Minnesota Native News

HEADLINES: This week on Minnesota Native News, we hear how the vaccine roll out is going at regional Indian Health Services clinics and we honor the life of Laura Waterman Wittstock.

STORY 1 - IHS VACCINE ROLL OUT
The Bemidji Area Indian Health Service plans to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine to 150-thousand people across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. But vaccine supply will need to pick up dramatically to make that happen by the end of 2021. Melissa Townsend talked with IHS Bemidji Area Director Daniel Frye about the situation. 

The Bemidji office of the IHS is actually the regional headquarters and serves tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This fall tribes were asked to count the number people they need to vaccinate. 

FRYE:  We are roughly at about 150-thousand in the three states who will need the vaccine. (:07)

Daniel Frye, IHS Director for the Bemidji area says that includes elders, adults, children - tribal members and those who work in tribal agencies and enterprises. IHS began weekly vaccine deliveries to clinics on December 14th. But they are not able to get vaccine to every IHS clinic every week.

FRYE: At this point in the vaccine distribution stage, we don’t make any requests. Basically the way that it’s working is that we get a weekly allotment.  We have on average 2000 doses that come in weekly and with that, we break it up in increments in 100 and cover as many sites as we possibly can. (:22)

Frye is hopeful that vaccine production will increase. At a minimum, he’d like to see every tribe receive vaccine every week to keep their vaccination operation going. And ideally, he’d like to supply enough vaccine for tribes to roll out their mass vaccination plans.

FRYE: The tribal sites and our federal sites have done phenomenal job of putting together these plans to roll out mass vaccination clinics where they can run through 4-500 peel in one day. And that’s what we are looking to dots have that larger impact. (:13)

So far most tribes in the Bemidji area have been able to vaccinate all their essential workers.  Now they are working to vaccinate elders 65 and older.  And Frye says it will take a while to vaccinate this entire population.

FRYE: And that’s probably where we’ll be for a bit with the current cadence of vaccine. (:05)

Frye says, each clinic has a different protocol for vaccine appointments.  So if you are looking to get vaccinated - reach out to your tribal clinic to find out how to do that.  


STORY #2 
In other Covid-19 related news, the number of positive cases tested in IHS-tribal clinics has decreased over the past month. The spike in positive cases after Thanksgiving has fallen over December and January. IHS Bemidji Area director Daniel Frye says that’s at least partially due to closings ordered by the Walz administration. 

FRYE: I have to imagine some of the governors orders throughout the holidays had an affect on that with the closing of businesses with the restaurants. We’re just not seeing that community spread. (:10)

In the past week, roughly 6% of Covid tests are positive at IHS-tribal clinics.  

And finally...

STORY 3 
We honor the life of Laura Waterman Wittstock, Seneca, who passed on January 16th. She was 83. Waterman Wittstock was an award winning journalist, an author and a Matriarch to the Native journalism community across the country.

She was a founder of Minneapolis based Migizi communications and long-time host of the First Person Radio program that ran until 2018 on Minneapolis based community radio station K-F-A-I. 

Minnesota Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Ojibwe, says Waterman Wittstock was a mentor to many. 

FLANAGAN: She spent so much time working with young women in particular to make sure they had a path to success and to reach their full potential.  When I was just a baby organizer coming up int eh community, she really saw me. She encouraged me to run and be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention when I was just 24 years old and she helped fund raise to get me there. I know that my story of being seen and heard and valued and encouraged is just one of hundreds or thousands of stories of Native women and men who she just pushed to take risks and reach out full potential. (:46)

Flanagan says she honors Laura Waterman Wittstock in her work as the first Native woman serving in state-wide office in Minnesota. 

HOSTS: 

Leah Lemm (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), Host and Reporter for Minnesota Native News

Cole Premo (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), Host and Reporter for Minnesota Native News 

GUESTS:

Dr. Antony Stately (Ojibwe and Oneida) has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is the CEO of NACC, the Native American Community Clinic in South Minneapolis.

Dr. Mary Owen, MD (Tlingit) is the President of the Association of American Indian Physicians, and she’s also the Director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School, on the Duluth campus.

Briana Michels (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) is part of the American Indian Resource and Resiliency team at the University of Minnesota Extension, which holds workshops on trauma and healing.  Briana Michels works on the Remembering Resilience podcast which explores Native American resilience through and beyond trauma.

