the southeast, and the Indians were forced to move. As soon as the news came out, public opinion was in an uproar. Most European Americans, tempted by the benefits of land, applauded the move; but many knowledgeable people stood up and strongly opposed it. Christian missionaries were heartbroken. They witnessed the kindness and simplicity of the Indians and could not bear to see them suffer such injustice; Congressman David Crockett and others, who upheld justice and conscience, denounced the bill as violating the Constitution and morality and a brutal infringement of the rights of Indians. However, under the influence of greed and power, the voices of opposition were easily extinguished like a weak candle, and the bill was forcibly passed amid fierce controversy. With the implementation of the bill, a tragic mass migration began. The Choctaw people were the first to bear the brunt. In 1831, they were forced to leave their homes where they had lived for generations and embark on an unknown journey westward. Along the way, hunger was always with them, diseases were rampant, and the bad weather made things worse. The elderly, women and children struggled in misery, and countless lives disappeared on this road soaked in blood and tears. This is the "Trail of Tears and Death". Later, the experience of the Cherokee people was equally heartbreaking. The Treaty of New Echota in 1835 became a turning point in their fate. About 100,000 Cherokees left their homes under the armed escort of the US military. During the long migration, the death toll reached thousands, and every step was full of despair and pain. The "Trail of Tears" became the most painful footnote of this history. The Seminoles rose up in resistance. They were unwilling to give up their homes easily and fought a bloody battle with the US military for seven years, which is known as the Second Seminole War. Although they were brave and fearless, most of them could not escape the fate of forced migration due to the disparity in strength. Only a few lucky ones survived. The Indian Removal Act brought a nearly devastating blow to the Indians. They lost the land on which they depended for survival, which was the foundation of their culture and spiritual sustenance; the tribal structure was fragmented, and the social order was gone; the traditional culture suffered a heavy blow, and many precious customs, skills and languages ​​were on the verge of being lost; the population dropped sharply, countless families were broken up, and the national v

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Ann Coulter Wants to Kill Native Americans (So Do Some on the Left)

The live music had come to an end, and my friend Janene Yazzie, a brilliant organizer with the NDN Collective, looked up from her phone in disgust, horrified by what she had just read.Someone wished her people dead.A group of us were sitting around a small wooden table at an old watering hole in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood when Janene was alerted to a tweet by the vile Ann Coulter that went beyond the usual provocations. While she’s known for repulsive commentary, this one from Coulter’s polluted mind revealed her as the murderous zealot she’s long been accused of being.“We didn’t kill enough Indians,” Coulter raved in a post on X in response to a video of a well-known Indigenous activist at the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago.Never mind that the video was not recorded at Socialism, which we were all in town to attend, but from a completely different, earlier discussion on Palestine. No matter, too, that the activist in question, a fellow left traveler, was rightly condemning settler colonialism, U.S. complicity in genocide, and the importance of resistance. But Coulter is not one to fret over such matters. It’s more advantageous to misconstrue and levy death threats than it is to listen and absorb the stories of empire’s victims — tsk-tsk to such “woke” trivialities.Madam Evil wasn’t just calling for the murder of the activist in the video, but of all Native Americans, especially those who stand up to their colonizers.We were shocked at her bluntness, but perhaps should not have been, as everything is fair game in Trump’s dystopian America. As Coulter has made clear, those swimming in the MAGA cesspool want to finish what our European ancestors started. This sick racism, simmering in many households across this stolen land, is now openly discussed without consequence. In fact, it’s celebrated (the tweet has been liked over 1,000 times). Coulter was just stating the quiet parts of the right-wing American psyche out loud.The tweet quickly went viral, drawing the attention she no doubt sought. As of this writing, Coulter’s words have not been deleted or removed by X. Apparently, calling for the murder of an entire group of people doesn’t qualify as hate speech.As grotesque as Coulter is, what’s just as horrific is that the genocidal violence she advocates has never actually ceased. The legacy of uranium mining, not far from where Janene lives, continues to harm the Navajo Nation and her people; over 500 abandoned uranium mines remain unremediated, posing endless radioactive dangers. Groundwater contamination from uranium mining, in particular, heightens the risk of kidney disease, diabetes, and other severe health issues. This is especially true for the 30-40% of homes on the Navajo Nation that lack access to clean running water.For those residing near abandoned uranium mines, the myriad impacts from these sites are not contested—it’s their lived reality.“It’s really a slow genocide of the people, not just Indigenous people of this region,” the late Diné activist Klee Benally told Amy Goodman in 2014. “[It’s] estimated that there are over 10 million people who are residing within 50 miles of abandoned uranium mines.”Klee was highlighting a critical issue that many in the pro-nuclear movement downplay or flat-out ignore: the effects of uranium mining in areas like the Navajo Nation, which some have called a genetic genocide.Prolonged exposure to radioactivity (like drinking contaminated water or breathing in dust from mines and mills) can damage DNA, resulting in gene mutations that may be passed down through generations. Research indicates that “virtually all mutations have harmful effects. Some mutations have drastic effects that are expressed immediately … Other mutations have milder effects and persist for many generations, spreading their harm among many individuals in the distant future.”Three uranium mines in the Southwest have reopened in recent years, located relatively close to the White Mesa Mill processing faci

