BRICS

Negative perception of China high in India, Brazil: US study

A median of 57 per cent say China interferes in the affairs of other nations a great deal or fair amount.

Published: 30th July 2023 


By Yeshi Seli

NEW DELHI: 

India and Brazil, who are leading members of the BRICS grouping, are sceptical and have negative perceptions about China. This impression is based on a 24-nation survey conducted by US think tank Pew Research Center (PRC), conducted from February 20 to May 22 this year.

“Negative views extend to evaluations of China’s international actions. Despite several high-profile diplomatic initiatives by Beijing over the past year – such as brokering a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran and issuing a 12-point proposal for the end of violence in Ukraine – a median of 71 per cent think China does not contribute to global peace and stability,” said the PRC Survey.

Views of China that are ‘broadly negative’ in India and Brazil have risen 21 per cent. The interview conducted included 2,611 respondents in India and 1,044 in Brazil. Nearly 48 per cent of Brazilians hold negative impressions on China, up from 27 per cent in 2019. Indians having negative views on China jumped from 46 per cent in 2019 to 67 per cent now.

While the border dispute after Galwan in 2020 has fuelled reservations against China in India, it is the Covid-19 pandemic that led the Brazilians to have a negative view of the country. Meanwhile, nearly 76 per cent people are of the opinion that China does not take into account the interests of other countries in its foreign policy. A median of 57 per cent say China interferes in the affairs of other nations a great deal or fair amount.

Interestingly, India stands out as the only middle-income country that has an unfavourable view of China. While other middle-income countries like Kenya, Mexico and Nigeria gives China a positive rating.

“Across all 24 countries surveyed, however, there is more agreement about China’s technology. A median of 69 per cent describe China’s technological achievements as the best or above average relative to other wealthy nations, with similar shares in high- and middle-income countries. A median of 54 per cent also see China’s military as among the best in the world,” the survey points out.

Data speaks

24 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center from February 20 to May 22, 2023

 

71% of the 30,000 respondents think China does not contribute to global peace and stability

          21% rise in negative perception of China in India and Brazil

48% of Brazilians hold negative impressions on China, up from 27% in 2019

67% of Indians hold negative views on China, up from 46% in 2019

U$A

Katie Ledecky overtakes Michael Phelps for most individual world titles


Photo by: David J. Phillip/AP

By: CNN Newsource
Jul 29, 2023

(CNN) — US superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky surpassed Michael Phelps for most career individual world swimming titles on Saturday after winning her 16th gold medal.

Ledecky also became the first-ever swimmer to win six consecutive world championships in the same event.

The 26-year-old earned her 16th world title after winning the 800-meter freestyle in a time of 8:08.87 at the 2023 World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. She defeated second-place finisher, Li Bingjie of China, by 4.44 seconds.

After the race, Ledecky reflected on her achievements.

“It’s special. I really didn’t even know I was going to achieve that until people started telling me. It’s cool,” the seven-time Olympic gold medalist said.

“I’m happy with that swim. I wanted it to be a little better, but I’ll take it. I’m really pleased with how the week went.”

On Tuesday, Ledecky tied Phelps when she dominated the 1,500-meter freestyle for her fifth world title in that event.

TOOK LONG ENOUGH

United Airlines to add Braille to plane interiors

Its creator, blind Frenchman Louis Braille invented the language, which uses raised dots, in 1824.


Photo by: Wayne Slezak/United Airlines

By: CNN Newsource
Jul 29, 2023

(CNN) — United Airlines will put Braille throughout its plane interiors in order to support customers who are blind or have visual disabilities, becoming the first US airline to do so.

The airline announced the news in a press release on Thursday, July 27. July is Disability Pride Month in the United States.

“By adding more tactile signage throughout our interiors, we’re making the flying experience more inclusive and accessible, and that’s good for everyone,” Linda Jojo, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Officer for United, said in a statement.

“Finding your seat on a plane or getting to the restroom is something most of us take for granted, but for millions of our customers, it can be a challenge to do independently.”

Braille will be used to indicate aisle and seat numbers and the location of lavatories, according to United.

In addition, the airline is working with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) on other ways to support blind and visually disabled passengers on board.

“United is taking additional steps to create an accessible airline passenger experience through Braille signage,” ACB Interim Executive Director Dan Spoone said in a statement.

“We appreciate the airline’s continued exploration of additional in-flight navigational aids like large print and tactile indicators, and we encourage all airlines to follow United’s lead in making air travel more inclusive for the blind and low vision community.”

