2021-12-09
Boozhoo, relatives.
A lot of news out there. Thanks for stopping by Indian Country Today’s digital platform.
Each day we do our best to gather the latest news for you. Remember to scroll to the bottom to see what’s popping out to us on social media and what we’re reading.
Also, if you like our daily digest, sign up for The Weekly, our newsletter emailed to you on Thursdays. If you like what we do and want us to keep going, support and donate here.
Okay, here's what you need to know today:
Rex Lyons can already imagine it. The Haudenosaunee Nationals lacrosse teams, in their traditional regalia, carrying their own flag, representing their own nation as well as the first peoples of this land, lighting the Olympic torch at the 2028 games hosted by the city of Los Angeles.
It’s a long road to the Olympics but Lyons remains hopeful. In the next six months, the International Olympic Committee will decide if lacrosse, a sport gifted to the world by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, is in or out of the 2028 summer Olympics.
The game has only been an Olympic medal sport twice over a century ago. World Lacrosse, the governing body for the international sport of lacrosse, made changes to the game, creating the World Lacrosse Sixes, a game with fewer players that better fit the IOCs move to make the Olympic games smaller, less costly and reducing the complexity of staging.
If lacrosse becomes an Olympic medal sport, it will then be on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to continue fighting for their teams to be represented. There are certain requirements that nations have to meet in order to be considered a country to create a national olympic committee and then gain entry into the Olympics. READ MORE. — Pauly Denetclaw, Indian Country Today
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. CONTRIBUTE TODAY.
The late Ojibwe artist George Morrison — a founding figure of Native American modernism — has been honored with a pane of U.S. postage stamps featuring his vibrant abstract landscapes drawn from childhood memories and a deep connection to the natural world.
Born in 1919 in Chippewa City, Minnesota, Morrison was a citizen of the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. His Ojibwe name was Wah Wah Teh Go Nay Ga Bo (Standing In the Northern Lights). He died in 2000.
The late Ojibwe artist George Morrison is featured on a U.S. Postal Service stamp issued April 22, 2022. Morrison's works featured vibrant landscapes and drew from Cubism, Surrealism and abstract expressionism. He died in 2000. (Photo by Dalton Walker/Indian Country Today)
“I seek the power of the rock, the magic of the water, the religion of the tree, the color of the wind, and the enigma of the horizon,” he said of his artwork in the book, “Modern Spirit: The Art of George Morrison.”
His works drew from a variety of influences, including Cubism, Surrealism and abstract expressionism, and he often featured landscapes and mosaic patterns in his paintings. READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to Indian Country Today
For the first time in over two years, the Haskell Indian Nations University campus gathered in-person to celebrate the academic milestones of its graduates — a momentous occasion marked by the emotional words of keynote speaker Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Graduate Mikalya Kerron, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, said, “It’s a big moment just because COVID really put a lot of things back for Haskell in general.”
Kerron graduated last fall with her bachelor’s degree in Indigenous and American Indian studies and was recognized Friday with nearly 150 other graduates from the fall, spring, and summer semesters.