Kelly Miller (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) is Director of the Department of Indian Work at Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul and one of the Minnesota Department of Health's COVID-19 Community Coordinators.

This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. This week on Minnesota Native News, we hear from a native medical expert and leader, Dr. Mary Owen, who discusses the importance of the COVID-19 vaccination for the native community. 

Here’s reporter Cole Premo with more. 

DR. OWEN

When I first scheduled a video interview with Dr. Mary Owen, little did I know I’d be interviewing her right after she got the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

OWEN: “Hello, sorry. I'm late. I just got, I had to zoom out to the clinic to get my vaccine. No, that's, that's totally fine. That's totally fine. That's a great.”

First, a quick introduction. 

OWEN: My name is Dr. Mary Owen and I am from the sharp clan of the Lincoln nation. And I'm an assistant professor at the university of Minnesota medical school and the current president of the association, American Indian physicians. 

Then, I, of course, first wanted to know how the vaccination went. 

OWEN: You know, it was really surprising. It, I felt it less than I do the flu shot hardly noticed it actually. And I'm not just saying that I don't need to say that part, you know, it was really painless.

Dr. Owen is working on getting the message out to the native community on why taking the vaccine is so important. 

OWEN: I recognized that there is going to be huge need in our communities because of the potential for vaccine hesitancy, you know, um, just like in African-American communities, our communities have had, um, have naturally so much distrust of government and health institutions.

So, Dr. Owen and the Association of American Indian Physicians put together a task force with the purpose of getting the message out, whether it be through the airwaves or through social media. She says native medical students have also been asked to spread the message. 

Part of the task force’s job has been producing a series of videos explaining the importance of the vaccine. 

OWEN: The videos themselves are really short. Mine was a little bit longer, a minute and 30 seconds to kick it off with just why we're doing them. And the why is that we are dying far higher rates than any other population age. When you look at the age adjustments, including African-Americans either, and it's not a competition at all, just to emphasis on why we need this. And it's not the first time it's happened. We had the same thing happen with H one N one when we died at four times the rate of, um, non-natives. So, um, but COVID is different. It's killing even more of us and therefore we need a drastic response to it and we need people to buy into these vaccines.”

She says that, while the data is still coming in, it appears that the federal government has indeed recognized the impact the virus has had on the native population, and vaccines are getting to elders and health care workers in those communities. 

However, she says there’s still a lot of work to do to get the overall native population to buy-in to the vaccine, especially those on the younger side.
 
OWEN: What I worry about is the next wave… you know, young people who tend to feel, I remember myself feeling invincible, like this doesn’t really affect me. and it's a two-step vaccine. That's the other piece. You don't get the, um, the heavier coverage until you get that second shot. So that also gets in the way of the protections. You know, when we have, we have already have people who struggle sometimes to get into clinic, to get the first shot, but then to have to get that second one.

So, the work goes on. 

OWEN: We can't afford to lose people, particularly at this time when we're finally, we really seem to be gaining in strength. More people want to know about us and are, are willing to listen to the history that they haven't been willing to listen to before, or if they haven't been willing to that they haven't heard in they're actually going out and seeking it on their own horn information about us. So it's a good time for us to push forward, not to, not to move backwards by getting by dying off from a disease.”

After getting the vaccine, Dr. Mary Owen says wearing a mask is still important. While the vaccines have been proven to be about 95% effective in preventing serious illness from COVID-19, it's unclear how well they curb the spread of COVID-19. So, for now, health experts are still recommending wearing a mask after vaccination until more is known and more people are vaccinated.

As a note, Owen had A LOT more to say. She talked more on addressing medical distrust within the native community, her personal experiences as a physician and what inspired her to help her community. You can hear more from her on the latest episode of Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. 

I’m Cole Premo. 

x

Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. Coming up…

COVID 19 Vaccine rollout in MN is underway…

And Indian Country responds to the attack on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6th…

Reporter Leah Lemm has these stories…

STORY #1: VACCINATION ROLLOUT IN MN IS UNDERWAY

Reporter: The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Vaccines have been a huge goal to help fight the spread of the virus, and now multiple types of COVID 19 vaccines are being administered.

The Native American Community Clinic or NACC is one place where the Moderna COVID 19 vaccine is available for staff and patients. The vaccine kickoff at NACC was held before the New Year, starting with a short ceremony and initial vaccines.

A lot of thought and planning has been put into what the rollout will look like at NACC. Dr Antony Stately is NACC’s CEO.

