Trace A. DeMeyer's Blog, page 9
July 21, 2025
'When someone is missing, time is of an essence to locate them and to find them safely'
READ CBC LINK: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/landfill-search-red-dress-alert-mmiwg-1.7588327
As one landfill search ends and another is planned to begin, an MMIWG advocate says countrywide implementation of the Red Dress Alert and addressing "systemic racism" could prevent the agony of such searches ever needing to happen again.
"We know when someone is missing, time is of an essence to locate them and to find them safely," said Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, a member of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba and chair of the National Family and Survivors Circle.
Manitoba is in the process of launching the Red Dress Alert pilot project, which will provide a notification to people's mobile phones when an Indigenous woman, girl, two-spirit or gender diverse person goes missing — similar to how an Amber Alert works.
"They should be looking at the next phase to, alongside the federal government, fully implement the [alert] … and adequately resource it to ensure that it's long-term and sustainable," Anderson-Pyrz said.
"We'll be fighting for those resources, because what the Red Dress Alert means in this country is very powerful for Indigenous women, girls and children."
Morgan Harris, Ashlee Shingoose — also called Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe — Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois were all victims of a Winnipeg serial killer. (Submitted by Cambria Harris, Winnipeg Police Service, Donna Bartlett, Darryl Contois) KEEP READING: Red Dress Alert https://www.canada.ca/en/crown-indigenous-relations-northern-affairs/news/2024/05/government-of-canada-and-the-government-of-manitoba-announce-partnership-to-develop-a-red-dress-alert-together-with-indigenous-partners.html Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me
Honouring Michael Linklater: Indigenous basketball icon and youth advocate
Journey Rooted in Resilience
Despite his family being from Thunderchild First Nation in Turtleford, Saskatchewan, Michael Linklater was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1982.
“Thunderchild is where our family is from. My mother was a part of the 60s Scoop, and that’s how she ended up in New Jersey,” Linklater said.
However, Linklater returned to Canada shortly after his birth, where he grew up and eventually moved to Saskatoon at 10 years old. It was during this time that basketball became his calling.
“Hockey wasn’t something that was feasible for me, but there was an outdoor basketball court at my elementary school. That’s what inspired me. It was accessible and all you needed was a $5 rubber ball. I just fell in love with the game,” he said.
That love turned into excellence. At Mount Royal Collegiate, he was a multi-sport athlete and team captain, winning Athlete of the Year from Grades 9 to 11. By the end of high school, he had already started dreaming of the big stage.
“After I started playing basketball, I made the decision that I wanted to play at the highest level and I visualized playing at the highest level,” he said.
KEEP READING:
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meHalf of Households on Native American Reservations Lack Access to Reliable Water Sources, Clean Drinking Water, or Adequate Sanitation
EDITOR NOTE: I was collecting information on banking and how it does not exist on many reservations - no banks, no ATM's? Exactly: It's obvious that Third World reservations are not on anyone's radar, except Native People living on the rez. It's obvious we are neglected in many modern systems... that is "their" playbook: NEGLECT. What year is this? Then there is this: No Water?
(JULY 14, 2025)
U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Representatives Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), have introduced the Tribal Access to Clean Water Act, a bill aimed at significantly improving access to clean water in Tribal communities through major investments in water infrastructure.
The legislation would increase funding for water projects through the Indian Health Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Reclamation. These investments would support critical infrastructure development and help ensure that Native American households without reliable access to clean water are finally connected to safe, sustainable water sources.
“Too many Tribal communities in Colorado and across the country cannot access clean, safe water,” said Bennet. “This legislation builds on our efforts to improve access for Tribes in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It fulfills the federal government’s promise to provide these communities with the clean water they deserve.”
“Nearly half of Native American households lack access to clean and reliable water supplies. That is completely unacceptable,” said Heinrich. “By addressing a significant backlog of infrastructure projects and removing barriers to federal programs that provide technical and financial assistance to Tribes, this legislation is an important step toward delivering clean drinking water to all families in Indian Country.”
“Clean drinking water is a basic necessity. Yet, so many of our Tribal communities have been left without the infrastructure. It’s unacceptable,” said Hickenlooper. “Let’s cut red tape and invest in modern resources to finally deliver safe, accessible water to every Tribe.”
