Another news reports states that reservations are increasingly being used to smuggle drugs across U.S. borders. “Traffickers in Mexico and Canada increasingly are using Indian reservations along the borders as conduits for bringing marijuana, Ecstasy and other illicit drugs into the U.S. The drug gangs take advantage of weak and underfunded tribal police forces and [...]

A recent television news report highlights drug issues on the Lummi Reservation in Washington state. According to the report, drug abuse and crimes are rising on Indian reservations near Washington’s Canadian border. Dealers exploit the gaps in criminal jurisdiction between tribal, state and federal authorities. But the tribes are fighting the tide of drug addiction [...]

I have blogged several times about the value of Americans and everyone around the world knowing, and facing up to, the full truth about their histories. In fact, my book on how the interntional law called the Doctrine of Discovery was used in North America to limit and take the property, commerical, diplomatic, and human [...]

Last summer Oxford Exchange, through its Commercial Development Authority, began tearing down a large stone mound which some experts, including those with the Alabama Historical Commission, say is a mound built by American Indians centuries ago. The dirt underneath was to be used as fill dirt for a planned Sam’s Club nearby. The city later [...]

The Obama administration has approved the Shinnecock Indians on Long Island New York for federal recognition. This decision culminated a court battle that lasted three decades. There is still a 30-day comment period before the matter is fully settled but the support of the administration all but assures the 1,292-member tribe’s recognition. The announcement, made [...]

Indigenous Peoples at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne Australia called for the Catholic Church to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. Indian Country Today reported in part: “The Doctrine, a fundamentally racist philosophy from the 15th century, continues to allow powerful nation-states to dehumanize people and devastate the living earth in their [...]

In its April 2010 meeting, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discussed its draft report on the Doctrine of Discovery and the effect this international legal doctrine has had on Indigenous Peoples around the world. You can read a report on this meeting at this non-UN website. A monsignor of the Catholic Church has [...]

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled last Tuesday that state law enforcement officers can pursue and question suspects of a crime onto reservation lands The state Supreme Court reaffirmed the 2005 DWI conviction of David Harrison, a citizen of the Navajo Nation who was stopped and questioned by a San Juan County Sheriff’s deputy on [...]

An organization that recruits high-achieving college graduates to teach in high-needs areas is targeting American Indian students. The new Teach For America initiative hopes to serve more Native American students and recruit more of them to teach. Senior recruitment director Patrick Herrel says Indian students might connect better with Indian teachers. By 2015, the group [...]

The Navajo Nation legislature voted to formally oppose Arizona’s tough new immigration law. Council Delegate Kee Allen Begay sponsored the measure. He says he sees the immigration law as an attempt to harass American Indians, who can resemble Mexican nationals. The tribal lawmakers also came out against a state measure that prohibits any school classes [...]