It’s not just planes themselves that are becoming more disability-friendly. United’s app was recently updated to make it easier for screen-reading programs to understand.

Braille is named for its creator, blind Frenchman Louis Braille. He invented the language, which uses raised dots, in 1824.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

Ramaphosa tells Putin Africans did not come to summit for free grain
dpa

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa conducts a news conference at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on May 24, 2022.

(Phill Magakoe/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

MOSCOW — During his visit to Russia, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pressed for a resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.

Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other African leaders that he wanted the Black Sea Initiative - the deal allowing exports of Ukrainian grain — to be implemented, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin on Friday night.

He said he addressed the need to open the Black Sea and to have the Black Sea open to world markets, the transcript said.

The Russian president had made offers of free grain to his guests on Friday at the end of the two-day Africa summit he hosted in Russia's Baltic Sea metropolis of St. Petersburg.

In the West, the summit was criticized as a public relations stunt and an attempt by Putin to make African states even more dependent on Russian grain.

Russia, which has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for more than 17 months, recently canceled the Black Sea Initiative and has since repeatedly bombed Ukrainian port infrastructure.

At the same time, Moscow promised poorer African countries that it will supply them with grain allegedly free of charge.

Ramaphosa now stressed that the leaders did not go to St. Petersburg to ask for gifts for the African continent while thanking Putin for his generosity in offering to provide free grain to some African countries. The South African president said that was not the main goal of the attendees at the summit.

Many African countries rely heavily on Ukrainian grain supplies.

ByteDance spends millions lobbying, outpacing prior years amid crackdown on TikTok’s China ties

Anna Massoglia, OpenSecrets
July 29, 2023

TikTok's logo. (Shutterstock)
This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. 

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, poured millions into lobbying spending amid a nationwide push to ban the video-sharing app after U.S. officials increased scrutiny over data security and its Chinese government ties.

TikTok parent company ByteDance spent a record $2.4 million on federal lobbying during the second second quarter of this year — more than any other quarter since it started lobbying in 2019. Spending in the last quarter puts the company on track for another record-breaking year a new OpenSecrets analysis of Lobbying Disclosure Act filings found.

After ByteDance spent a record $5.3 million on federal lobbying in 2022 — more than all but three internet companies last year — the TikTok parent company poured another $4.28 million into federal lobbying during the first half of 2023, outpacing the roughly $3.25 million it spent at the same point last year.

RELATED ARTICLE: Former NFL player Derrick Dockery quietly becomes a guardian for TikTok on Capitol Hill

In total, ByteDance poured more than $17.7 million into lobbying since the Chinese-owned social media company first reported payments to federal lobbyists in 2019.

ByteDance’s lobbying team has several “revolving door” lobbyists who previously held federal government positions working for prominent members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, as well as several powerhouse lobbying firms with government connections in their arsenal.
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Former members of Congress on the team of revolving door lobbyists working for TikTok’s interests include former Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) as well as former Reps. Jeff Denham(R-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.).

Despite ByteDance’s robust lobbying efforts and TikTok’s massive U.S. user base, the app has faced increased scrutiny from lawmakers looking to address potential national security and data privacy risks related to Chinese ownership.

On July 10, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) announced that Congress is considering changes to the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act — also known as the RESTRICT Act — a bill the Senate Intelligence Committee chair sponsored in March as part of efforts to crack down on TikTok and other companies that are deemed to pose a national security risk.

As written, the RESTRICT Act would grant the president and U.S. Commerce Department sweeping authority to address threats originating in countries deemed to be “foreign adversaries.”

The legislation is endorsed by President Joe Biden’s White House and has attracted bipartisan support in the Senate but Warner claims lobbying spending “slowed a bit of our momentum.”

Warner also told Reuters that Congress is working on changes to address concerns that his legislation would usher in a broad expansion of government power.

“The RESTRICT Act is using TikTok as a smokescreen for the largest expansion of executive power” in decades, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee lamented when expressing opposition to the bill in March.

A wide range of advocacy groups and corporations ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union have spent on lobbying around the legislation, scrutinizing it due to First Amendment concerns and the risk of executive overreach.

While the bill has received support from groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, even some groups and lawmakers pushing to ban TikTok have criticized the bill’s approach as overly broad.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has been especially critical of the bill, going as far as claiming “As it is written right now, it will not ban TikTok and it will probably make it impossible to ever ban TikTok.”

In December, Rubio joined Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) in introducing another bill to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S.


Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) introduced legislation in January that would bar TikTok from being downloaded on any U.S. devices and ban any transactions with its parent company, ByteDance, as well.