“Access to clean water is a basic human right—and yet for far too long, Native American tribes have lacked access to safe and affordable water and reliable wastewater infrastructure. Our tribal communities deserve better,” said Neguse. “That’s why I’m honored to join Senator Bennet in introducing the Tribal Access to Clean Water Act, a bill that takes meaningful steps to close the gap between Native American households and access to clean and reliable water supplies.”
“An estimated 48 percent of homes on tribal lands lack access to clean drinking water or sanitation services. This is a serious public health issue that demands a federal response. I join my colleagues in supporting this important legislation, which will help tribes improve longstanding water infrastructure challenges and uphold trust and treaty obligations under the Constitution,” said Moore.
Lack of access to clean drinking water is a significant barrier for many Native American communities. According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Native American households are 19 times more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing. A 2021 report commissioned by the Colorado River Water and Tribes Initiative documents the different barriers to accessing safe and reliable drinking water among tribes in the Colorado River Basin, along with some of the deficiencies in the federal programs designed to address this problem, and offers recommendations for improvement. Lack of access to drinking water negatively impacts health, education, economic development, and other aspects of daily life.
READ MORE:
In Pine Ridge: I remember my relative Ellowyn Locke didn't have a land line or telephone until Bill Clinton was president. That was in 1999. TraceQuestions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me
July 18, 2025
Cuts to Tribal Radio Stations could spell disaster (UPDATE)
NEW: 7/18/25
South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds announced Tuesday he's secured an agreement with White House budget director Russ Vought to move $9.4 million from an account within the Interior Department to at least two dozen Native American radio stations in multiple states.
Those include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to Rounds' office.
Editor's NOTE: As you know, many tribe's living conditions in the US are not great, not prosperous, unless some casino monies trickle down and reach the rez, and they've made structural improvements. Poverty is all too common and rampant for too many tribal nations.
TRIBAL RADIO AM and FM has been a lifeline, like KILI radio in Porcupine, South Dakota - my relative Ellowyn Locke (Oglala Lakota) listened to them every single day. https://www.kiliradio.live/
In South Dakota, KILI of Porcupine, KDKO of Lake Andes and KLND of McLaughlin all stand to lose around $200,000 in Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grants. This would spell disaster.
MORE:
Tribal public broadcasting under threat by CPB rescission SDPB | By Lee Strubinger June 12, 2025
KOYA logo The United States Congress is considering a rescission request from the Trump administration to pull funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The maneuver would negatively affect SDPB—as well as the four public tribal radio stations in South Dakota.
The station KOYA stands to lose about $200,000 if Congress ultimately approves the rescission.
John Miller is manager for the station in Rosebud. He said the funding reduction would be very detrimental to the people of his community.
“Because, we serve a purpose of keeping them up to date and passing along emergency information—passing along pertinent information that helps them in every way and every day," Miller said. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding that we do receive is very beneficial in keeping the station on the air. It wouldn’t be a good outcome for us.”
KILI of Porcupine, KDKO of Lake Andes and KLND of McLaughlin all stand to lose around $200,000 in CPB grants.
South Dakota’s lone representative in the U.S. House, Republican Dusty Johnson, voted in favor of rescinding the money.
The question now heads to the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds said he does not want to see funding cut for radio stations in rural areas that rely on public broadcasting—particularly on reservations.
“Let’s not cut the stuff where we really do need to be able to help some folks that are in some rural areas, and on the reservations, where they simply don’t have other resources available to keep those radios in operation,” Rounds said.
Rounds said his rescission decision will be based on whether the package can be amended to allow for funding to continue to reach rural radio stations.
The CPB rescission would also affect SDPB to the tune of $2.2 million. Earlier this year, SDPB received full funding from the supermajority Republican controlled state legislature, after former Gov. Kristi Noem suggested slashing the statewide network’s state funding by 65 percent.
MORE:
Minnesota’s Tribal Radio Stations at Risk of Losing CPB Funding
Northeastern Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation is home to “Niijii Radio” KKWE (88.9), one of the state’s four tribal radio stations which serve their local communities with news and information, along with traditional music.
These stations are now in danger of losing much-needed federal funding, as President Trump’s executive order to “ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage” threatens to take away Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants that keep stations like KKWE on the air.
“[CPB] probably covers about 45% of our costs,” KKWE Station Manager Maggie Rousu, part of the station’s small staff, tells MPR. “CPB funding pays one full-time staff. It also covers our emergency broadcast system [and] some of our programming.”
