#Trump Bulldozed a 1,000-Year-Old #ArcheologicalSite to Make Room for a Second Border Wall

#DHS was in talks with the #WildlifeRefuge that hosts the ancient site to make sure it was protected, a local archeologist said.

Adam Federman
April 30 2026, 7:01 p.m.

"A rare archaeological site in the #SonoranDesert was bulldozed by a Department of Homeland Security contractor involved in building the latest sections of Donald Trump’s #BorderWall, according to multiple sources briefed on the incident.

"The area, in a remote corner of Arizona’s #CabezaPrieta #NationalWildlifeRefuge, is a nearly 280-by-50-foot etching in the desert sand known as an #intaglio.

"Last Friday, without any notice, a contractor working for DHS cut a roughly 60-foot swath across the middle of the intaglio, doing irreparable damage to the 1,000-year-old artifact.

"Cabeza Prieta, one of the largest wilderness areas outside of Alaska, also encompasses lands sacred to the #TohonoOodham Nation, which borders the refuge to the east. The O’odham have fought to prevent border wall construction across their reservation and during Trump’s first term largely prevailed; they also managed to protect the intaglio and a nearby burial site that they consider to be part of their ancestral lands.

" 'I liken it to destroying the Nazca lines — something that culturally we should have been relishing and promoting. Not destroying,' Rick Martynec, an archaeologist, said in a phone interview, referring to the hundreds of figures drawn into the deserts of southern Peru.

"The destruction was confirmed by a federal employee with direct knowledge of the incident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal."

Source:
https://theintercept.com/2026/04/30/arizona-archeological-site-bulldozed-border-wall/

#USPol #TrumpSucks #CulturalErasure #ProtectTheSacred #TohonoOodhamNation #ArchaeologicalSite #DestroyingHistory #Fascism #NativeAmericanHistory #NativeAmericanCulturalHeritage

Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languages

"Gaelic and Scots have now been recognised as official languages as part of a range of new measures coming into force on St Andrew's Day.

"The Scottish Languages Act, which MSPs voted through in June, also empowers parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and aims to ensure that more qualifications are available in Gaelic.

"It includes powers for ministers to commission research into the use of Gaelic and Scots and establish teaching standards for the languages.

"Scotland's Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes called it a 'historic milestone'."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9891455007o

#CulturalErasure #CulturalPreservation #LanguagePreservation #Gaelic #Celts

A Native Community Preserves its Food Traditions

Members of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation are keeping #TraditionalFoodways alive in the face of #ClimateChange and human impact.

By Allie Hostler
November 21, 2017

Excerpt: "Changes in tribal food systems and lifeways began in 1853 as the #CaliforniaGoldRush brought a mass incursion of #WhiteSettlers. Making way for the newcomers and addressing the '#IndianProblem,' California paid a bounty for Indian scalps, which proved to be more lucrative than panning gold. The first session of the California State Legislature passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians in 1850, which legalized removing Natives from their land and separating Native families.

"Ceremonies were ambushed and villages were burned. In 1856, the U.S. government forcibly removed 1,834 #Tolowa to coastal concentration camps. By 1910, like many California tribes, the Tolowa population had dwindled—from more than 10,000 to just 504. Despite the 14th Amendment, the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was not fully repealed until 1937.

"Relying on the knowledge held by the few families refusing to give up their traditional ways, the Tolowa persevered.