While the proposals to ban TikTok across the U.S. are still under consideration, Congress passedlegislation to ban TikTok from federal government-owned devices as part of an annual appropriations bill in December 2022 and efforts to block the app have continued to gain momentum across the country.

In May, Montana became the first U.S. state to prohibit app stores from offering TikTok for download.

TikTok is currently fighting the ban, which is set to take effect in Montana on Jan. 1, 2024. As part of that effort, the company is covering legal fees for influencers in the state who are challenging the legislation in an ongoing lawsuit. The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 12.

At least 33 states have also taken action to restrict TikTok on state-issued devices and several more have proposed similar bans.

Last week, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research – which works to study the impact of technology on society — claiming a ban on TikTok at Texas state institutions violates the First Amendment. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) signed the law banning TikTok on state-owned or issued devices for employees in state agencies, including state university systems in December, though the law is not slated to go into effect until next year.

As lawmakers grapple with how to balance the perceived national security threats posed by TikTok with constitutional issues raised by prohibitions, the growing push to restrict TikTok across the U.S. has put pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to address concerns around the video-sharing app due to suspicions that it could be used as a tool of foreign influence.

U.S. officials have long speculated Chinese government actors may be able to view the personal information of TikTok users and more information has continued to emerge.

In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that ByteDance employees based in China have repeatedly accessed private data about American TikTok users, prompting senators on both sides of the aisle to call on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company.

TikTok has emphatically rejected spying allegations. To distance the video-sharing app’s U.S. operations’ backend functions and code from its Chinese arm, TikTok is currently in the process of working with Austin-based software giant Oracle to store all American user data in the U.S. As a part of the collaboration dubbed “Project Texas,” TikTok is also reportedly giving Oracle access to audit its algorithms and content moderation policies.

At a House hearing in March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified that “American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore” and that “American data is stored on American soil by an American company overseen by American personnel.”

According to Chew’s testimony, all new U.S. user data is being stored inside the country and that TikTok started deleting historic U.S. user data from non-Oracle servers in March, a process expected to be completed this year.

Also in March, the Biden administration demanded TikTok’s Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a U.S. ban. Biden ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review TikTok in June 2021, after withdrawing former President Donald Trump’s executive orders banning new downloads of the app in the U.S.

The battle over TikTok’s operations in the U.S. continues, with ongoing legislative debates and regulatory actions shaping the future of the popular social media app. As lawmakers and the Biden administration grapple with data security and national security concerns, ByteDance’s lobbying efforts remain a significant factor in determining the outcome of this high-stakes clash.

OpenSecrets is a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research and news organization tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

US Navy ship will honor Billy Frank Jr., Wash. tribal rights leader

2023/07/

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually tribal chairman, circa 1983.

. - Ann Yow/The Seattle Times/TNS

SEATTLE — Billy Frank Jr. was arrested over 50 times trying to preserve his and his tribe's treaty right to fish in their ancestral waters.

Now, the legendary Nisqually elder who was a central figure in the fight for tribal fishing rights and environmental protections in the Pacific Northwest will have a U.S. Navy ship named after him.

A future U.S. Navy Navajo-class towing, salvage and rescue ship — TATS-11 — will be named the USNS Billy Frank Jr., officials announced this month.

"This is truly an honor for the Frank family, Wa-he-lut School and the Nisqually Nation," said Willie Frank III, son of Billy Frank Jr. and chair of the Nisqually Indian Tribe, in a statement.

Starting in 2019, the Navy began naming a new class of ships after prominent Native Americans or Native American tribes in honor of their contributions to the armed forces — American Indians and Alaska Natives serve in the U.S. military at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in the country. Frank served in the Marine Corps for two years.

The USNS Billy Frank Jr., the sixth ship in the class, is the first to be named after an individual.

"We have a chance to tell our story and educate a whole new audience about the Nisqually Tribe, Billy Frank Jr., and the 29 tribes in the state of Washington," said Willie Frank III.

William "Billy" Frank Jr. was born in 1931 as a member of the Nisqually tribe in Washington, and he grew up fishing on his tribal land.

He began his long career as an activist in 1945 as a boy, when he was arrested for catching steelhead and chum with his net in the Nisqually River. Over the years, he would become the face of a defining civil rights movement in the Pacific Northwest.

After serving as a military policeman in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, Frank returned to Washington, where he continued to fight for the right to fish Chinook and other salmon in his tribe's historical waters.

