Native Americans

Fentanyl took root in Montana and in communities across the Mountain West region during the pandemic, and overall drug overdose deaths are disproportionately affecting Native Americans.

Tribal leaders sound the alarm after fentanyl overdoses spike at Blackfeet Nation

5:08am June 01, 2022

by Aaron Bolton

After 17 overdoses — including four deaths — this spring, Indigenous leaders in Montana and surrounding states look for ways to stop the fentanyl crisis and provide more treatment and care.

Johnson & Johnson and the opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health reached a settlement with Native American tribes over their role in the opioid crisis.

Native American tribes reach a tentative opioid settlement with J&J and distributors

5:15pm February 01, 2022

by James Doubek

Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health will pay $590 million to Native American tribes under a proposed settlement for the companies' role in the opioid crisis.

Supporters of Native Americans pause following a prayer during the 38th National Day of Mourning at Coles Hill in Plymouth, Mass., on Nov. 22, 2007. Denouncing centuries of racism and mistreatment of Indigenous people, members of Native American tribes fr

National

Native American tribes are gathering in Plymouth to mourn on Thanksgiving

8:43am November 25, 2021

by The Associated Press

Thursday's National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts, will honor Indigenous people who've suffered centuries of racism and mistreatment. It's the 52nd year the event has been observed.

Author Louise Erdrich next the cover of her new book, The Sentence.

The white ghosts haunting Native Americans in 'The Sentence'

6:00am November 23, 2021

by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler

Louise Erdrich's novel turns the trope of the haunted Indian burial ground on its head with the story of a Native-run bookstore being visited by the ghost of a white woman obsessed with indigeneity.

New film ‘Still Here’ documents the high rate of Alzheimer’s in the Native American community

1:14pm November 18, 2021

by Eileen Rodriguez

A new film highlights a health disparity when it comes to Alzheimer's disease in the Native American community.

A dry landscape pictured on Navajo Nation lands on in the town of Gallup, New Mexico in June 2019. New research says the near-total loss of tribal lands in the U.S. has left Indigenous people more vulnerable to climate change.

How loss of historical lands makes Native Americans more vulnerable to climate change

7:00am November 02, 2021

by Rachel Treisman

Indigenous nations across the U.S. lost nearly 99% of their historical land base over time, new research shows. What little land they have left is especially vulnerable to climate change risks.

A child-size Minnetonka suede and leather moccasin, pictured in 2011. The company has apologized for appropriating Native American culture and promised to do more to support Indigenous communities.

Moccasin maker Minnetonka has apologized for appropriating Native American culture

4:35pm October 12, 2021

by Rachel Treisman

The shoe company started in 1946 as one of many that sold Native-inspired moccasins to roadside gift shops. Its CEO apologized for profiting off Indigenous culture and outlined a plan for giving back.

Shaandiin Parrish, who was then Miss Navajo Nation, grabs a box filled with food and other supplies to distribute to Navajo families on May 27, 2020, in Counselor on the Navajo Nation Reservation, New Mexico.

National

As Miss Navajo Nation, she helped her community through the pandemic

10:04am October 10, 2021

When Shaandiin Parrish was crowned Miss Navajo Nation in 2019, she didn't expect to win. She also didn't expect to be carrying the honor two years later and through the health crisis.

The "House on Fire" ruins is one of the ancient sites in the Bears Ears region near Blanding, Utah. The land holds significant cultural value to Native American tribes in the region.

Biden to restore protections for the Bears Ears monument after Trump downsized it

8:00pm October 07, 2021

by Deepa Shivaram

President Biden will sign orders on Friday expanding the boundaries of Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments, the administration announced.

Annie Parfait, a Houma Nation elder, sits outside her home in Dulac, La., on Sept. 21, three weeks after Hurricane Ida made landfall in southeast Louisiana. Parfait, 70, rode out the storm at the Houma Nation Headquarters in Houma, La.

Pushed to the edge, tribe members in coastal Louisiana wonder where to go after Ida

9:31pm October 02, 2021

by Emma Bowman

By nature and necessity, the Houma people are a sprawling but tight-knit community in the bayou region. Federal recognition for the tribe could keep them out of harm's way.