Christine Graef

American Indian Boarding Schools: A Legacy Of Pain Enters A Phase For Healing

“What is clear is that you cannot tell any community how to do their own healing,” an attorney with the Native American Rights Foundation tells MintPress about healing the historical trauma of boarding schools. “They must define their own process. We cannot impose it.”

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Pupils at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pennsylvania, 1900.

BOULDER, Colorado --- In the Cumberland Valley, located west of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, rows of white headstones line the green grass of a cemetery where 186 children are buried. Many of the headstones are marked “Unknown.” “What do we need to do to get people to pay attention to this?” Don Wharton, a senior attorney with the

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A Mankiller Could Appear On The Next $20 Bill

Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation and a descendent of one of the people President Andrew Jackson forced to walk the “Trail of Tears,” is one of four candidates in a popular vote for who should grace the next $20 bill.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
President Bill Clinton hugs former Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller after presenting her with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House, Jan. 15, 1998 .

 President Bill Clinton hugs former Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller after presenting her with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House, Jan. 15, 1998. TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma --- Wilma Pearl Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, is one of four candidates in a popular vote to suggest who

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Indigenous Tribes Are Abandoning American Style ‘Justice’ In Favor Of Traditional Punishments

Tribal communities in the U.S. and Canada are increasingly turning to traditional punishments like banishment to handle crimes on their land. “It’s a lot more effective than putting someone in front of a judge or behind bars,” one advocate tells MintPress.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Mike Lasnier, Chief of the Suquamish Tribal Police, poses for a photo on the Suquamish Reservation in Washington state. Across the country, police, prosecutors and judges have been wrestling with the vexing question for decades: Who qualifies as an Indian when it comes to meting out justice for crimes on reservations?

Mike Lasnier, Chief of the Suquamish Tribal Police, poses for a photo on the Suquamish Reservation in Washington state. Across the country, police, prosecutors and judges have been wrestling with the vexing question for decades: Who qualifies as an Indian when it comes to meting out justice for crimes on reservations? ALBERTA, Canada ---

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Indigenous People Win Unprecedented Legal Protections, US And Canadian Gov. Opt Out

After 18 years of negotiations, the Organization of American States is gathering momentum on a declaration aimed specifically at protecting the rights of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas — even without the participation of the U.S. and Canada.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Sarayaku women attend a ceremony where the Ecuadorian Government offered a public apology that came as part of a ruling by the Inter-American Human Rights Court which found that the government allowed for oil exploration in Sarayaku lands without their consent. Indigenous people will have access to the courts as part of a recent historical declaration protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples through-out the Americas, with the exception of the U.S. and Canada.

Sarayaku women attend a ceremony where the Ecuadorian Government offered a public apology that came as part of a ruling by the Inter-American Human Rights Court which found that the government allowed for oil exploration in Sarayaku lands without their consent.  Indigenous people will have access to the courts as part of a recent historical

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GMO Labeling: What Are We Eating? And Who Doesn’t Want Us To Know?

“Most people think GMO foods are for the future, for a time we have no food because of climate change,” a labeling advocate tells MintPress. But that “future” is now, as an estimated 70-80 percent of the food Americans eat contain GMOs.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
A grocery store employee wipes down a soup bar with a display informing customers of organic, GMO-free oils

WASHINGTON --- A Pew Research Center survey in January set out to gauge the sentiments held by the public and scientists with the American Association for the Advancement of Science on a range of science, engineering and technology issues. Nowhere did these two sides disagree more strongly than in their opinions on whether it’s safe to eat

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Wisconsin Tribe Fights For Survival Following A Florida Company’s Plan To Build Massive Pit Mine

After intense lobbying, a mining company secured favorable legislation to push forward an iron ore project in northern Wisconsin. It now says that wetlands are forcing it to re-evaluate the plan, but not everyone is convinced.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Food And Farm-Wild Rice

The proposed mine could potentially damage the watersheds around the Bad River Reservation, endangering the fragile ecosystem upon which this wild rice depends. HURLEY, Wisc. --- A proposed mining project has brought a Wisconsin county to work together with local Native American communities, but it’s also left hundreds of residents without

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USDA Moving Toward Less Oversight, Regulation Regarding New GE Trees

Without regulatory oversight or public consultation, the USDA allows for the commercial production of a new GE pine variety. Yet opponents warn that the implications of introducing this GE product are unknown, and unknowable, without long-term studies.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef

Oregon State University professor Steve Strauss holds leaves from genetically engineered poplar trees in an undisclosed location in Oregon, Tuesday, July 29, 2003.  The leaf on the left is an average leaf from an unmodified control tree and the one on the right was genetically engineered to be larger and will be used to identify genes that affect

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