Native American Topics

Nativerights

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Native American

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  • Vawadixon_keisling2

    New Violence Against Women Act Includes Historic Protections for Native American and LGBT Survivors

    President Obama has signed into law historic new protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with the expanded reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Initially passed in 1994, the bill lapsed in 2011 after Republicans blocked it over the new protections. The measure was approved after House Republicans finally allowed a vote last week. It includes a landmark addition that empower Native American tribal authorities...
    Mar 08, 2013 | Story
  • Peltier_phone

    Exclusive: Leonard Peltier Speaks Out from Prison on Denial of Medical Care, Bid for Clemency

    Leonard Peltier, one of the nation’s most well-known and longest-incarcerated prisoners, speaks out from the U.S. Penitentiary at Coleman, Florida, where he is currently held. Peltier is the Native American activist and former member of the American Indian Movement who was convicted of aiding in the killing of two FBI agents during a shootout on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. Sentenced to prison in 1977, Peltier...
    Dec 19, 2012 | Story
  • Leonard_peltier

    Exclusive: Native American Activist Leonard Peltier's Jailhouse Plea for Long-Denied Clemency

    During the holidays, the atmosphere of goodwill and mercy traditionally extends all the way to the nation’s highest leaders, with presidents typically pardoning more prisoners than any other time in the year. On Friday, actors, musicians and activists are uniting to renew calls for clemency for one of America’s most well-known and longest-incarcerated prisoners: Leonard Peltier. The Native American activist and former member of the...
    Dec 13, 2012 | Story
  • Leona_morgan-uranium

    After Decades of Uranium Mining, Navajo Nation Struggles With Devastating Legacy of Contamination

    New Mexico’s long history of uranium mining on Native American lands provides fuel for the front end of the nuclear industry and stores much of the mine tailings and radioactive waste from nuclear weapons and power plants. We look at the devastating impact uranium mining continues to have on Native lands with Leona Morgan of Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, a group dedicated to protecting the water, air, land and health of communities...
    Oct 11, 2012 | Story
  • 3_guest

    On Columbus Day, Indigenous Urge Celebration of Native Culture & Teaching of the Americas' Genocide

    As the nation commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the so-called "New World" in 1492, indigenous activists at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, are pushing for schools to teach the "real history of the Americas" and to celebrate indigenous culture. "Columbus Day" has long evoked sadness and anger amongst people of color, especially Native Americans, who object to honoring a man who opened the...
    Oct 08, 2012 | Story
  • Dennis_banks

    Native American Leader Dennis Banks on the Overlooked Tragedy of Nation's Indian Boarding Schools

    On "Columbus Day" — known to many as Indigenous Peoples Day — we’re joined by Dennis Banks, a legendary Native American activist from the Ojibwe Tribe. In 1968, he co-founded the American Indian Movement. A year later, he took part in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in California. In 1972, he assisted in AIM’s "Trail of Broken Treaties," a caravan of numerous activist groups across the United States...
    Oct 08, 2012 | Story
  • Russelltribunal

    Dennis Banks: Palestinian Suffering Under U.S.-Backed Occupation Recalls Plight of Native Americans

    Dennis Banks, the legendary Native American activist and co-founder of the American Indian Movement, was in New York City this weekend to serve as a jurist at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, an international people’s tribunal created in 2009 to bring attention to the responsibility other states bear for Israel’s violations of international law. Banks says, "What is happening to [Palestinians] is what we went through during...
    Oct 08, 2012 | Story
  • 2012-0720_polar_bear

    Subhankar Banerjee: Looming Deadline Creates Window for Protests to Stop Shell's Arctic Drilling

    As the oil giant Shell prepares to begin exploratory drilling in the Arctic, activists across the world have begun holding protests. The Obama administration has set a deadline for next month to decide on whether to grant the final drilling permits. Over the last decade, Arctic Alaska has become the most contested land in recent U.S. history. But in addition to oil, natural gas and coal, the Arctic is rich in biodiversity and has been home to...
    Jul 20, 2012 | Story
  • Pillage_2

    Sexual Violence and Natural Resource Pillaging Top Hardships Facing Alaskan Natives

    Hundreds of indigenous leaders and activists from all across the world are gathering in New York City this week for the 11th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. We speak with Dalee Sambo Dorough, an Inuit from Alaska who teaches political science at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and serves as vice chair of the Permanent Forum. Sambo Dorough discusses the range of hardships faced by indigenous peoples in Alaska...
    May 11, 2012 | Story
  • Anaya_2

    U.N. Probe: U.S. Should Return Stolen Sacred Land, Including Mt. Rushmore, to Native Americans

    James Anaya, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has conducted the United Nations’ first-ever investigation into the plight of Native Americans living in the United States. Anaya’s recommendations include advising the U.S. to return some land to Native American tribes, including South Dakota’s Black Hills, home to the famous Mt. Rushmore monument. Anaya says such a move would be a step toward addressing...
    May 11, 2012 | Story