Native News Briefs | Statue to mark drowning of Native American leader’s son

SACO, Maine (AP)

A local organization has won a grant to erect a proposed statue of a Native American leader, his wife and his son, who drowned as an infant when English settlers overturned their boat, according to a contemporary account.

The Biddeford Culture and Heritage Center has not yet secured a location for the statue of Sachem Squando of the Saco Tribe and his family, the Portland Press Herald reported Feb. 28.

“Our hope is that the statue will speak to Mainers and other New Englanders about the extent of the brutality that Indigenous people endured,” said Diane Cyr, the organization’s president. “It will stand alone in Maine as the only visual reminder to date of these horrific events.”

An account written by Rev. William Hubbard relays the story of Squando’s son’s death in 1675, which led to the burning of the area that is Saco and Biddeford today, the newspaper reported.

The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, a family foundation based in Bangor, has given a $40,000 grant to the heritage center for the proposed project. The organization hopes to raise an additional $150,000 for the project.

Oceti Sakowin school dismissed by SD state House committee

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota House lawmakers on March 2 dismissed a proposal to fund two new schools structured around Oceti Sakowin language and culture, dealing a blow to Native American educators who have tried for years to get state support to rethink schooling in their communities.

The Republican-controlled House Education committee rejected the bill on a 4-8 vote, all but killing the proposal that had already passed the Senate.

It was the third year that Lakota lawmakers have brought the idea to fund the community-based schools through the state’s public school system, and the second time the House committee has rejected it.

Democratic Sen. Troy Heinert, who is leaving the Legislature after this year, has spearheaded the proposals, arguing that it would address low education proficiency levels, high dropout rates and high rates of suicide among Indigenous youth.

He pointed to the history of schools trying to assimilate students and said the new schools would instead encourage and foster students’ identity, language and culture.

The idea for the schools was sparked from Native American Community Academy, a charter school in Albuquerque, that has produced higher graduation rates for Indigenous students than the rest of the state.

“We want them to feel comfortable and to feel safe,” said Chante Heart, a mother who also works for the South Dakota Democratic Party. “Where they can smudge, where they can say their names in Lakota.”

However, organizations representing public education opposed the bill, arguing that language immersion schools are already possible within the existing structure.

They pointed to an initiative in Rapid City public schools to expand opportunities to learn Lakota language and culture.

“What this bill seeks to do, can and is already happening,” said Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota.

Tribe wants Indian Head Highway, town renamed

INDIAN HEAD, Md. (AP) – Members of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe are calling on officials in Maryland to rename Indian Head Highway and the town of Indian Head because they say the names are derogatory to Native Americans.

Chief Jesse James Swann requested the change Monday in a letter to officials in Prince George’s and Charles counties, saying the tribe wants the name changed to honor Maryland’s two state-recognized tribes, WTOP-FM reported.

“This is our ancestral land and this highway was a major thoroughfare used by Piscataway and the surrounding tribes that were under our empire,” Swann wrote.

The tribe has gathered more than 3,700 signatures on a Change.org petition and said it expects more.

This is not the only effort to rename Maryland Route 210, which runs about 20 miles south from Forest Heights near the border with Washington, D.C. Last year, state senators introduced legislation to rename the highway for former President Barack Obama.

Swann said he appreciates the bill to honor Obama, but the highway shouldn’t be renamed in his honor.

“This is our homeland and we believe he would agree with us,” Swann said.

Moapa solar projects moving forward

WASHINGTON –The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced March 3 that the Chuckwalla Solar Projects is moving forward in coordination with the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, the Bureau of Land Management and other federal partners.

According to a Department of Interior news release, the BIA invited public review of the draft environmental impact statement for the project, which includes four photovoltaic electricity generation and battery storage facilities on the Moapa Reservation in Clark County, Nevada.

The facilities would be located on 6,500 acres of tribal trust land and would have a combined capacity of up to 700 megawatts.

The project would provide a long-term revenue base and jobs for the Moapa Band. It would also use the lease site for the economic benefit of the tribe.

Bryan Newland, assistant secretary for Indian affairs, said, “Clean energy, including solar projects like these in Nevada, will help tribal communities be part of the climate solution.”

Interior also recently approved the Southern Bighorn Solar Project and announced that construction began on the Arrow Canyon Solar Project, both also on Moapa land.

A virtual public meeting will be held on March 15 at 1:30 p.m. and on March 16 at 5:30 p.m. Written comments may be submitted via email, mail or at www.chuckwallasolarprojectseis.com

Top Kansas school official suspended over offensive remark

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ school board suspended the state’s top public school administrator Feb. 25 over an offensive public comment about Native Americans, rejecting the resignation he submitted after the governor and indigenous leaders demanded it.

Education Commissioner Randy Watson was suspended for 30 days without pay, starting Feb. 28. The 10-member elected State Board of Education appoints the commissioner to run the State Department of Education.

A special meeting Feb. 25 of the Republican-majority board began with Chair Jim Porter announcing that Watson had submitted his resignation, but after a closed, hourlong session, members voted unanimously to reject it in favor of the suspension.

“We looked at the entire history of the commissioner,” Porter said. “We believe in restorative justice.”

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s call Feb. 24 for Watson’s resignation and the board’s actions the next day occurred amid the contentious national debate over what public schools teach about racism and its role in shaping history and modern society.

Watson did not attend the public portions of the board’s meeting and declined through a spokesperson to be interviewed after the meeting. The board did not release his resignation letter.

He made the offensive remark during a Zoom presentation to a conference on virtual education. A video showed him joking about how his California cousins used to visit Kansas during the summer and were “petrified” of tornadoes.

“They’re like, ‘Are we going to get killed by a tornado?’” Watson said. “And I’d say, ‘Don’t worry about that, but you got to worry about the Indians raiding the town at any time.’”

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