Tribal leaders and top administration officials convene in nation’s capital
The White House hosted its third annual Tribal Nations Summit this week as part of its goals of strengthening nation-to-nation relationships and boosting tribal sovereignty.
It was a chance for the Biden administration to showcase investments in Indian Country in 2023 and to look forward — President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request includes $32.6 billion to support the Indian Health Service, tribal public safety, housing, education and more.
During his address to tribal leaders on Wednesday, Biden noted some challenges tribes face in getting federal funds.
“Today, there are still too many hoops to jump through … too many strings attached, and too many inefficiencies in the process,” he said, announcing an executive order to reform the tribal funding process.
“It requires federal agencies to streamline grant applications, to co-manage federal programs, to eliminate heavy-handed reporting requirements,” Biden said. “It gives tribes more autonomy to make your own decisions.”
The administration has set up an Access to Capital Clearinghouse online, a “one-stop-shop” of all federal funding opportunities.
The order requires federal agencies to assess all funding gaps and shortages, come up with strategies to make up for unmet needs and report annually on their progress.
The order also secures the first-ever advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service so that it can continue providing health care services to tribes during government shutdowns or other funding lapses.
The administration also announced more than 190 co-stewardship agreements with tribes, which are meant to give them greater say in the management of federal lands, waters and resources.
These include the first-ever agreement with the Commerce Department, more than 70 agreements with the Interior Department and more than 120 co-management and co-management agreements with the Agriculture Department.
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Biden Clears Path for Tribal Nations to Access Federal Funds
Park Service, Interior to study Impact of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told the summit that the National Park Service will collaborate with tribes across the U.S. to conduct a new study focused on the Indian Reorganization Period.
“Native American history is American history, and it should be told by Indigenous peoples. The stories we share inform not just our present but the future world we will pass on to the next generation of leaders. They help define us,” Haaland said. “I am grateful that the National Park Service will work closely on this study with Native communities to ensure that their stories, perspectives and Indigenous knowledge are a key part of this work.”
Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) in 1934, ostensibly to improve conditions among Native Americans. It put an end to the land allotment and forced assimilation policies of the past. It offered tribes incentives to replace traditional governments with U.S. styles of governance, supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Of the 263 tribes that voted on the IRA, 71 rejected it and 192 accepted it. Rifts between “Old Dealers” and “New Dealers” continue to play out on some reservations today.
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Biden backs Haudenosaunee bid for the Olympics
During his speech to tribal leaders, President Biden backed allowing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s lacrosse team to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Haudenosaunee are a confederacy of six Indigenous nations — the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora — who are credited with inventing the game which the Mohawk call Tewaarathon, or “little brother of war.”
Circa 1910 postcard shows a group of Akwesasne Mohawk men lacing lacrosse sticks on Cornwall Island, Ontario, Canada.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October voted to bring lacrosse back to the Games, and the Haudenosaunee want to compete under the flag of the confederacy.
“Their ancestors invented the game,” said Biden. “They perfected it for a millennia. Their circumstances are unique, and they should be granted an exception to field their own team at the Olympics.”
They face a hurdle, however.
“Only national Olympic committees recognized by the IOC can enter teams for the Olympic Games,” the IOC said in an emailed statement to The New York Times.
Street sign in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Plans are underway to add Massachusett language translations on all signs with numbered streets.
Cambridge to honor city’s original occupants
In 2024, Cambridge, Massachusetts, plans to erect 70 new street signs with Massachusett-language translations of numbered streets.
The plan was proposed by Sage Carbone, a Cambridge resident with Italian and Native ancestry.
“There are no streets named after Native people in Cambridge,” Carbone told Boston Public Radio. “To my knowledge, there are no squares commemorating Indigenous people. There are no distinctive markers of the historical nature.”
The plan was approved in December 2021 as part of the city’s $180,000 African American & Indigenous Peoples Historical Reckoning Project, which also looks to restore and expand the existing African American Heritage Trail in Cambridge.
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