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Culture Watchlist: ‘Native American Governments’ 08.14.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Ballots for the Grand Ronde Tribal Council election have been mailed out and the election results will be announced Saturday, Sept. 7. Three seats on the nine-person council are up for grabs and Tribal members will vote from a list of seven candidates, plus vote on three advisory questions. (If you are still unsure on who to vote for, listen to the Smoke Signals …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Represents our heartbeat: Native American group discusses importance of drums’ 09.03.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Grand Ronde’s three-day annual Contest Powwow at the uyxat Powwow Grounds concluded Sunday, Aug. 18, and my ears are still ringing from the thunderous sounds of the drums. “The drum beat represents our heart beat and our connection with mother earth,” Joaquin Rojas said in an 2023 ABC10 interview about …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Fish War’ 09.30.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist “We have always been taught that when the tide is out, the table is set,” a voiceover said in the trailer for a recently released documentary called “Fish War.” “Fish War” follows the violent clashes between law enforcement and Tribal people of Washington when their treaty rights to fish and hunt in their usual and accustomed grounds were broken in the 1960s. A man interviewed …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Why Leonard Peltier’s Clemency Matters’ 02.13.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Considered the country’s longest serving political prisoner, Native American activist Leonard Peltier, now 80 years old, saw his sentence commuted on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. After being convicted of murdering two FBI agents in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Reservation and imprisoned for five decades, former President Biden commuted his sentence in the final …

Culture Watchlist ‘FBI announces new resources to solve cases of missing, murdered Indigenous people’ 04.11.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist One of Portland’s local news channels, KPTV FOX 12, shared a segment reporting the FBI is boosting resources across the country to address unsolved crimes in Indian Country, including cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. “With these added resources, unsolved violent crimes in Native American communities …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Red dresses bring awareness to Washington's missing, murdered Indigenous people’ 05.13.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist All across the country on Monday, May 5, red dresses were on display in public spaces for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Awareness Day, also known as Red Dress Day. “Right now 72 Indigenous women are missing across the state of Washington and their names can all be found on this display in Northern Quest …

Culture Watchlist: ‘This is Indian Country 111: Oregon’ 05.28.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Ruth-Ann Thorn hosts a series on the Native-based channel, First Nations Experience (FNX) called, “This Is Indian Country.” It shares modern Native American culture and in her latest episode of the show, she visits Grand Ronde and other Oregon Tribes. Her visit includes a segment with Grand Ronde Tribal member and carver Bobby Mercier. Mercier, an artist …

Culture Watchlist: ‘What Makes Someone Native American?: Ep 4. of Crashcourse Native American History’ 06.12.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist The Grand Ronde Tribal membership voted to amend the Tribal constitution in 2024 to do away with blood quantum and move toward lineal descent. The Tribe began accepting new membership applications Tuesday, June 3. Serendipitously, a popular education channel on YouTube called CrashCourse released a video a month …

Culture Watchlist: ‘What Do Native Cultures Have in Common?: Ep 6 of CrashCourse Native American History’ 06.27.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist In the latest installment of the widely popular educational YouTube channel, CrashCourse, Native comedian Che Jim (Navajo and Odawa) shares a video on a commonality found among many Tribes: Natives know how to have fun! “If you believed everything the media tells you, you’d think all Native Americans were stoic …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act’ 07.29.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist In simple terms, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996 was established to offer federal support to promote Tribal self-governance and culturally grounded housing solutions. After visiting several Tribes all across the country, including Grand Ronde’s Tribal Housing and Elder Housing, the National …