Dr Antony Stately: we'll start with 65 and older. We'll look at folks 55 to 65, also many of those fixed folks within our community are considered to be elders.

We'll be vaccinating those individuals who have some chronic conditions that place the medics at a heightened risk for contracting COVID-19 and getting sick and possibly ending up in the ICU.

Reporter: They’re not wasting any time getting the vaccines out to the Native community.

Dr Antony Stately: the native population is so much more disparately impacted by COVID-19 in the state. We've been given the ability to justify and sort of create our own methodology for who we want to vaccinate in our communities based on the risk that we see happening in our communities.

Reporter: Those working in highly impacted communities are trying to make the vaccine available as soon as possible.

Dr. Antony Stately: there are folks like me and other folks in health leadership in native community who have advocated and really strongly lobbied for our prioritization of native communities and black communities to get the vaccine and to get it before other communities that have historically had more privileged because we are seeing much more significantly impacted than the rest of the population.

Reporter: Those under 18 can’t get the Moderna vaccine at this point. Also, those who’ve had COVID need to be cleared from the illness for 90 days.

STORY #2: INDIAN COUNTRY RESPONDS TO THE ATTACK ON THE U.S. CAPITOL

Next… On January 6th, 2021, the world looked on as the U.S. capitol building in Washington DC was invaded… the day when the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election was to be formally certified, with an upcoming Biden-Harris administration.

Pres Trump supporters vandalized the capitol building, chanted for the hanging of Vice President Pence, and attacked democracy itself. All this after Trump gave a speech that focused on falsely claiming that the presidential election was stolen from him.

The Chief Executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Melanie Benjamin, had this response in a recent Band update:

Chief Exec Melanie Benjamin: As insurgents prompted by the outgoing president storm the National Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the election. Wow, well, we all expected the end result to be a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th.

This event shows the importance of being involved in the political process and as a sovereign American tribe, we know that violence is never the answer.

REPORTER: Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin gives her regards to the upcoming Biden-Harris administration

Chief Exec Melanie Benjamin:… so that there is a smooth transition. And we as tribal governments across this nation, that we have a good working relationship with the new administration. And that's what I look forward to.

REPORTER: The National Congress of American Indians released their own response, a part of which read:

“As leaders of our own tribal nations, we understand the sacred duty undertaken by those chosen to serve their people to uphold the rule of law and the will of the people. Above all else, we value the sanctity of life. No nation should tolerate a leader who obstructs or brings harm to the peaceful democratic process and the citizens we are sworn to protect.”

REPORTER: The statement goes on to commend Congress for resuming their work and accepting the certification of the free and fair election of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.

For MN Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.

In early December - after years of resistance from many tribes and Native communities - Enbridge Energy company began construction on the new Line 3 oil pipeline in northwestern Minnesota. But work on one section recently stopped because of an Ojibwe ceremonial lodge that stands in the path of the pipeline. Reporter Melissa Townsend tells us what might happen next.

This region is the headwaters of the Mississippi River and treaty land where Ojibwe have always retained rights to hunt, fish, gather and practice cultural traditions. So the recent discovery of a ceremonial lodge in a wooded area along the proposed pipeline route in Aitkin county stopped construction in its tracks. It’s hard to tell when exactly the lodge was built. 

GOODWIN: No, I don’t know when it went up. 

Dawn Goodwin  - along with hundreds of others - has been at that pipeline construction site off and on since work began in early December. She is a water protector, resisting the pipeline in order to protect the land and water and the lives they sustain. She is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and a founder of RISE - Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging and she’s part of the Indigenous Environmental Network. 

She says the ceremonial lodge was there before Enbridge workers were on those grounds. 

GOODWIN: I know it was before they marked their route cause they came in and put a stake right in the middle of the lodge. And then one of the grandmothers - one of our water walkers -took it out yesterday.  She decided it needed to come out. 

In a written statement, an Enbridge Energy company representative points out that this lodge was not included in what the company considers a very thorough Cultural Resources Survey as part of the state’s approval process. 

But the state’s approval process recognized that  - indeed - there may be sites they did not show up in that survey. And there is a plan in place for just this kind of situation. The “unanticipated discoveries” plan sets up a group of tribal monitors overseen by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. When they are alerted to a potentially culturally significant site along the anticipated pipeline route - like this lodge -, the plan calls for construction work to stop until the site can be assessed and a plan made. 

