AWASQA

  • Students in Washington’s Wellpinit School District learn about plants and foods that have historically been important to the Spokane Tribe of Indians. Photo courtesy of Jennifer LeBret

    “They’ll know more than I ever knew”: More states move to require lessons on Native American history and culture

    FROM THE EDITORS: In several U.S. states, thanks to the effort and dedication of educators from the Indigenous Peoples, progress has been made in incorporating basic information on history, culture, language, and cultural traditions of Indigenous Nations that originally inhabited this country. They are regional efforts that document a review of local history and the…

  • Kumeyaay People Halt Construction on Border Wall

    Members of the Kumeyaay Nation (Ipai-Tipai-Diegueño) launched a call to defend their ancestral territory. For at least 12,000 years, they have been living in a region that expands from San Diego County in Southern California, to the Tijuana-Mexicali region and La Huerta-Agua Sorceress on the Mexican side. They have been around for at least 600…

  • Sacred Black Hills: An Origin Story that Breaks with Colonialism

    UPDATE July 6: At least 15 people were arrested Friday, July 3, as activists blocked a highway to protest Trump’s speech at Mt. Rushmore, to highlight the desecration of sacred lands and as a process of decolonization. For more information, please visit NDN’s website. The Mount Rushmore monument where the faces of George Washington, Thomas…

  • Wounded Knee: A Lasting Struggle for Indigenous Rights

    On December 29, the Wounded Knee massacre is commemorated in the US, where more than 300 men, women, and children lost their lives under the hands of the US military forces. The Big Foot Memorial Riders (now called the Future Generation Memorial Riders, O’maka Tokatakiya) commemorate this date through a spiritual ritual of empowerment and…

    Singing Hip Hop in Native Languages to Reclaim Identities

    Musical expressions are liberating and help build resilience. Some musical expressions have managed to unleash social change and others, to shape identities and resistance, but above all music is contributing significantly to keeping Native languages ​​and expressions alive. Indigenous languages ​​are living, active languages ​​that grow and are renewed, for example, when young people take…

    Smallest Residents of Watershed Key Indicators of Overall Watershed Health

    CAPTION: Mya Fisher, a Hoh tribal member in the Quileute Tribe’s Youth Opportunity Program, scans a tub for macroinvertebrates sampled from Bear Creek. Photo: D. Preston. SOURCE: Northwest Treaty Tribes. The 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington are leaders in efforts to protect and restore natural resources in the region. At the heart of…

  • Language, Our Roots, and Justice

    During most of the 20th century, national states in the US continent, almost without exception, developed policies of forced assimilation of Native peoples. The “democratic” obsession with equality ended by making invisible, and in many cases, lead almost to the extinction of Native peoples’ languages, cultures, and ethnic identities. Economic inequality generated an internalized colonization…