Despite 19th-century treaties guaranteeing Northwest tribes access to historical waters, commercial and sport fishing had led to a drop in stocks at local salmon fisheries. In response, state game agents began harassing and targeting tribal fishermen, including Frank and his father.

Over the years, Frank and others staged "fish-ins" at the Washington state Capitol, protesting the arrests and raids against Indigenous fishermen blamed for the decline.

That organizing culminated in a landmark decision in 1974, when U.S. District Judge George Boldt affirmed the tribes' right to half of the fish harvest — as well as the country's obligation to honor treaties. That ruling was extended to the harvest of shellfish in 1993.

"He'll stand with all the great Indian names of the past two centuries in the Pacific Northwest and across the nation," his longtime friend Hank Adams told The Seattle Times in 2014. "His is a name that will stand out in the future for all he's given to Indians and the world."

Frank would go on to serve as chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for over three decades and receive numerous accolades. In the later half of his life, Frank turned his activism toward protecting forests and salmon streams from excessive timber harvest and development. He died in 2014 at age 83. A statue of Frank is set to be placed in the Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, a revered civic space where each state is represented by two figures deserving of national commemoration.

Navajo-class ships provide "ocean-going tug, salvage and rescue capabilities to support Fleet operations," according to U.S. Navy officials. They can tow other Navy vessels and have 6,000 square feet of deck space.

Other ships in the class have been named in honor of the Cherokee Nation, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

"My father served this beautiful country as a United States Marine. He was proud to serve his country," said Willie Frank III in a statement. "As Chairman of the Nisqually Tribe, we want to thank the United States Navy for recognizing and honoring our Nisqually veteran, father and uncle."

© The Seattle Times

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 'NAVAJO' BILLIE JACK 

Team Saskatchewan Finishes NAIG as Overall Champions

Courtesy Owen Woytoywich

BY KAILI BERG 

 

JULY 28, 2023

It was a successful outcome for Team Saskatchewan, bringing home more medals than any other delegation at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in Nova Scotia.

The 2023 games mixed Indigenous culture with sporting events and brought together about 5,000 athletes, coaches, and mission staff from 750 Indigenous nations across the continent.

The 10th edition of the games was the first since 2017 after cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Chef de Mission (person in charge of Team Saskatchewan), Mike Tanton said this year was every athlete's first time ever competing in the games. 

“It was a new experience for all of them. That played into a lot of the excitement of athletes not knowing exactly what to expect at the games. Not knowing how awesome the games are going to be, and to see so many young Indigenous athletes all in the same place,” Tanton told Native News Online. 

With the games now concluded, Team Saskatchewan brought home a total of 175 medals, including 51 gold, 63 silver, and 61 bronze medals. Team Saskatchewan was followed in medal standings by Team British Columbia, with 161 medals, and Team Ontario, with 127 medals. 

Most of Saskatchewan’s medal wins took place on July 19 and 20, with 59 total medals won each day. 

The Saskatchewan team had about 100 Indigenous coaches helping and 430 athletes competing in a variety of sports including traditional canoe/kayak, archery, and box lacrosse, also soccer, softball, swimming, volleyball, wrestling, beach volleyball, rifle shooting, badminton, baseball, and basketball. 

Closing ceremonies were canceled this year due to the devastating rain that began Friday evening, July 21, when approximately 9  inches of rain was dumped along Nova Scotia.

“The biggest win is seeing our athletes experience the games, come home and want to accelerate with their sport more.  There's a ton of other indigenous athletes out there that are doing their thing and handling their business, Tanton said. 

“The real win for me is when our athletes continue on and go and play post secondary education sports.”

 Pala Band of Mission Indians Enters First-of-its-Kind Mutual Aid Agreement with State of California

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

JULY 21, 2023

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), which responds to wildfires throughout the state, has entered a mutual aid agreement with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, empowering the tribe’s ability to respond to fires locally and state-wide.

The mutual aid agreement marks the state’s first state-tribe partnership in fire responsiveness.

Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Robert Smith, called the mutual aid agreement “a new standard for the vital government-to-government partnerships that ensure the safety of our communities.”

“This is a monumental achievement for our Fire Department, our Tribe and the entire community and we hope it leads the way for Tribes across the state to gain recognition for the safety and response services they provide,” Chairman Smith said in a statement.

The Pala Fire Department’s new agreement will allow them to expand their services, according to Fire Chief Ravago, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of our community and the mutual aid agreement with the state will allow us to expand our mission even further,” he said. “As wildfire risks increase, we remain vigilant and ready to serve our community and beyond.”