Although the executive order focuses on pulling money from NPR and PBS, Rousu points out that it trickles down to smaller stations such as KKWE.
While most larger public radio stations can survive on corporate and listener donations, that’s not the case for “Niijii Radio,” where listeners aren’t able to provide enough funds to keep the station running. “We do have some contributors that are contributing $1 a month,” Rousu says, meaning if CPB funds are cut, “we could lose some local production.”
KILI is Under Attack! KILI Needs Your Help
Trump is attempting to remove the board of directors and cancel funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides significant funding to our station. Please donate now to help us recover the necessary funding to keep our station on-air and operating!
Click to Donate Now!
I have been to this station. It is awesome! ... Trace
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meJuly 16, 2025
Child Welfare League of America CEO on the Future of Indian Child Welfare
Linda Spears (Narragansett) is the president and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America. Provided photo.One day, long before she became head of the Child Welfare League of America, Linda Spears sat in her office in tears, surrounded by archival records pulled from an old cardboard box.
The dry documents told a disturbing story.
Between 1958 and 1967, the League partnered with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to enact the Indian Adoption Project, a federal initiative across 16 western states promoting the systematic separation of Indigenous families. Some children didn’t have families. Others were removed by social workers who went into tribal homes and arbitrarily deem families unfit — if they talked to the adults at all. Then tribal children were sent to live with white families, in an attempt to assimilate them through adoption.
Newspapers at the time colloquially called the effort the “Papoose Project.’’ A 1964 Miami Herald article stated, “Frequently the illegitimate children run wild and uncared for on reservations and help must be found among the white population.’’
It was an effort Spears’ organization once called “one of the League’s most satisfying activities.”
For Spears, that pivotal moment in her office offered a glimpse of her purpose within the League. As the first Indigenous woman to lead the Washington D.C.-based advocacy nonprofit, she said that along with looking out for all the nation’s children, she feels it’s also her responsibility to help right the course of an organization that has historically caused harm to tribal children and families.
KEEP READING👇
In 2023, Spears, a member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, became president and CEO of the Child Welfare League, following a lengthy stint as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.She is well aware of the troubled past of her organization and the white social workers who broke up Native families. “They separated children,” Spears said in a recent interview. “The harm from that experience visits tribes and children and families every single day, to this day, and will continue for generations forward.”
It’s a history the Child Welfare League has worked to distance itself from over time. In 2001, then-executive director Shay Bilchik formally apologized for the group’s role in the Indian Adoption Project.
Founded in 1920, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) today has members in all 50 states. It is one of the country’s oldest and most renowned advocacy groups, developing policy recommendations and industry standards for those working in the child welfare field.
“We cannot approach it by saying ‘I’ve got 20 ideas about how to fix Indian child welfare.’ It really comes from saying, ‘What do you want to do with your children? What do you as a tribal community want us to do to help you do that with your children?’”
— Linda Spears
Spears initially worked for the organization between 1992 and 2011 as a senior consultant and director of child protection. Starting in 2012, she served as vice president of policy, programs and public affairs. In 2015, she took up her Massachusetts position before to the Child Welfare League eight years later. She is currently working on her PhD dissertation for the Simmons University School of Social Work.
Much of Spears’ family still resides in her home state of Rhode Island, and she said she tries to return there as often as possible. Her father, Donald, was an electrical engineer who worked for a defense contractor that built submarines. Her mother, Gloria, was a civil rights activist and a social worker who created teen-parent support groups “years before they were commonplace,” Spears said. Gloria also started an adoption project to “partner with community-based organizations, churches and others to find families for Black and brown children.”
Spears said the ways she was raised, and those who raised her, influence “every way, and everything, about how I think of the world and see the world.”
Both of her parents have passed on, but Spears still spends time with family, including her brother and sister. She enjoys hanging out with her niece, who works in the high-end retail fashion world, and listening to jazz — especially when performed by her nephew, who plays alto saxophone for the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band.
In January, Spears joined a group of child welfare experts to discuss how the organization she leads will assist with a strategic plan to buttress the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the 1978 federal law protecting tribes’ rights and the integrity of Indigenous families. The ICWA 2050 plan aims to strengthen tribal child welfare systems and improve Indigenous childrens’ outcomes in state-run foster care. Other goals include enhancing partnerships between tribes and the federal government, and increasing communication about ICWA as the “gold standard” of child welfare policy and practice.
