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Buffalo's Fire
Indigenous content creator represents his people
Chante’ Reddest has been educating his social media followers on Dakota history for the last few years and recently done so on one of the largest stages. Chante’ Reddest began making videos on TikTok to educate people about Dakota history in February 2021. He eventually began creating inspirational content and videos on folklore, quickly hitting one million followers.
Insurance Commissioner: Tarot cards and scams used to ‘help’ North Dakotans with substance-use disorder
Promise of money, free flights, lures victims to fraudulent ‘recovery’ facilities. State Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread warns that out-of-state scammers are luring North Dakotans to fraudulent ‘recovery’ facilities. Especially vulnerable are tribal communities and reservation residents seeking treatment for substance-use disorder, according to his agency. “North...
Award-winning Native star quilt maker opens storefront
A grand opening celebration is planned for later this year for the new South Dakota shop. When Bonnie LeBeau returned home to Eagle Butte, South Dakota from serving in the Navy she initially took a job as a bus driver. One day between drives, LeBeau decided to stop in and visit with her grandmother Marcella LeBeau. Walking into her grandmother’s house, LeBeau was surrounded by star quilts, between 10 and 12 of them, all in different stages. Quilts were strung out across the dining room, on the couch, on chairs and on tables.
Pollution settlement raises questions on equity, justice for American Indians
The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice recently announced a $241.5 million settlement for polluting the Fort Berthold Reservation. According to the news release, the EPA and DOJ stated the settlement with Marathon Oil was done to resolve Clean Air Act violations at the company’s oil and gas production operations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
United Tribes Technical College kicks off the new academic year with community and celebration
School offers resources, prizes and amusement park fun as part of back-to-school event. The aroma of burgers and hot dogs and the buzz of excited returning students drifted from James Henry Gymnasium during United Tribes Technical College’s Kickoff to Welcome Week on Monday. Despite the rain moving the celebration...
U.S. Senators push USDA to rectify shortages at tribal food assistance programs
Tribal communities left without staple foods; legislators demand solutions. Amid a months-long food shortage affecting tribal food assistance programs, U.S. Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to swiftly and thoroughly rectify the situation. “These shortages are a gross failure of program management...
Sioux Nation, U.S. Forest Service forge joint stewardship framework for Black Hills
Faith Spotted Eagle: ‘We need to have the feds recognize that as a sacred site’. Great Sioux Nation and Biden Administration representatives opened a path to joint stewardship of the Black Hills National Forest on Aug. 22. The leaders of their respective nations signed a memorandum engaging federal land managers with tribal experts in consultation, planning, and employment on sacred ground.
Initiative aims to fund sacred site education
The Lakota People’s Law Project is asking visitors to national parks to donate money to help fund tribal education programs focused on sacred sites. Summer is the peak season to visit the splendor of America’s National Parks, to see geysers, buffalo, wolves, elk, lakes, waterfalls and mountains. These wild, untouched areas hold awe-inspiring geological and spiritual places.
Yellowstone National Park plan sets the stage for bison expansion in Montana
How the park’s first management update in 24 years is set to impact herds and hunting beyond its boundaries. A highly anticipated update to how Yellowstone National Park manages bison is setting the stage to expand the animal’s range in Montana, tribes and conservationsts say. After years of...
MHA Nation General Council “We the People” Fort Berthold, North Dakota
This is a Public Statement in response to the recent Tribal Business Council actions that took place at their last meeting August 6, 2024. As all enrolled Tribal members know the Peoples Fund was established in 2012 whereby a percentage of Oil and Gas proceeds were set aside for annual disbursements for the enrolled members in perpetuity and these funds were to continue to grow for future generations and were not to be spent by Tribal Council for their spending. Unfortunately, at last week’s meeting the Tribal Council took $250,000,000 for their Las Vegas casino project. Their plan is for a $3 Billion Casino with TWG Global, an investment company who raises $2 Billion and Tribal Council spends $1 Billion so they will need $750 Million more. The General Council met last Thursday August 8, 2024, and took formal action to oppose this money as this is not there’s to spend, it’s the People Fund which means you must ask the people. We cannot find any resolution regarding this so this action was done in secrecy without our knowledge or consent and will not be tolerated. A Tribal Resolution must.
Knife River historic earth lodge site once marked ‘center of our universe’
Gerard Baker among speakers to reflect on Knife River town site's lasting cultural influence. More than a hundred people gathered under a big-top tent to hear Gerard Baker, a cultural leader of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, speak of the societal significance of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Baker, the highest-ranking American Indian in National Park Service history, took his first permanent job as a park ranger at the historic town site near Stanton, N.D., in 1979. It would be just one step in a career that would help change the national interpretation of Native history.
Do secretive school choice meetings break North Dakota’s open meetings law? We asked the AG.
The North Dakota Monitor this week requested an attorney general’s opinion on whether a school choice task force met in violation of the state’s open meetings law. But we hope those leading the educational opportunities task force don’t wait for an opinion to become more transparent. Confusion...
Next three orientations are planned for Bismarck Documenters
The Bismarck Documenters held its second orientation session Aug. 7 on Zoom. Several people registered in advance for the 90-minute session. From that meeting, three people have taken assignments in the Bismarck, Mandan, and Lincoln communities. Their notes are listed on the Bismarck Documenters website as well as in the Buffalo’s Fire newsletter.
Indigenous leaders show up in force at Democratic National Convention
The selection of Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan as one of the co-chairs of the Democratic convention leaves many Indigenous attendees feeling excited and included. The crowd of around 150 stood, and the roar of applause filled the Native American Caucus meeting room at McCormick Place in Chicago. Caucus members...
Fort Berthold Reservation farmers’ market draws a lot of love
‘It’s a hobby, sitting out here and meeting people’. Tucked away in a shady patch near Rockview Plaza in Parshall, five women piled baskets of zucchini, lettuce, pickled veggies, fruit jams and rhubarb pie onto folding tables. Customers showed up in waves throughout the late afternoon and into early evening.
Hundreds of thousands of parents died from drugs. Their kids need more help, advocates say
More than 321,000 children have lost a parent to a drug overdose, a recent federal study found. Every day, 8-year-old Emma sits in a small garden outside her grandmother’s home in Salem, Ohio, writing letters to her mom and sometimes singing songs her mother used to sing to her.
Native public health officials are stuck in data blind spot
Tribal health officials have repeatedly said data denials impeded their responses to disease outbreaks. It’s not easy to make public health decisions without access to good data. And epidemiologists and public health workers for Native American communities say they’re often in the dark because state and federal agencies restrict their access to the latest numbers.
Indigenous Parent Advisory Committee draws hundreds with back-to-school event
'We want them to feel welcome and free to come speak to us'. Hundreds of Indigenous students and parents braved the storm to gather supplies and join in the fun during the back-to-school event on Aug. 14. It was standing room only at the celebration, which organizers moved to Bismarck...
Tribal food assistance program in shambles after USDA warehouse consolidation
This August a food program for Spirit Lake Nation in northeastern North Dakota had to send people home without block cheese and pork. Soon the center will be without dozens of items, and they don’t know when the shortages will end. Since May, many enrolled in the Food Distribution...
School superintendent fired after racist comments
A South Dakota Superintendent has been fired over racist comments aimed at Native American students made in an Office of Civil Rights Report. A South Dakota superintendent has been fired after an Office of Civil Rights report revealed racist comments aimed at Native American students. Nicole Swigart, superintendent of Rapid...
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