As part of the agreement, the CalOES assigned a fire engine equipped for wildland terrain to the Pala Fire Department. The tribe’s existing fire department located on their reservation, about 30 miles northeast of San Diego, was already equipped with a fleet of two additional wildland terrain engines, and another engine designed for structural fires.

The agreement stems from the passage of California Senate Bill 816, the result of decades of work by Tribal Fire Agencies to become officially recognized as partners in providing vital emergency response services to the citizens of California.

Coalition Seeks Child Welfare System Stories

BY NEELY BARDWELL 

 

JULY 27, 2023

A new documentary focusing on the experience of Indigenous children in the child welfare system is being developed, and the California Tribal Families Coalition (CTFC) is seeking the stories of Tribal children, adults, and families. 

The CTFC, a coalition made up of 47 different tribes, all in California, including the Bishop Paiute Tribe and the Karuk Tribe, is partnering with The James Irvine Foundation and Tre Borden / Co. to bring the experiences of California’s Native peoples in the child welfare system to light. This comes after the long battle with the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) upheld. 

In order to ensure the documentary is being told in a culturally sensitive manner, the CTFC is prioritizing the stories of individuals with lived experiences and using the tradition of storytelling as their driving force. The documentary will be narrated by tribal actors, community leaders, and artists while using the testimonies as the driving force. 

This is a grant-funded, non-commercial project that the coalition will be using for educational and training purposes. The final product will be available for free on the internet. Their education spreads across the state of California where they bring awareness to the struggles of Native families and children in the welfare system, and the history of the child welfare system. 

“We highly encourage all members of Tribal communities in California to lend their voices to this project by sharing stories,” said CTFC Co-Executive Director Michelle Castagne (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa). “Your stories need to be heard, and your contributions will be a force in fostering a deeper understanding of the issues Tribal communities have been facing for decades.”

The CTFC wants to “inspire positive change, empathy and solidarity” in order to ensure that ICWA will continue to be respected and recognized in California. 

Formed in 2017, the CTFC’s mission is to promote and protect the health, safety and welfare of tribal children and families, and this documentary seeks to further this mission. They have successfully secured more than $10 million in state funding for tribal youth diversion programs in 2019 and 2020.

If you or your family have experienced the child welfare system and would like to contribute to this short documentary, use the following link. They are accepting both video, audio, and written testimonies. 

Updated: CTFC has extended the deadline until Aug. 31.

Federal Commission Concludes Nationwide Tour Gathering MMIP Testimony in Billings, MT

• Yahoo News

(photo: The Bureau of Indian Affairs)

BY ELYSE WILD 

 

JULY 27, 2023

On July 26th, the Not Invisible Act Commission (NIAC) wrapped up its final stop on a seven-city nationwide tour gathering testimony from Native Americans affected by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis. 

This week’s hearing took place in Billings, Montana, where Tribal officials, Native leaders, law enforcement and government officials convened for a panel discussion and to bear witness to testimony from MMIP survivors and family members. The hearing was also live streamed.

The hearing opened with a prayer and moment of silence, followed by an invitation for those in attendance to speak the name of a missing or murdered loved one. Names were spoken aloud for ten minutes.

Among those testifying was Carrisa Heavyrunner, whose 22-year-old daughter Mika Westwolf (Blackfeet) was killed in a hit-and-run on March 31 on Highway 93 near Arlee, Montana. Despite the Montana Highway Patrol identifying the driver as Sunny K. White, no arrests have been made in Westwolf’s death.

Heavyrunner told Billings news station NonStop Local that the lack of urgency from law enforcement is slowing healing for Native American communities affected by the MMIP crisis.

“You can’t heal if you’re not able to be seen and be heard,” Heavyrunner said. “That’s why I wanted to help these women share their stories about their loved ones that they lost… We gotta keep Mika’s name and other MMIP families and victims out there because everyone tends to forget things so easily nowadays. We’ve gotta keep the momentum going.”

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Native women living on reservations are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average. Lack of jurisdictional clarity, lack of collaboration between law enforcement bodies, and systemic apathy have led to thousands of unsolved cases in Indian Country. While there is no comprehensive data on MMIP, the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are 4,200 unsolved MMIP cases have gone unsolved. The oldest MMIP case profile on the BIA’s public MMIP database dates back to 1969. 

Montana is home to twelve Tribal Nations and ranks among the states with the highest number of MMIPs in the nation, according to a report from the Urban Indian Health Institute. 

