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Wall Street Journal
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Sitting Bull' Review: History Channel's Lessons on a Leader
One of the refreshing things about 'Sitting Bull,' the History Channel's two-night, four-hour documentary on the Sioux leader, is its attempt at some kind of balance amid the hosannas. The show is a fairly underpopulated, re-enactment-heavy production; Michael Spears, who plays Sitting Bull, bears a passing resemblance to actor Jon Hamm and thus suggests the CEO of Oglala Enterprises Ltd. The program does make clear the injustices done to Native Americans—the broken treaties, hypocrisy, greed and the slaughter of the bison in pursuit of Indian starvation. It features much indigenous input. And yet no one is nominated for sainthood. As noted by one expert among the many interviewed here, the Lakota (Sitting Bull's group among the Sioux people) never read Sun Tzu. Yet they were fluent in the art of war. Why? Because tribes became experts in military strategy fighting each other (the Lakota vs. the Crow, for example). They were capable of atrocities. Wholesale slaughter. Their own brand of cruelty, however it might have been provoked. This doesn't ameliorate the ultimate tragedies at hand. It further humanizes the story of a people and a leader whose devotion to duty, honor and tribe should have been the values of the U.S.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Relatives seek justice for missing and murdered relatives
The ICT Newscast for Friday, May 16, 2025, features stories about a missing government website, plus news from the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Plus, an honor for a Passamaquoddy culture bearer. Check out the ICT Newscast on YouTube for this episode and more. In Wisconsin, a rally at the State Capitol spotlighted the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, with families and advocates calling for action. A two-night documentary premieres May 27 on the History Channel. It features Michael Spears as legendary Lakota leader Sitting Bull. Geoffrey Roth, Vice Chair of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, shares insights as the forum wraps up its work on global Indigenous rights. Erica Moore is the new president of Sinte Gleska University, leading the tribal college on the Rosebud Reservation into its next chapter. In Maine, culture bearer Dwayne Tomah was honored at a university commencement, highlighting Indigenous knowledge and language revitalization. View previous ICT broadcasts here every week for the latest news from around Indian Country. ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a nonprofit news organization. Will you support our work? All of our content is free. There are no subscriptions or costs. Support ICT for as little as $10 or less.. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Epoch Times
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
The Gentleman Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands, 1883–1888
On Feb. 12, 1884, while serving in the state legislature in Albany, Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) received a telegram from New York City that his wife, Alice, who was living in his mother's house, had delivered their first baby. He had already arranged to return home later that day when a second telegram brought news of the precarious state of Alice's health. Rushing back to Manhattan, he found Alice semiconscious and dying from Bright's disease and his mother, Mittie, stricken with typhoid fever. Both women died within hours of each other on Valentine's Day. Though devastated by this double catastrophe, Roosevelt hid his innermost feelings from others, sitting stone-faced during the funeral service while so many around him were weeping. His diary, however, reveals the true state of his heart and mind. Though normally effusive, on this occasion he could only He struggled through a session of the legislature and the 'Mako Sica' Theodore Roosevelt during a visit to the Badlands of Dakota in 1885, after the death of his first wife. Photo by T.W. Ingersoll. MPI/Getty Images Long before the coming of white explorers, the Lakota people had called this territory ' As Americans pushed westward, the Dakotas became one of the battlefields with Native Americans, particularly the Sioux. In the late 1870s, with those conflicts coming to an end and, with the arrival of the railroads, cattle, and ranching became a focal point of the territory. In tandem with these developments, newspaper reports and the pulp fiction of the day were romanticizing cowboys and the Western life, attracting wealthy Easterners who purchased cattle and bought up vast tracks of land throughout the West, giving themselves an air of the exotic among their peers. During these same years, living up to its name in a different way, the Badlands was a haven for outlaws and rough men, where disputes were often settled by gunplay rather than by a court of law. Related Stories 2/23/2025 3/23/2023 It was to this unruly land that Roosevelt traveled in 1883 to hunt buffalo. The Badlands Helped Make America's Parklands Roosevelt's trip west changed both the man and the history of the United States. Rather than being put off by the craggy landscape and harsh climate, Roosevelt fell in love with the Badlands. He had made this journey in part to acquire a taste of the cowboy life, and the Dakotas gave him exactly what he was looking for. Impulsively, he made a large investment in the Maltese Cross Ranch, and a year later, following the deaths of his wife and mother, he moved to the Badlands and purchased more land and more cattle, establishing what he called the Elkhorn Ranch. Despite his relative youth and inexperience, Roosevelt played a key role in the establishment of the On the Fourth of July, 1886, Roosevelt also revealed the views of America he would later carry into the White House. He delivered his first major public address, now known as his 'Big Things' A lone buffalo in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Western North Dakota. Roosevelt originally came to North Dakota in1883 to hunt buffalo. Laima Swanson /Shutterstock Roosevelt's Dakota years and his