by Latoya Peterson

Columbus Day is a federal holiday – as such, about half of DC is closed today in observance. Other than that, the world seems to be indifferent.
Reader Rosanna sent in this MSNBC article exploring the changing nature of Columbus Day in schools:
Columbus’ stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, [...]

By Guest Contributor Ben Powless, originally posted at rabble

(Above: Police arrive with heavy reinforcements to forcefully remove demonstrators PHOTO: Thomas Quirynen)
The rhetoric was sharp enough to cut down Amazonian hardwoods. Yesterday, Sunday June 7th, after a number of ministers had been paraded out Saturday and the day before, Peru’s el Señor Presidente, Alan Garcia decided [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee, originally published in Ricepaper Magazine

Being mixed First Nations and being raised in the urban centre of Toronto, I’m often faced with the question of “Am I Indian enough?”:
Do I attend ceremony here?
Can I really understand what it’s like to be Native not living on the reservation now?
How am I going [...]

By Special Correspondent Thea Lim
Angry Asian Man reports on the story of Xiu Ping Jiang, a 35 year-old Chinese illegal immigrant diagnosed with a mental illness who has been stuck in immigration limbo for over a year. From the New York Times:

[Jiang] has spent more than a year in jail, often in [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
My inbox was abuzz yesterday with news of the Pope’s admission that he was “sorrowful” for what happened to residential school survivors; which came as a result of the much anticipated visit to the Vatican by a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations here in Canada.
Sorrowful. But not sorry. Is [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
Savage. Squaw. Indian. Would we all agree that these are immensely derogatory names that should not be, in this day and age, still used to geographically locate places? Or even people, for that matter?
From the varying answers I’ve received when posing this question, it all really depends on who you ask [...]

by Latoya Peterson

Am I the only one thinking this couldn’t possibly end well?
Here is the product’s description:

slanties are based on ancient Inuit eyewear. Each pair of slanties is handcrafted. Our light, durable finish shows off the natural wood grain. slanties are engineered to be sturdy and reliable, and each pair is reinforced with a layer [...]

By Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
Okay, so I’ll be honest, my night didn’t really start off too well. Waiting for the streetcar to come so I can go check out the much anticipated photo exhibit for “Prom Night in Mississippi” I see this gem of a display in a popular Queen West shoe store right [...]

by Latoya Peterson

Last week, I picked up the new issue of Script Magazine looking for some information on script reviewers . However, what I found was Baz Luhrmann talking about the planning and writing of Australia.
The lengthy article describes the thought process involved in creating a script of epic scope, and reveals that Luhrmann wanted [...]

by Guest Contributor SLB, originally published at PostBougie

I could never be a real militant. Because there’s no way a real militant would’ve sat through Baz Luhrmann’s latest epic, Australia, which clocks in at a superfluous 3+ hours, and dug it as much as I did. It’s a film rife with knee-jerk infuriation potential. It’s got [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee

Much of what people know about historic Native issues has to do with land on some level. Indeed, much of what we are about today has to do with our land also. Our Mother Earth is the ultimate living entity, something that sustains life and guides us as a people. They [...]

by Guest Contributor Lisa, originally published at Sociological Images
In many places in the midwest the American Indian is very present, but in other places in the U.S., like in California, Disney’s Pocahontas is as close as we get to “Indians.” The idea that American Indians are gone comes, in part, from the ubiquitous representation [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
Like millions of people all over the world, I’m ecstatic, over-the-moon inspired by Obama’s win. If for no other reason (and all the others too in which we share the same opinion, like abortion for example) than his win is actually a good thing for the people in my community. Yes [...]

by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
This past Friday, I received a few e-mails with this shocker:
“Today a shock jock named T-Man on 93.3 F.M. in Seattle made some very racist remarks stating “All native women are hoes because [we] have casinos & [we're] all drunk”.
Apparently it got even worse from there. Interestingly enough, on the 9am [...]

by Guest Contributor Jessica Yee, originally published at the Shameless Blog
Christopher Columbus is no hero.
Some say he is actually responsible for causing 95 million deaths of Indigenous peoples worldwide.
He was not a great discoverer either. He had no idea where he was going, and never even came to the land we know today as North [...]