And that is what has happened on this site near Palisades, Minnesota. The Fond du Lac tribal preservation officer did not respond to my calls in time for this story.

But because this area is in treaty territory and some of the people using the lodge for ceremonies are White Earth citizens, the White Earth Tribal Historical Preservation Officer has now gotten involved. Jamie Arcenault  says she has not been working directly with Enbridge or the tribal monitors from Fond du Lac. And the lack of communication is a concern. 
But her position on the lodge is very clear. 

ARCENAULT: It doesn’t matter how new or how old the structure is - what matters is the practice that is going on within it. Part of my responsibility is to uphold the community’s right to have that practice. This is a place where people do go for healing and do go for prayer and especially during a global pandemic, I think that matters. 

Arcenault adds:

ARCENAULT: There is no one individual that really has the authority to decide what is sacred or dictate where Native people can go for prayer or go for healing.

On one hand, you can imagine a court saying - a group can’t build a wooden structure in the path of pipeline, call it a sacred space and expect the project to come to a halt. But on the other hand, laws protecting freedom of religion and treaty rights… guarantee Ojibwe peoples’ right to practice their culture and traditions on these lands. 

Dawn Goodwin says she thinks about this often.

GOODWIN: We are all treaty people. We need to protect our environment. Things have gone too far. Climate change affects our traditional life ways - because we depend on having a stable environment, we need clean water in order to harvest and live off the land. 

For now, the Fond du Lac tribal monitors are assessing the cultural significance of the wooden lodge on the anticipated pipeline route.  Eventually, they will recommend how to move forward - which could be building the pipeline through the lodge or around it.  

In the meantime, both the Red lake Band of Chippewa and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe have filed an appeals to overturn the state’s approval of the Line 3 pipeline.

And the Native led environmental group Honor the Earth has filed a motion with the Public Utilities Commission to stop all pipeline construction while that appeal is pending.

The hearing for the Honor the Earth motion is set for Wednesday December 23rd.

This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.

On December 11th a bill passed by the U-S House and Senate was presented to Donald Trump. The bill would restore 11,760 acres of land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Reporter Melissa Townsend talked with Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe District 3 Representative Leroy Staples Fairbanks about this welcome news.

The land was illegally taken from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe by the U-S Secretary of the Interior in the 1940s and 50s. 

But only an act of Congress could repatriate the land to the Band.  

When the bill passed the U-S House and Senate earlier this month, Leroy Staples Fairbanks says there was no celebration or a ceremony.

STAPLES FAIRBANKS: I think there was a sigh of relief like - oh it did happen, it did pass? (:05)

The Leech Lake District 3 Representative says the tribe has been working on this for years.  

The original bill was introduced in 2018.

STAPLES FAIRBANKS: We’ve gotten quite far on this particular legislation before and we got to the finish like and ran out of gas.  Things happened in DC.  So you are hesitant to get too excited, although indicators were showing that it was going to happen. 

He says he was alerted that the final House vote was going to actually happen on December 3rd. 

STAPLES FAIRBANKS: Hey, it’s going to happen around this time and people were watching. (:05)

And many Leech Lake citizens had a lot of questions.  

STAPLES FAIRBANKS:  I ran into people the following day - and they were hearing about it on social media and the were saying what =does this mean?  Why are we getting back 12000 acres and so I said it means we smile and we enjoy the day. And these were some elders. And I said you haven’t seen this happen in your lifetime and who knows if we’ll see it again in my lifetime. So this is a big day for Leech Lake. (:21)

This deal involves the nearly 12000 acres of what is officially called Secretarial Transfer Land. In the 1940s and 50s the Secretary of the Department of Interior transferred the land to the Chippewa National Forest.

Leroy Staples Fairbanks says there was a lot of people paying attention to this land repatriation effort. That includes industry in the area, units of government from townships to towns to counties, and those who have leases and easements and contracts on some of this land. 

There were those who supported the effort and those who opposed it.

Staples Fairbanks it’s taken years to negotiate and make compromises to get these 11,760 acres back to the tribe. 

The specific parcels have not yet been identified.

STAPLES FAIRBANKS: We have a lot of work to do with the Chippewa National Forest in identifying how this map will look going forward. (:06)

Leech Lake representatives will report back to Congress 180 days after the bill is signed with the final map of repatriated lands. 

So now, all that’s needed is for Donald Trump to sign the bill into law. 

