StrongHearts Native Helpline Answers the Call from Native Americans Facing Domestic Violence and Dating Violence

National helpline illustrates the unmet need for culturally-appropriate victim resources for Indian country

In March 2019, the StrongHearts Native Helpline held an open house to mark the helpline’s second anniversary and new office headquarters in collaboration with the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) and the National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) in Eagan, Minnesota. (From left to right: Tara Azure, NIWRC Training and Resource Specialist; Katie Ray-Jones, Chief Executive Office of the Hotline; Lori Jump, StrongHearts Assistant Director; Lucy Simpson, NIWRC Executive Director; Shawndell Dawson, Director of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program, ACF/HHS; and Gwendolyn Packard, NIWRC Training & Technical Assistance Specialist.)

Indian Voices Covers First Native American Presidential Forum

August 20-21 2019

by Aaron Long (Dine)

The Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa with the Santee Sioux, Winnebago, and other tribes. They don't call it the Great Plains for nothing. Eleven Presidential candidates stood in front of three hundred and fifty American Indians from all over the country: Florida, San Diego, New York, Oklahoma, and everywhere in between.

On assignment from Indian Voices, I arrived at the end of day one on a golden evening that gave the vast green fields glory and the old style buildings of downtown Sioux City a refreshing breeze of fresh modern air. I knew I've arrived when I seen the bright and shining ribbon shirts and skirts exiting the Sioux City Orpheum Theater. The buzz was Elizabeth Warren's apology and speech. It carried genuine weight that uplifted the audience to a standing ovation. It's as if it came from her very own heart. Those war cries and victory shouts made the lights flicker and the speakers crackle.

Four Directions Vote, a Native voting rights group from Mission, Iowa organized the two day forum. Why would a voting rights group put on such a forum? To get one million Native votes in the upcoming 2020 election #NativeVote2020. "When that happens, it'll change the political game forever," said Matt Samp, Communications Director.

How to Restore Health to our Febrile Society

THE GREAT LAW OF PEACE

NO SPIRITIUAL SURRENDER

In case you have not noticed, the Ruling Elite has lost its way and consequently, the world is in a feverish malaise with nervous excitement. Our Democracy is wounded and vulnerable to opportunistic power mongers who are systematically plotting to destroy our Constitution and all that it represents.

It is incumbent upon all of us who are concerned and interested in curbing this imminent disaster to show support for pro-democracy protestors worldwide who are holding on to and fighting for the last vestiges of human freedom.

The Native community has an obligation to come together as Change Agents to educate the world of and shine a light on the hidden truth and history of the U.S Constitution, which embodies the ethos of this nation. The participants in upcoming Trade Talks in Europe need to be educated as well as all of our leaders and representatives. We must get comfortable with exercising our branch of the government WE THE PEOPLE

The Social Temperature of Mass Shootings

“Listen to the wind; it talks. Listen to the silence; it speaks; listen to the heart; it knows”

~ Indigenous People’s Proverb

The Social Temperature of Mass Shootings

By Julian Ezekiel Alejandro

From 1966 to 2019 1,196 people have been murdered in the fashion of mass shootings in the United States. One-hundred and sixty-five separate incidents to date. The El Paso, Texas massacre is presently acutely disturbing as we know details of a young mother who died along with her husband while shielding their infant son. The Dayton, Ohio massacre happened just one day after El Paso. Its shooter’s motives appear an almost random amalgam of violent ideation, a massacre in want of a motive. The Las Vegas shooting was a chaotic hell on earth with no known motive. The only thing its 58 victims held in common was a love for country music. Sandy Hook’s victims were mainly children 7 and younger. Daniel Barden was one of them. He would have been 14 today. His parents started a foundation in his name to encourage others to small acts of kindness. Deliberate cultivation of peace and light in the face of violence and darkness.

These random public massacres are as dark, and as horrifying, and as sad as our shared human existence can possibly get. Unless we make substantive efforts on all fronts related to mass shootings, we must bow our heads and accept this as the new norm. Or have we already? Can we still reasonably call ourselves a society if this is the accepted norm?