Top Indigenous news for November includes boarding school survivors, Indigenous-based police logos
As we celebrated Native American Heritage Month in November, I realized much of what we do as journalists is to try to correct the historical narrative.
For example, my colleagues at the Cape Cod Times in Massachusetts last year corrected some gross misperceptions about Thanksgiving, as I had addressed in the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter sent to subscribers for free the day before Thanksgiving.
Correcting that historical narrative is part of our creed as journalists to give voice to the voiceless, and that certainly includes amplifying Indigenous versions of their own history.
Earlier this month, I covered a vigil on the Menominee Reservation in which survivors of Catholic boarding schools demanded church officials simply acknowledge the horrors of the past they know they endured.
These surviving elders had been students at the schools at a time when U.S. government and church policy was to forcefully assimilate Indigenous youths and separate them from their traditional culture and language.
Many students say they suffered physical and sexual abuse during that time.
My colleague, Katy Macek, and I also reported on Menominee Nation officials trying to correct the historical narrative on a monument dedicated to Menominee Chief Oshkosh in the city that bears his name.
I also wrote this month about Wisconsin law enforcement agencies using often historically inaccurate Indigenous-based logos, even though every tribal government in Wisconsin has opposed non-tribal entities using any race-based mascots.
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Other stories I reported on this month focused on Indigenous sovereignty, such as Red Cliff Ojibwe Nation installing the state’s first official Indigenous language road signs in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
To round out this month’s coverage, a Menominee researcher is rediscovering ancient knowledge about native forestry in the Menominee Forest.
This kind of reporting is made possible, in part, by donations from the community. I am based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette as part of an innovative program, Report for America, that is helping local newsrooms cover important issues that haven’t received the attention they deserve. One of RFA’s requirements is that local news organizations raise money in the community.
If you enjoy the reporting and it helps to expand your worldview, please don’t hesitate to give.
CLICK TO DONATE Help match Report for America's grant that pays half of the salary of Frank Vaisvilas, who covers Native American tribes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. We can't continue this reporting without community donations and support.
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Frank Vaisvilas is a Report For America corps member based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette covering Native American issues in Wisconsin. He can be reached at 920-228-0437 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. Please consider supporting journalism that informs democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA. Prefer to mail a check? Our address is Report for America Green Bay Press-Gazette Campaign c/o The GroundTruth Project, 10 Guest Street, Boston, MA 02135.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Top Indigenous news includes boarding school survivors