It was presented to the President on December 11th.

MELISSA ON TAPE: Are you concerned at all that President Trump won’t sign it?

STAPLES FAIRBANKS: Me and Donald were tweeting each other day and he confirmed [laughter] I’m just kidding.  The politics of it all - I think - there was Republican support that I don’t really have that concern although I have the weariness of overly excited until the ink is on the paper. (:23)

As of December 16th, the President has not yet signed the bill. 

STORY #2 
In othernews — later this month Wonder Woman makes her return to the big screen - or to your television set or computer since we’re all at home these days… 17 year old Lakota comic book expert Gerald Zinc has this preview of the upcoming movie.

Wonder Woman 1984 is the direct sequel to the Wonder Woman movie from 2017. It features the two main stars of that movie, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, and it is set in the year 1984. The movie brings two of Wonder woman’s most famous villains to the big screen, Maxwell Lord and The Cheetah. 

Maxwell Lord is a character in the comics who has the ability to mind control people, and - in the comics - he is famous for forcing a fight between Superman and Wonder Woman. The movie version of the character seems to be highly modeled on the public persona of Donald Trump in his 1980s era. Going by the trailer, the character also appears to be a politician, who claims to offer anyone their base desires. 

The Cheetah will make her first appearance in Wonder Woman 1984. The character will be played by actress Kristen Wiig, a well known actress in Hollywood. The movie features a more modern take on the Cheetah from the comics, even though the trailers are intentionally vague about the character’s motivations.

Also featured at the end of the trailer is the golden Wonder Woman armor from one of the best comics DC has ever published, Kingdom Come. The suit fits well with the 1980s inspired aesthetic of the rest of the trailer, and it is great to see the imagery from the comics getting its due on the big screen. 

For Minnesota Native News, this is Gerry Zink.

Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. Coming up...

A new catalog from the Minnesota Indigenous Business Alliance highlights Native artist products and shops in time for the busy shopping season.

Reporter Leah Lemm has the story...

STORY #1: New Catalog Encourages Shoppers to Buy Native

Reporter: The MN Indigenous Business Alliance is in its 12th year of operations, with the last two as a nonprofit. This year they came out with their kick-off Winter Solstice Art Catalog. 

Pamela Standing: My name is Pamela Standing. I am the Executive Director for the Minnesota Indigenous Business Alliance, our mission is to ACT. And ACT is: align partners, connect our native businesses to resources and transform our tribal economies. What we really are is we're a very extensive resource hub.

Reporter: The MNIBA business directory supports about 250 Native businesses. Pamela Standing explains that MNIBA supports businesses and entrepreneurs in ways that are right for them, not pushing into a prescribed method of doing business. For example...

Pamela Standing: Things are coded in our DNA. They're so deeply engraved in our languages about how we conduct business, how we treat one another, how we market, you know, how we how we're honest with one another when we trade.

What I love about the work that we're doing right now is that we're going much deeper into those principles and practices and processes that are engraved in our language. 

Reporter: Now, MNIBA is adding an artist catalog to the mix of ways it supports Native businesses. Through partnerships with several Native artists, as well as a working group of Native led organizations that serve artists, the catalog was created. 

The Winter Solstice 2020 Art Catalog is over 40 pages of photos of artists’ work and websites where purchases can be made. The cover is a photo of Northern Lights and the catalog colors reflect the blues and purples of the aurora borealis. Among the artists are Adrienne Benjamin her colorful ribbon skirts and Ben Spears with beautiful wood bowls, and so much more.

Pamela Standing: The idea happened so quickly.

When COVID first started, there was such a reluctance with a lot of the people that we were working with to engage in online marketing. And because we're a people that everything's, face-to-face, it's about relationships all of that business that most of our artists do as it's kind of a gig economy.

Reporter: And the in-person gig economy has taken a bit hit due to the pandemic, with powwows, conferences, and other large get-togethers cancelled or moved to online. MNIBA is there to help businesses adapt, and specifically artists in this case with the catalog.

Pamela Standing: When we think about the intricate networks of trade routes that our people developed long before contact, what we're trying to do now is create a virtual network, a new, a new trade path that's done virtually, and that can live on beyond COVID. 

Reporter: This particular tool, the catalog is already being put to good use, promoting Native artist business. 

Artist Sunday is becoming a part of the shopping season, following Black Friday and Small Business Saturday as a way to encourage shoppers to buy from artists. 