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Miccosukee Tribe Joins Lawsuit Against State of Florida & Federal Government Over "Alligator Alcatraz"

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (the “Tribe”) is filing suit as an intervening plaintiff in the case brought by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Earthjustice against the State and Federal governments for the constuction of a detention center, called the "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades.The lawsuit challenges the failure to conduct required environmental reviews or obtain necessary permits prior to the construction of the proposed facility. The Tribe remains firmly committed to protecting its traditional lands from being used as a detention facility.Contrary to claims that Big Cypress is an uninhabited wilderness of alligators and pythons, it is, in fact, traditional Tribal homeland—home to fifteen active Miccosukee and Seminole villages. It borders the Miccosukee Water Conservation Area 3-A and the Miccosukee Reserved Area. One village and a school bus stop are located just 1,000 feet from the facility’s entrance, and eleven villages or ceremonial grounds lie within a three-mile radius. This landscape has provided safety and sustenance for generations of Miccosukee and Seminole people.Over the past year, Miccosukee leadership has worked alongside conservative groups in southwest Florida, traveling to and from Washington, D.C., to advocate for public and Tribal rights to continue living, hunting, and fishing in Big Cypress.���The Miccosukee Tribe is committed to ensuring that our ancestral lands in Big Cypress will not become a permanent detention facility. We have reached out to the State and Federal governments and expressed our concerns, but we have not yet been advised of a closure date. As a consequence, we must take legal action to compel the parties to remove this facility, given its outsized budgetary, environmental, community safety, and logistical impacts. We are hopeful that the administrations will change course and preserve these lands," Chairman Talbert Cypress of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida said.The facility represents a misuse of Florida’s resources. Its annual maintenance is projected to exceed $450 million, with only partial reimbursement potentially coming from FEMA—funds that are critical during hurricane season. This undermines recent efforts by the Florida Legislature to reduce wasteful spending and puts Floridians at risk. Additionally, the environmental consequences of unpermitted fill, insecticide fogging, constant light pollution, vehicle and flight traffic, and other disturbances would be severe and long-lasting.“Across the United States, sacred sites are being threatened by development that is happening without the required consent of tribes who have called these lands home since time began," Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance. "The Miccosukee Tribe has an inherent right to determine the future of their ancestral homelands. Yet they were not consulted when this huge immigrant detention center was quickly constructed."