The 37-person Not Invisible Act Commission was launched in 2020 by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo). The commission is tasked with developing recommendations on improving intergovernmental collaboration on violent crimes in Indian Country and providing resources for survivors and victims’ families. Information and testimony gathered at the hearings will be part of the commission’s final report to Secretary Haaland, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Congress in October. 

The commission will hold a nationwide virtual hearing on Aug. 1 and 2. Registration for the hearing can be found here. 

Not Invisible Act Commission to Hear Testimony on MMIP in Montana

• Yahoo News

Interior Sec. Deb Haaland (Photo/File)

BY GRACE TERRY, CONTRIBUTING WRITER 

 

JULY 12, 2023

The Not Invisible Act Commission will hold its final in a series of public hearings on July 25-26, 2023, at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center, 1223 Mullowney Lane, Billings, MT, from 9:00 – 5:00 pm MT.

Native community members who are survivors of or have been impacted by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis are invited to attend to share their testimony. Those who wish to attend the hearing must register at here. 

Those unable to attend the hearing in person can submit written testimony, recommendations, or questions to the Not Invisible Act Commission at: NIAC@ios.doi.gov. Include the following in the subject line: “NIAC Testimony” or “NIAC Question.”

In October 2020, the Not Invisible Act of 2019 was signed into law as the first bill in history to be introduced and passed by four U.S. congressional members enrolled in their respective federally recognized tribes. The four were led by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna) during her time in Congress.

The act was a response to the longstanding crises of MMIP and human trafficking (HT). The purpose of the act is to increase coordination in identifying and combating violent crime within Native lands and against Native Americans.

In accordance with the act, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary Haaland established the Not Invisible Act Commission. The Commission is a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee composed of both federal and non-federal members. These include law enforcement, Tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered individuals, and survivors. 

Since April, the Commission has been holding field hearings in Tulsa, Anchorage, Flagstaff, Minneapolis, and Albuquerque, some of the communities most affected by the MMIP crisis. The Billings, MT, hearing later in July is the final hearing. Similar to earlier hearings, the Billings event will provide a forum for law enforcement, subject-matter experts, organizations, State/Tribal task forces, advocates, survivors/families, and others to offer testimony directly to the Commission. Trauma-informed mental health support will be available on-site with optional follow-up support as needed. 

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco emphasized, “The Justice Department is steadfast in our pledge to work with Tribal governments in preventing and responding to the violence that has disproportionately harmed Tribal communities. And we are committed to listening and being responsive to what our partners have to say.”

In a June 8, 2023, letter to Tribal leaders, Secretary Haaland said, “Only with the collective participation of all our communities will our missing, murdered, or trafficked relatives and friends no longer be invisible.” 

Carmen O’Leary (Cheyenne River Lakota) of Eagle Butte, SD, is the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains. According to O’Leary, “It is important to our community that the people have input, whether it is by contributing a personal story, offering a possible solution to address the problem, or helping to identify gaps in the (prevention/enforcement/service) system. The actions of the (Not Invisible Act) Commission will impact resources available to address MMIP issues for a long time.”

Findings from hearings and written testimony will shape the Commission’s final report to Secretary Haaland, Attorney General Garland, and Congress. This report is required by October 2023 and will include recommendations for how to improve intergovernmental coordination, bolster resources, and establish best practices for State/Tribal/Federal law enforcement to challenge the tragic epidemic of MMIP violence and human trafficking.

Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese is a member of Nambé Pueblo and senior policy advisor for Native American affairs at the White House. At the June 28 Not Invisible Commission hearing in Albuquerque, she acknowledged the victims and families present at the hearing and how critical their testimony is to create solutions to the crisis.

“These hearings are so important,” Hidalgo Reese said. “Neglect and invisibility are too often the cause or enable violence in our communities ... we need to understand this problem from every angle. We need to explore every possible solution, so we need to hear from all of you.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Native women living on reservations are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average. Layered jurisdiction, lack of collaboration between law enforcement bodies, and systemic apathy have led to thousands of unsolved cases in Indian Country. The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are 4,200 unsolved MMIP cases.

Secretary Haaland made the following statement when the schedule of hearings was announced in February 2023, “This work requires each of us to face our own trauma, to relive unimaginable pain, and visualize a future in which our loved ones are safe, and our communities have closure. We’re here for our children, grandchildren, and relatives we have yet to meet. This work is urgently needed and requires all of us to work collaboratively. I am so grateful to the Commission for the work they are doing and the lasting impact they will have.”

The Commission will hold a national, virtual field hearing in August.