School choice bill for American Indians set for U.S. Senate debate
A U.S. Senate bill that would allow American Indian students in federal schools to use a state school choice program is set for committee debate Sept. 7.
Native Americans still fight for voting equality
Despite gaining the rights to citizenship and voting in 1924 from the federal government, Native Americans in some states could not vote until 1962. Those who live on reservations have consistently dealt with distances and language barriers when it comes to voting. But experts who have studied Native American voting rights said recent changes to legal requirements and provisions for voting have ex[...]
Judge orders tribe to produce records on Glendale casino
A federal judge has ordered a southern Arizona tribe to produce records showing what the tribal council and one of its district councils discussed in 2002 and 2003 about plans to open a Phoenix-area casino.
Panel allows Native American’s incriminating statements despite ‘historic trauma’
A federal appeals court has rejected the idea that Native Americans may be more inclined to confess to crimes they did not commit based on “historical trauma” and cultural differences.
Miranda rights may be the law of the land, but not on tribal lands
Police on tribal lands are not required to give Miranda warnings in many cases, although they can give the warning and many said they do, either out of habit or because their own tribe’s law requires it.
Emory meets the Pimas: All ‘honesty and virtue’
This excellent sketch of the Gila River Valley was rendered by Lieutenant (later General) William H. Emory of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, as he accompanied General Stephen Watts Kearny’s Army of the West and guide Kit Carson on the 1846 trek across the Southwest en route to California. His journal of that expedition later appeared in book form as “Notes of a Military Reconnaissa[...]
Tribes, Grijalva ask Obama to protect 1.7 million acres at Grand Canyon
Tribal leaders joined Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., on April 26, urging President Barack Obama to designate 1.7 million acres around the Grand Canyon as a national monument, bypassing Congress in the process.
Audit: 19 tribal schools in Arizona went uninspected for four years
At least 19 tribal schools in Arizona went four years or more without the inspections that are supposed to be performed every year by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a recent Government Accountability Office audit.
Begay urges Senate panel to back bill giving Native students school choice
Arizona state Sen. Carlyle Begay, R-Ganado, told a U.S. Senate committee on April 6 that a bill to give Native American students school choice is the “true essence of self-determination and self-empowerment” that tribes are seeking.
Tribal officials lukewarm to plan to use federal money on school choice
Tribal leaders were noncommittal Friday about a proposal that would divert Bureau of Indian Education funds into education savings accounts that individual Native American children could use to attend schools of their choosing.
Tribes, governments move to reverse struggles of state’s Native American students
Arizona has the third-highest population of American Indians in the country and is home to 22 federally recognized tribes. And though it has the second-largest Native American student population in the country, children and teens are failing standardized tests and dropping out of school at higher rates than any other group, according to the Arizona Department of Education’s 2014 Indian Education[...]
Gay marriage is legal but not on tribal lands
The U.S. Supreme Court decided this year that gay marriages were legal nationwide, but American Indian reservations are not bound by the decision and many continue to forbid gay marriages and deny insurance and other benefits.