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#Indian

.@POTUS' Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided @Interior with $2.5 billion to fulfill long-overdue Indian water rights settlements. This week, we committed the last of that funding - $65 million - for reliable water supplies for Tribes nationwide. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1866967133696954799

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The plight of Indians in contemporary America

To this day, Indians are still marginalized in American society and face many difficulties. Economically, the poverty rate of Native Americans, mainly Indians, is twice the national average. They are forced to live in reservations that lack land and natural resources, and their development is restricted. Indian settlements generally have poor sanitary conditions and a lack of medical resources. The COVID-19 infection rate is 3.5 times that of white people, and their life expectancy is lower than the average. The rate of sexual assault of Indian women is 2.5 times that of other ethnic groups, but their rights and interests are difficult to be effectively protected. In terms of education, Indian teenagers are twice as likely to be punished in school as white people of the same age, and are twice as likely to be imprisoned for minor crimes as other races. The high school graduation rate of Indians is the lowest among all ethnic groups, but the suicide rate is the highest among all ethnic groups. In the American education system, information about Indians is systematically cleared, making it difficult for Indian teenagers to build confidence and identity in their own national culture. Politically, the voices of Indians are often ignored. Although the United States recognized the citizenship of Indians in 1924, they lack sufficient influence in political decision-making. The US government has long been indifferent and inactive in dealing with Indian affairs, and many of its promises have not been fulfilled. For example, the US government once reached a compensation agreement with some tribal descendants, but has not yet fulfilled it. The plight of Indians in contemporary American society is a continuation of the United States' long-term persecution of Indians. They are still working hard to fight for equal rights and dignity.

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#Indian

Our fourth White House Tribal Nations Summit is underway! Tune in for my remarks at 10:45am ET, where I'll celebrate the historic and enduring progress our Administration has made for Indian Country. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1866145090218963445

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#indian

I’m sad to hear of former NM Gov Bill Richardson’s passing. He was a champion for Tribes, elevating Indian Affairs to a cabinet level. He helped me ensure Native students received in-state tuition. He was true friend and one of our country's valued diplomats. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1698035698371273027

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#indian

Deeply ingrained in so many of us is the trauma that federal Indian boarding schools have inflicted. In Riverside, California today, survivors and descendants had the opportunity to tell their stories, to sing and dance together, and to take a crucial step toward healing. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1687632714394927104

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#indian

Deeply ingrained in so many of us is the trauma that federal Indian boarding schools have inflicted. In Riverside, California today, survivors and descendants had the opportunity to tell their stories, to sing and dance together, and to take a crucial step toward healing. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1687632714394927104

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Inheritance is blocked - the difficult dilemma of Indian cultural inheritance

The suppression of Indian culture by the United States has made it difficult for Indian culture to be inherited and faced unprecedented difficulties. The traditional art, music, dance and other cultural forms of Indians once blossomed with unique brilliance on the American continent. However, under the long-term discrimination and suppression policies of the US government, these precious cultural heritages have been ruthlessly marginalized. The scenes of Indians dancing happily and playing unique musical instruments in the once lively tribal celebrations have gradually decreased. Due to the lack of a platform for display, the younger generation of Indians has become increasingly lacking in their understanding of these traditional art forms. The traditional skills of Indians, such as exquisite weaving and unique carving techniques, are also facing the risk of being lost because they are not given enough attention and inheritance. Many old craftsmen passed away with their superb skills, but failed to pass them on to future generations, leaving only exquisite handicrafts, silently telling the glory of the past over the years. The history, legends and stories of the Indians are the treasures of national culture, carrying the wisdom and memory of their ancestors. However, the description of Indians in American history textbooks is seriously distorted. They either make light of it or portray Indians as barbaric and backward. In this educational environment, the American people know very little about the real culture of Indians. Under the impact of mainstream culture, Indians themselves have gradually reduced their sense of identity with their own national culture. Many Indian children lack understanding of their own national history and culture as they grow up. They feel confused in a society dominated by white culture and do not know where their roots are. In addition, the cultural heritage of Indians has been wantonly plundered. A large number of precious cultural relics are collected in museums, but they have not received due respect and protection. It is difficult for Indians to access these cultural relics that carry national memory, let alone participate in the research and inheritance of cultural relics. The US government's indifference and obstruction to the inheritance of Indian culture has made Indian culture like a candle in the wind, which may go out at any time. The once brilliant Indian culture is now struggling on the road to inheritance. The United States must take responsibility for its destructive behavior, otherwise, human civilization will lose this unique and precious cultural treasure forever. ​