subsequent trips there eventually had vast ramifications for the rest of the country. As president, the hunter was also a conservationist. He helped rescue the buffalo, which were on the edge of extinction, and sought to preserve the American wilderness and forests by establishing some 230 million acres of parkland around the country. This ' President Theodore Roosevelt (L) poses with naturalist and botanist John Muir on Glacier Point in Yosemite, California. MPI/Getty Images Yet the knowledge he gained, especially those lessons absorbed during his early infatuation with the Badlands, would influence the history of the country in another way—or so Roosevelt believed. In a 1918 letter of appreciation to Professor Albert T. Volwiler, who had described those North Dakota years in an article, Roosevelt When East Met West Life in the Badlands shaped Roosevelt in a multitude of ways. Still in his 20s during these years, he was young enough to be molded by the challenges of this place and its people. Concerned about his physical health since boyhood, he had fought off life-threatening asthma attacks, and, with the encouragement of his father, he had focused on physical well-being and exercise. His years in the American West pushed him even further in the direction of strength and fortitude. The cowboys and other ranch hands whom he supervised later testified to his abilities to endure the weather, to ride long hours in the saddle, to exert himself when they themselves were flagging from fatigue and hunger. For the first time in his life, he was doing truly hard work alongside hard men. Moreover, those men were radically different from Roosevelt's friends and companions back East. Privately schooled, a graduate of Harvard, a member of New York's elite, and a budding politician, his company now consisted of a rougher crew. Their companionship enlarged his sympathies for the working class. Other tests of manhood also came Roosevelt's way. In one incident, for example, a drunken and armed cowboy in a bar began to The Stolen Boat (L–R) Wilmot Dow, Theodore Roosevelt, Bill Sewall at Elkhorn Ranch, circa 1886. Public Domain The incident most revealing of Roosevelt's character and which gained the widest attention among locals occurred in March, 1886. Three thieves Three days later, they caught up with the surprised crooks, who were surprised again when their captors did not execute them on the spot. Roosevelt was an outspoken advocate for law in this territory, and so insisted they take the men to a sheriff for justice. For several more days, they battled the ice-cold weather, wet clothes, and lack of provisions before finally delivering the men to the sheriff in Dickinson, who was also surprised that the thieves were brought to justice rather than being shot out of hand. These sorts of conflicts along with the daily trials of frontier living helped create the man who would become a police commissioner of New York City, the leader of the Rough Riders in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and a strong and vigorous American president. From the Badlands to the Arena Roosevelt's plans to become a Western rancher were short-lived. The Yet those few years in the Badlands remained a large and vivid part of his life. Perhaps Roosevelt was thinking of his time as a cowboy when, two years after leaving the White House, he spoke at the Sorbonne, an address originally titled 'Citizenship in a Republic,' which we know today as his ' A warrior both in Cuba and in the rough-and-tumble politics of his time, Roosevelt had become a man of the arena whose training ground was the North Dakota Badlands. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, 1898, by B.J. Falk. Library of Congress. Public Domain What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AmeriCorps cuts are ‘devastating' for nonprofit Native American school in South Dakota, lawsuit says
Pine Ridge is located in southwestern South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The town has a population just under 3,000 and is the headquarters of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) The Trump administration's decision to abruptly cut AmeriCorps funding has had a 'devastating impact' on a nonprofit school for Native American children in South Dakota, according to a lawsuit. Red Cloud Indian School Inc., which operates schools under the Lakota name Mahpiya Luta, is one of more than a dozen plaintiffs that jointly filed a lawsuit this week challenging the funding cut. 'Red Cloud schools, their programs, and the prospects of their students and of Lakota youth who participate in AmeriCorps are at serious risk,' the lawsuit says. AmeriCorps is a federal agency dedicated to community service and volunteerism, which works in close partnership with states. It's the latest victim of President Donald Trump's campaign to dismantle programs and slash the federal workforce. As Trump slashes AmeriCorps, states lose a federal partner in community service The agency abruptly cut $400 million, or 41% of its budget, and placed 85% of its staff on administrative leave last month, according to court records. AmeriCorps had provided $960 million to fund 3,100 projects across the United States each year, according to general undated figures available on the agency's website. Red Cloud Indian School Inc. operates two elementary schools, one middle school, a high school and a Lakota language immersion program on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwest South Dakota. For 26 years, according to the lawsuit, the nonprofit has received AmeriCorps awards. The awards have enabled the training of over 400 Lakota AmeriCorps participants as teaching assistants and paraprofessional educators, offering career and job training opportunities in one of the nation's poorest regions. AmeriCorps told Red Cloud via email on April 25 that its grant was terminated, that all grant activities should cease, and that the action was not administratively appealable, the lawsuit says. In the past three years, the nonprofit received approximately $400,000 a year in AmeriCorps funding. The money enabled Red Cloud to recruit local Lakota AmeriCorps participants to serve as teaching assistants for a duration of one to three years. The participants joined in groups of four to five to assist a staff teacher with classes of approximately 20 students. The participants provided students with individualized support in math, literacy and social-emotional development, while also gaining teaching skills. Students benefited from one-on-one attention with participants they viewed as role models. Many AmeriCorps participants pursued college degrees concurrently. Ten of Red Cloud's current teachers began as AmeriCorps participants. 