So far, Artists are seeing positive bumps in sales. Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing is a Native owned non-profit publisher of Native children's books and is also included in the catalog. Black Bears and Blueberries has seen orders come in where they normally hadn’t before the catalog came out. 

Pamela Standing: He's seeing orders coming from out East and they're individual orders where normally their business has really relied on schools, but right now they can't because schools are closed and they're their biggest book buyers. Then bookstores are their secondary one. So they're growing.

Reporter: More and more artists will benefit too going forward. MNIBA plans to make the catalog a quarterly resource.

Find the MN Indigenous Business Alliance on social media or on the web at MNIBA DOT ORG. SEARCH FOR WINTER CATALOG.

For MN Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.

Reporter: Theatres have been hit hard by the pandemic, so adjustments are being made.

Now in its fourth year, the New Native Theatre Play Festival has gone online and expanded internationally. The festival is up and running December 3 through the 13th. Rhiana Yazzie is the theatre’s artistic director.

Rhiana Yazzie: So this festival is now a 10 day festival. It's all online and it is a world indigenous festival now. So some of the exciting performers that we have are from New Zealand, Sweden and Australia, we have many first nations folks from Canada that are also participating.

And then artists, native artists from all around the country who are participating in one way or another as an actor or performer in some way or storytelling.

Reporter: And many artists from Minnesota, including three playwrights, whose work is being produced by the theatre for the festival:

Rhiana Yazzie: The first play that we're producing, it's called Don't Put Your Moccasins Under Your Pillow and that's by Lini Wilkins. Who's a local Navajo, a playwright and performer and actor. And she's lived here in Minnesota for 20 plus years.

//Play rehearsal audio//

And also we have a play called The Great Return. And this is a play by a playwright from Northern Minnesota. Lara Gerhardson who is from Red Lake, White Earth and Leech Lake. The third play is called Iceman, the frozen protector by Zane Smith, who is Red Lake Ojibwe.

Reporter: So what does a play festival look like now that it’s online?

Some of the pieces are professionally pre-recorded and will debut at the festival, some performances include stop-motion animation. There will be film elements, some shadow puppetry. And some virtual plays will be done live.

And on top of the plays, there are poets and artist conversations. A really varied and diverse performing art experience.

Rhiana Yazzie: I think that's one of the gifts that the pandemic has brought is that we got to connect with indigenous organizations all around the world and we've had guests: Maori artists/guests, Aboriginal artists from Australia teach classes for us this year. Also guests from First Nations artists from Canada.

It's been really interesting, the brand new connections that we've been making and of course, continuing to nurture our relationships with Minnesota artists. And yeah, it's a really exciting festival.

Reporter: And New Native Theatre, which is based out of the Twin Cities, is bringing together so many Native artists from MN and around the world to focus on... Good Medicine.

Rhiana Yazzie: We were looking at 2020 all of our experiences. And we were thinking, what is the best way that we could contribute to the close of 2020? And we thought it would be great to put out some good medicine.

And so all of this festival has been curated with that in mind. So all of these plays and poetry readings and dance performances, they're all celebrating what it means to have performance be good medicine.

It's really amazing to see how so many indigenous artists around the world are thinking about healing.

They're thinking about where are we moving as a people? Where do we want to go? Where do we want to go from here and how do we heal and, and create cultures and societies that are positive reflections of our ancestry and taking care of our youth and being happy, healthy adults.

Reporter: The Fourth Annual New Native Theatre Play Festival runs Dec 3 through the 13th.

Check out New Native Theatre’s facebook event page and their website for more information.

New Native Theatre DOT ORG.

For MN Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.

This week on Minnesota Native News, a profile of a remarkable leader. Laurie Stern has the story of Terri Yellowhammer, who was just sworn in as a new Minnesota state judge. She will serve in Minnesota’s 4th judicial district or Hennepin County.

A state report released this summer found one third of all Minnesota counties are not complying with the federal and state laws aimed at keeping Native children with their families when there’s a serious problem in the home. Starting in fiscal year 2021 those counties will see a deep cut in their budgets because of the problem. St Louis county – which includes parts of the Fond du Lac and Bois Forte reservations, and the city of Duluth – is one of the counties out of compliance. Today on Minnesota Native News – We ask why St Louis County isn’t complying with federal and state laws to protect Native families in the child welfare system and whether the county will improve after a serious cut in resources? Reporter Melissa Townsend has the story.