This Week in Native American News (9/1/17): Hawaiian Hurricane Helpers, Rodeo Riders, & Authentic Art
September 1, 2017
Great People Doing Great Things: Hustling to Help After Hurrican
Big Aloha food truck to head to Rockport.
Kalani Kealoha Young and his wife Imelda live near San Antonio, Texas – thousands of miles from where they were raised on Oahu. Their family visits Rockport, a city on the Gulf Coast, often; being near the water makes them feel at home.
"We like to go down there because it reminds us of Hawaii, by the water and stuff," Young said.
When Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Coast on Friday, Rockport was hit with torrential rains and heavy flooding. When the system headed back into the ocean and circled around as a Tropical Storm, Rockport was hit again.
The Youngs own a Hawaiian food truck. On Sunday, they'll be driving it down to Rockport, where the plan is to give away free teri-burgers and kalua pig plate lunches. Enough, he says, to feed at least 1,000 people.
"Not only for the people, the victims, but also for the workers who are down there helping out, trying to clean up the place," Young said. "Originally, it was just her and I were gonna go down there. Now we got 20 or 30 people or more who are gonna be caravanning out there, to help the people of Rockport.”
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There were too many people "Doing Good" to stop with just one...
Kinsale Hueston, a senior Navajo student in California, has been recognized for her poetry, winning the highest national honor for young poets.
To say Navajo student Kinsale Hueston, 17, is an aspiring writer would be to miss the point. The senior at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in California is by any definition an accomplished poet who has just been named one of five National Student Poets for 2017.
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Hereditary chief Janice George and Buddy Joseph, both from the Squamish Nation, learned to weave blankets in the Salish tradition nearly 15 years ago and are now trying to spread their knowledge as far and wide as possible.
The pair run weaving workshops and recently published a book about the art and its history in the coastal First Nations, called Salish Blankets: Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth.
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When an Ottawa police officer spat in her face nearly two decades ago, Lynda Kitchikeesic said nothing. Said nothing, but never forgot.
It was an unlikely start to what would become Kitchikeesic’s surprising and constructive association with Ottawa police. In the 17 years since she says she “wormed” her way on to the force’s Community and Police Action Committee (COMPAC), whose goal is to “nurture and develop … communication, respect, accountability and trust” between police and minorities, Kitchikeesic has worked with four police chiefs, seven deputies and scores of rank-and-file officers.
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Rodeo is a 'Way Out' for Native Youth
Photo from article: Daily Mail
Rodeo is a uniquely American sport generally associated with “cowboys,” but some of its best riders are “Indians,” growing numbers of whom are women.
“Growing up on the Blackfeet reservation where there’s a lot of oppression and depression, it’s hard to stay on the right track, stay goal-oriented and not get caught up in all the trouble in terms of drugs and alcohol,” said Sammy Jo Bird, 25, a member of Montana’s Blackfeet Nation who won the title of World Champion All Around Cowgirl at the INFR finals last year after eight years of trying. “After winning the World Championship and getting some recognition, I really want to work to inspire the youth and show them that wherever you grow up, whatever your circumstances, they don’t determine where you can end up.”
Ultimately, she added, rodeo is so much more than just a sport.
“For us, it’s a way out.”
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Does that Piece of Art Actually Belong to You?
COURTESY NANCY ERGER, REMINISCE
Sara grew up eating family dinners beneath the Chilkat robe. She never thought much about it until her senior year of high school, when she saw a picture of a strikingly similar robe in an art history class.
The teacher told the class about how the robe was used in spiritual ceremonies, Sara Jacobsen said. "And I started to wonder why we have it in our house when we’re not Native American."
She said she asked her dad a few questions.
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This Will Make You Want to Head to the Casino...
It's hard to fit so much news in such a small space.
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