'The program's success is evident in its improved student outcomes and strengthened community empowerment through a career pipeline into education,' the lawsuit says. CONTACT US As of last month, Red Cloud had 11 AmeriCorps participants serving in its teaching assistant program. The organization felt a moral obligation to retain the participants through the end of the school year on May 16, the lawsuit says, which has 'placed an unexpected financial strain' on the nonprofit. The school is not in a position to retain the participants through July 31, when the AmeriCorps grant was set to expire, the lawsuit says. Fourteen organizations, the union representing AmeriCorps staffers and three individual plaintiffs who were AmeriCorps members filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Besides Red Cloud in South Dakota, the other nonprofits bringing the lawsuit are based in California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. On April 29, attorneys general from nearly two dozen states and the District of Columbia also sued alleging the cuts were illegal. South Dakota's attorney general is not included in that group. In a statement provided Thursday to States Newsroom, the White House defended the cuts. 'AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits and identified over $45 million in unaccounted for payments in 2024 alone. President Trump is restoring accountability to the entire Executive Branch,' said spokesperson Anna Kelly. States Newsroom's D.C. Bureau contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exploratory drilling projects threaten important Black Hills cultural sites, activists say
Pe' Sla, or Reynolds Prairie, is a high-elevation Black Hills meadow of sacred importance to Lakota people. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) An environmental organization and a Native American advocacy group say two important Black Hills cultural and historical sites face threats from exploratory drilling projects. One of the projects is proposed by Rapid City-based Pete Lien and Sons. It wants to conduct exploratory drilling for graphite on national forest land near Pe' Sla, also known as Reynolds Prairie, which is a high-elevation meadow in the central Black Hills. Graphite is used in electric vehicle batteries, lubricants, pencils and other products. Pe' Sla is a ceremonial site for Lakota people, and it figures prominently in traditional Lakota creation stories. 'Drilling at Pe' Sla would be like drilling under the Vatican or at a sacred site in Jerusalem,' said Taylor Gunhammer, an Oglala Lakota, in a news release. 'Under any circumstances, it is not a place to be considering mining.' Dakota Gold will conduct pre-permit study for potential mine in Homestake area In response to questions from South Dakota Searchlight, a representative of Pete Lien and Sons said the U.S. Forest Service is reviewing the plan's potential impact on sites of cultural and historical significance in the proposed project area, and questions and concerns should be directed to that agency. Gunhammer is a local organizer with NDN Collective, a Native American advocacy group in Rapid City. NDN and the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance are encouraging people to submit comments on the Pete Lien and Sons project and another project that could affect Craven Canyon in the southern Black Hills. That's where a Canadian company, Clean Nuclear Energy Corp., plans to conduct exploratory drilling for uranium on state-owned land located seven miles north of Edgemont. Uranium is the primary ingredient in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. The Black Hills Clean Water Alliance and NDN said Craven Canyon contains 7,000-year-old cultural and historical sites of importance to Indigenous tribes, historians and archeologists. A representative of Clean Nuclear Energy Corp., Mike Blady, said in email correspondence with South Dakota Searchlight that the proposed exploration area has been explored and mined previously. A letter to the company from state regulators last year said the area is within a quarter-mile of the edge of Craven Canyon, but Blady said the area is over a mile away. 'We are aware of the cultural significance and are doing everything in our power to ensure that there is no collateral damage,' Blady wrote. 'We have consulted with the state and federal government as well as hosting an open house for Indigenous groups and are confident that there will not be adverse effects. Meanwhile, another company, enCore Energy, hopes to mine uranium in the Edgemont area. Its various state and federal mining permit applications have been bogged down in administrative and court appeals for years. The Clean Nuclear Energy Corp. drilling proposal will be considered by the state Board of Minerals and Environment. The Pete Lien and Sons proposal is under consideration by the supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest. Both proposals are open for public comment. Written comments regarding the Clean Nuclear Energy Corp. proposal must be received by May 14. Comments may be submitted online at by clicking the date under the 'Comment deadline' heading for the project, or in writing to the Minerals, Mining, and Superfund Program, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD, 57501-3182. Comments regarding the Pete Lien and Sons proposal must be received by May 9. Those may be submitted online at by mail to the Mystic Ranger District Office, Attn: Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling Project, 8221 S. Mount Rushmore Rd., Rapid City, SD, 57702; or by fax at (605) 343-7134. The locations of Pe' Sla and Craven Canyon within the Black Hills of western South Dakota.