The interview below is an excerpt of that conversation, aired earlier on The Imprint Weekly podcast.
The following interview has been lightly edited for length, and a question that didn’t appear in the podcast was added for clarity.
Can you describe specific examples around how the Child Welfare League of America intends to engage with the ICWA 2050 plan?
There are lots of ways that we will be engaged in the 2050 plan. We had partnered with the National Indian Child Welfare Association for many years and we committed that we would continue to work on issues of Indian children in America and the tribes that provide for their future and their sustenance each and every day.
I look at the ICWA 2050 plan and approach and I’m extraordinarily excited by that work. I think it’s extraordinary, visionary and yet at the same time — grounded in the roots and the history of the people who were around that table on the first days — it says we must do this, we must plan differently for our kids and we must have some federal policy that ensures that happens.
How do your previous child welfare roles inform the current and future work you’re doing at the Child Welfare League — particularly when it comes to bolstering the relationship between sovereign tribal nations and state governments?
We are very willing to come to the table and be part of conversations about how we advance model state practices, policies and laws that help support federal guidance and support the next generation.
I also think there’s a lot to learn from tribal communities as it affects child welfare overall. While children of color across the board are not tribal members, many of the values, principles and work of tribes and the approaches that tribes take to family support are lessons for the rest of the practice.
For public child welfare folks out there, it is learning a new set of policy requirements and understanding the nation-to-nation relationship of tribes and states and the federal government. It is really about also saying, “What are the best practices, values and principles that enhance our work across the board?” And then again, “How do state agencies work more effectively with tribes and recognize the sovereignty of tribes?”
How is CWLA collaborating with other non-Native stakeholders to promote the visibility of Native children and families?
First, we work with the state ICWA managers. It’s one of the things that we’ve had a shared collaboration with NICWA on for many, many years and continue to do that. We also work with them collaboratively on Indian child welfare issues around policy. We do a legislative agenda each and every year.
We run a well-respected academic journal, one of the older child welfare journals called Child Welfare. As I came on board, we were at a point of change for our senior editor for the journal, and we selected a Native senior editor quite purposefully — someone who works in the space of children, families and tribes. Priscilla Day is our editor as of last summer. She has been in this space for many years. She is a senior, respected individual who knows this work in and out.
And we did that on purpose, to make sure that the work of academics who are in this area, of scholarly experts, is also reflected in our work, that we are featuring the best practice work of those tribes. Our journal is very well-read around the country in child welfare and it was important to make sure that we had high-quality Indian child welfare content as part of that.
For non-Native groups who seek to increase ICWA compliance and strengthen tribal sovereignty more broadly, how do you advise they begin that journey and how important do you think it is to have that buy-in from non-tribal or state-based groups?
It’s really important, I think it comes from a willingness and openness to have dialogue, which means building relationships of trust with tribes. And I think that takes more than a minute. Tribes have a long history of not being sure whether they can trust.
It is understanding the culture, the community and the position that tribes come from and hearing the tribe tell you who they are, what they stand for, and how they wish to work — and then honoring that. That doesn’t mean everybody agrees every day on everything, but it does mean that there is a tremendous, deeply held value in mutual respect and that needs to be part of the conversation.
We cannot approach it by saying “I’ve got 20 ideas about how to fix Indian child welfare.” It really comes from saying, “What do you want to do with your children? What do you as a tribal community want us to do to help you do that with your children?”
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meMembers of Congress Call on DOJ to Restore the ‘Not Invisible Act’ Findings, an Accounting of Missing and Murdered Native People
President Donald Trump surrounded by tribal leaders as he signed the Not Invisible Act during his first term in office. Still image from White House video.The Not Invisible Act requires the Departments of Justice and Interior to create a joint commission on violent crime involving Indigenous communities. It also details how federal agencies should address what it calls an “epidemic”: the high rates of Native American youth and adults who are missing, murdered or victims of violence.
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me— June 9 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi
“We ask that the DOJ take immediate steps to restore the Not Invisible Act Commission Report. Removing the data from public government websites obstructs long-overdue justice and harms any efforts to combat the crisis.”
Military says over 1,000 people flown from fire-threatened Manitoba community
The Manitoba government said Friday over 12,000 people were out of their homes, and it gave notice that it intended to use Winnipeg’s major convention centre to house more evacuees. The military began removing people from Garden Hill First Nation on CC-130 Hercules transport airplanes on Friday, and it says that as of Sunday afternoon, over 1,550 have been flown to Winnipeg.
