INDIAN GIVER is published quarterly by First Nations to share the impact of the Native-led projects and initiatives we invest in and to celebrate the strength and future of Native communities. The phrase INDIAN GIVER entered the English language under historical circumstances that distorted its meaning within Native American culture, where it never carried the negative cargo we know it by today. The true meaning signifies a willingness to care, an expectation of sharing; and a cultural commitment to reciprocity that was not to be questioned. Indian giving was and is the future wealth of society.
September 2024 Newsletter
Highlights from First Nations, Gratitude for You
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the September 2024 issue of Indian Giver, First Nations’ quarterly newsletter.
In this fall issue, we spotlight Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit organization waging the fight of its life to protect Oak Flat, a sacred Apache site in Arizona, from being destroyed by a proposed copper mine. You will also discover how the Kwiyagat Community Academy, the first Colorado charter school on an Indian reservation, plans to grow its Ute language program. And you will learn about a derelict fencing cleanup operation on Modoc Nation homelands that is making it easier for migratory deer and elk to pass through.
In our Donor Spotlight, you’ll get to know Ariel Segall, a First Nations Legacy Society donor who has left a legacy of her own at MIT with her chocolate truffle business. And 2024 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow Audrey Etsitty shares her love of horses and her determination to teach horsemanship from a Diné perspective.
Thank you for your continued support of First Nations. We hope you have a great start to the new, cooler season!
Apache Stronghold v. United States: The Ongoing Battle to Save a Sacred Apache Site
For more than two decades, Apache Stronghold has been fighting to save Oak Flat, a sacred Apache site outside Phoenix ― and close to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation ― from being swallowed up by destructive copper mining. If foreign-owned Resolution Copper gets the green light to start drilling below the surface of Oak Flat, the sacred land will cave in and create a nearly two-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep crater as tall as the Eiffel Tower. After a narrow 6-5 loss in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year, Apache Stronghold has taken its fight to protect Oak Flat all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read more.
The Kwiyagat Community Academy’s Plan to Grow More Ute Language Teachers
In 2021, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe opened the Kwiyagat Community Academy (KCA), the first Colorado charter school on an Indian reservation. The school was the brainchild of Tina King Washington, the then-tribal education director, who recognized that Ute children needed a school where they felt they belonged. Today, KCA serves 60 Native American students in grades K-4. “Our goal is to have 100 students enrolled in K-5 by 2025. We’re adding one grade every year,” says Washington. Currently, the school needs more Ute language teachers to help pass on the Ute language and culture to children. School administrators have shared an ambitious plan to recruit more qualified Ute language teachers, one intern at a time. Learn more.
Modoc Nation Swings for the Fences to Create Safe Passage for Deer and Elk
The Modoc Nation has spent considerable time and resources cleaning up 2,300 acres of its ancestral lands in California. Employees also focused on removing almost 26 miles of derelict fencing, mostly barbed wire. It was a safety hazard to off-roaders, firefighters, and wildlife ─ particularly pronghorn and Interstate Mule Deer that migrate through that corridor. And their hard-fought efforts have paid off. A strategically placed video camera shows more elk, antelope, and pronghorn and mule deer passing through. “We saw a bunch of young bull elk on Sheepy Ridge, a rare sighting because there’s usually no elk there. New elk on the property is a BIG deal,” says Brian Herbert, homelands manager for the Modoc Nation. Read more.
Meet 2024 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow Audrey Etsitty
Audre Etsitty (Diné) has spent most of her life on and around horses. She started performing in rodeos when she was only 9 years old. Now at 34, with years of training, riding, roping, conditioning, and management of horses under her saddle, Etsitty has become an independent horsemanship consultant who approaches equine education from an Indigenous perspective. “To learn about the horse from a Diné perspective means to learn about the environment, the medicines, songs, and prayers,” she says. “While horses are sacred to the Navajo people, that deep, cultural connection needs to be reflected in equine facilitated learning and horsemanship.” Read more.
A Legacy Society Donor with a Passion for Chocolate, Technology, and Native American Issues
When Ariel Segall (far right) was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she started a chocolate truffle business and grew it into a popular student club, once featured in a Doonesbury cartoon. It is still active today, decades later. The cybersecurity engineer specializing in compliance has always been interested in Native American issues. Segall, a Legacy Society donor, has pledged to name First Nations as a beneficiary in her will. As she explains, “Helping to preserve a heritage and culture means so much, not just to the people who are the inheritors, but humanity benefits from our diversity and wisdom, too.” Read more.