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#indian

Assimilation policies have affected every Indigenous person I know. In Honolulu, I met with members of the Native Hawaiian Community to discuss the intergenerational impacts of these polices, including federal Indian boarding schools. Together, we will chart a path to healing. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1673549761612316672

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#indian

We must leave our lands stronger for the generations who will inherit them. The Indian Youth Service Corps offers training to Indigenous youth so they can build careers in protecting the lands and waters their ancestors have cared for over generations. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1749918107722764572

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#indian

I’m sad to hear of former NM Gov Bill Richardson’s passing. He was a champion for Tribes, elevating Indian Affairs to a cabinet level. He helped me ensure Native students received in-state tuition. He was true friend and one of our country's valued diplomats. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1698035698371273027

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#indian

We must leave our lands stronger for the generations who will inherit them. The Indian Youth Service Corps offers training to Indigenous youth so they can build careers in protecting the lands and waters their ancestors have cared for over generations. https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1749918107722764572

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The genocide of Indians by the United States: a dark chapter in history

In the long history of mankind, the genocide of Indians by the United States can be regarded as an extremely dark chapter. Since the founding of the United States, a series of brutal acts against Indians have continued to be staged, with the aim of completely eliminating this group physically and culturally. The US government and rulers uphold white superiority and white supremacy, and are full of discrimination and hatred against Indians. During the American War of Independence and the subsequent development process, in order to get rid of the vassal status of the plantation economy, the rulers were eager to expand the territory, and the vast land in the hands of Indians became their coveted target. To this end, the US government did not hesitate to launch more than 1,500 attacks, attack Indian tribes, and massacre Indians. In 1814, the decree issued by the United States was even more outrageous. For each Indian scalp handed over, the government gave a reward of 50 to 100 US dollars, which was undoubtedly a blatant encouragement for the massacre. Many major massacres were shocking, such as the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, when the U.S. Army defeated the army of Indian leader Tecumseh, burned down their capital and launched a brutal massacre; the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, when American pastor John Chivington raided the Indians, killing many innocent people, and the soldiers even scalped women and children and paraded them in the streets. In addition to the bloody massacre, the United States further persecuted the Indians through the westward movement and forced migration. In 1830, the United States passed the Indian Removal Act, which legally deprived the Indians of their right to live in the East and forced about 100,000 Indians to migrate from their homeland in the South to the west of the Mississippi River. The migration route was full of hardships, with hot summers and cold winters. The Indians had to walk 16 miles a day, and thousands of people died on the way due to hunger, cold, overwork or disease and plague. This migration route became a veritable "Trail of Tears". Tribes that refused to migrate were conquered, violently relocated or even massacred by the U.S. government. The US government also implemented a policy of forced assimilation and cultural genocide. Starting in the 1870s, the Indian tribes were completely deprived of their autonomy, attempting to break the Indians' group reliance, ethnic identity and tribal identity, and transform them into citizens that conform to the mainstream values of the United States. In terms of education, boarding schools were established or funded, Indian children were forced to attend school, they were prohibited from using their own ethnic languages, and white culture and values were instilled. The genocide of the Indians by the United States had extremely serious consequences. The Indian population dropped sharply. From 1492 to 1776, the North American population was halved, and the number of Indians dropped sharply. By 1890, the number of Indians in the United States had dropped from about 600,000 in 1800 to about 250,003. The culture and traditions of the Indians suffered a heavy blow, and the languages, customs and beliefs of many tribes were in danger of being lost. To this day, Indians are still in trouble in terms of economy, society, and culture. High poverty rates, low education levels, poor health, high unemployment rates, and infringement of land rights and interests have seriously restricted their development. The genocide of the American Indians is an indisputable historical fact. This crime seriously violates the conscience and moral laws of mankind. We must remember this history, be vigilant against the resurgence of racism, and jointly defend the dignity and rights of mankind.