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meJuly 15, 2025
Little Hawk on Wisdom
Your History Class Was a F*cking Lie | #NOMOAR
Your History Class Was a F*cking Lie by Sean Sherman
(Or: How the American Educational System Has Always Been a Racist Propaganda Program)
Read on Substack👉This is all why I’m working on building NOMOAR — the National Online Museum of American Racism. (in my spare time that is). Not to just “educate” but to interrupt the dangerous narratives we have all been duped as truths and to create not only an archive, but also a much need mirror of American identity.
NOMOAR is what happens when we stop waiting for school boards and start telling the truth ourselves. Education doesn’t need a monetary component we can start by teaching truths at home and giving our children the tools to critically think for themselves when presented with alternative perspectives and untruths.
My Vision:Crowdsourced local history maps. Zoom into your hometown and see the redlining maps, the sundown town signs, the massacre sites, the stolen land deeds and any narrative worth sharing so we may never forget.
User-submitted exhibits — family stories, archival documents, oral histories, newspaper clippings — all validated by community, not just institutions.
Interactive timelines that connect racist laws, uprisings, acts of resistance, and how they relate to today’s policies.
Virtual and traveling exhibits that can reeducate Americans everywhere and challenge the status quo of the whitewashed histories we have been force fed for so long.
Tools for teachers and organizers — truth packs to bring real history into classrooms, workshops, or kitchen tables.
This isn’t about replacing a physical museum in D.C. It’s about building one that actually tells the truth — and lives in your pocket.
Because if we’re not documenting these truths now, they’ll get erased again.
We can’t afford another generation raised on lies and we definitely can’t remain silent as we watch entire histories get silenced for the comfort of white people.
Want to help build the NOMOAR platform? I created a GoFundMe to raise funds to create the base website, but it will need immense help to become reality. So what can you do outside of donating?
Just reach out and let’s start a conversation. The only way to Make America Great Again is to be truthful with our past and move forward with understanding and empathy.
Oh and Fuck Trump…
SUPPORT HERE:
#NOMOAR ##EducationalSovereignty #DecolonizeEducation #HistoryMatters #DismantleWhiteSupremacy #DecolonizeNow #IndigenousResistance #BlackLiberation #AmericanMythology #ThanksgivingWasALie #MakeAmericaThinkAgain
www.NOMOAR.com (coming soon)
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meThe Real Rapid City, Vol. 1
Lakota Law and Sacred Defense Fund director Chase Iron Eyes visits so-called "Founders Park" — an obvious misnomer, since Native People have occupied the territory now known as South Dakota for millennia — and dissects some of the real history of Rapid City.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ZsyVpi8ip-U
As I think you’d agree, the state of our nation — and the world — is also troubled, to say the least. That’s why we’ve dedicated so much time and energy over the past months to creating content and action opportunities aimed at tackling pressing, society-wide issues. We can’t stand idly by and watch, for instance, while our (mostly southern) relatives are harassed, deported, and abused without due process or respect to their human rights and dignity.
That said, I believe it is always worth taking time to explore the conditions — and the colonial history and systemic barriers put in place to keep our people subjugated and subject to those conditions — within our own homelands. Taking a good, hard look at the real history of Rapid City as a microcosm for communities across our territory is an excellent lens through which to explore these difficult but important topics. And, of course, the struggles of Indigenous People locally, nationally, and globally are interrelated. They share so many of the same causes and effects.
Our plan is to release several more of these over the coming weeks, using the setting of Rapid City — often called “Racist City” around here — as a jumping-off point to look at other Native perspectives on history. You’ll hear more about my family’s struggle, the boarding school era, and much more.
So I hope you’ll watch this video and the ones to follow, think on the context and lessons they provide, share with your friends on social media, and even write to tell us your thoughts. Whatever community you call home, we think of you as a relative, and we value your input. We are all in this together, and by staying connected and aware, we will persevere through the challenges we face. By acknowledging and learning from our past, we can create the future we need for ourselves, our children, and the generations to come.
Wopila tanka — thank you for your attention, your voice, and your solidarity
Chase Iron Eyes
Executive Director
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me
Trace A. DeMeyer's Blog
- Trace A. DeMeyer's profile
- 2 followers
