Native American Affairs

All over the world, the Hopi people have come to symbolize a deep spirituality. The problem is that this version of the Hopi religion was largely popularized by non-Hopi people.

The Arizona Native Vote Forum is wrapping up Wednesday after a three-day-long event hosted by various organizations, including Four Directions Native Vote. The goal of the event is to encourage Native Americans to vote in the upcoming election.

Negotiations are continuing between leaders of the Navajo Nation and Energy Fuels Resources, the company that has restarted uranium mining operations near the Grand Canyon. But the Navajo Nation is taking steps to strengthen their position on their own.

As a critical swing state, Arizona has already hosted many high-profile campaign events in the lead-up to November. The latest visitor was former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

Members from Arizona’s congressional delegation sent a letter to President Joe Biden last month, urging him to issue a major disaster declaration on the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s behalf. But that request is still under review.

The Interior Department announced Thursday that it has allocated another $71 million to help electrify 13 communities across Indian Country, and two Arizona tribal utility companies are closer to bridging the power gap.

The Navajo Nation Zoo’s 4,000-square-foot Eagle Aviary and Education Center, touted as the only tribally owned and operated zoo nationwide, helps provide legally sourced eagle feathers required for tribal ceremonies.

Jaime Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains were not found until November 2021 on the neighboring Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona.

Demonstrators gathering on Capitol Hill this week are calling on Congress to reauthorize compensation programs for victims of radiation exposure – especially in Indigenous communities that have been disproportionately affected.

Animals are hit on the road, seized after illegal hunting or euthanized by the state. The department then works with tribes who use them for ceremonial purposes, instead of disposing of the carcasses.