" 'My family managed to hold tight to our food, language, ceremony, songs, beliefs, and protocols,' says Jones. 'We fought to keep connected. We purposefully protected and passed along this way of being so it didn’t die.' "

Read more:
https://civileats.com/2017/11/21/a-native-community-preserves-its-food-traditions/

#SolarPunkSunday
#IndigenousFoodSovereignty
#TraditionalFoods #FoodSovereignty #Foodsecurity #IndigenousAgriculture #TolowaDeeni’ #AnimalProducts #IndigenousFoodSecurity #IndigenousFoodSystems #LandBack
#Reclaiming #Decolonize #CulturalErasure #Genocide #CulturalSurvival

“Weapons of Health Destruction...” How Colonialism Created the Modern Native American Diet

The Impact of Systematic Oppression on Indigenous Cuisine in the United States

#Frybread, sometimes called “#DieBread” or a “weapon of health destruction,” has multiple origin stories, and they all involve oppression and perseverance.

by Andrea Freeman, July 24, 2024

Excerpt: "On the hit television show #ReservationDogs, the only series ever to feature all #Indigenous writers, directors, and main cast members, the Indian Health Center invites rapper Punkin’ Lusty, played by real-life #Mvskoke rapper #StenJoddi, to perform his hit song '#GreasyFrybread.' [A song Dr. Lowry played during today's broadcast.] The occasion is #Diabetes Awareness Month. Lusty raps,

Baby girl looking deadly (Yeah!)
Why she acting all Rezzy (Yeah!)
Hotter than a pan of frybread grease!
Have a Native hittin’ Powwow Beats!
Gotcha Auntie in the kitchen
Like no he didn’t
Got her Gramama’s skillet
Like she ’bout to kill it!

The song solidly locates frybread within Indigenous culture.

Sofkee [a corn drink or soup] on the burner
Hokte Hokte [woman] head turner
Water baking powder
Choppin’ up that white stuff
All purpose flour
Gotta mix it right up
Hit the Rez with the Shits
They eats it right up! Watch the grease pop
Watch her waist drop
She got that blue bird bag [Blue Bird flour comes in a twenty-pound cloth bag and claims to be “The Native American Frybread Secret”]
In her tank top
he got that white powder
All over everything
She gettin’ to bussin’ man
But we ain’t cousins man!
We from the same tribe
But a different clan
She my Rez Bunny
And I’m her Red Man
She love my Tattoos
And my two braids
Frybread money at the Creek Fest get paid! On that!”

Foregrounding this song in the Health Center’s battle against diabetes underscores the other side of frybread’s legacy, also emblazoned on a T-shirt that announces 'Frybread: Creating #Obesity Since 1860.' #Cheyenne and #HudulgeeMuscogee #IndigenousRights activist #SuzanShownHarjo, who vowed to give up frybread as a New Year’s resolution, explains, 'Frybread is emblematic of the #LongTrails from home and freedom to confinement and #rations. It’s the connecting dot between healthy children and obesity, #hypertension, diabetes, #dialysis, #blindness, #amputations and #SlowDeath.' Reflecting on stereotypes that dehumanized Indigenous people to justify #colonization, such as the worn-out trope of Indians drinking 'firewater,' Harjo asserts that frybread love is another way to portray them as 'simple-minded people who salute the little grease bread and get misty-eyed about it.'

"In The #HeartbeatOfWoundedKnee, scholar #DavidTreuer introduces health educator #ChelseyLuger, who is #Ojibwe and #Lakota. Chelsey talks to Indigenous communities about the perils of frybread as part of her efforts to steer their diets in new directions, even in the face of limited food options. 'Sometimes people get defensive, but we are able to make the conversation positive. We say we grew up with it and like it and we say frybread is not power. We say frybread kills our people. It’s that serious. It causes diabetes and heart disease. We have to look at those colonial foods as a kind of enemy.' "

Read more:
https://lithub.com/weapons-of-health-destruction-how-colonialism-created-the-modern-native-american-diet/

#colonization #Colonialism #Decolonize #NativeAmericans #TraditionalFoods #FoodInsecurity #FoodSovereignty #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #Comods #CommodityBoxes #CulturalErasure

I'm listening to a very interesting broadcast with anthropologist Dr. #DavidShaneLowry (#Lumbee) where he talks about the origins of "#FryBread". Not traditional food (which I suspected), but based on rations given to Native Americans after displacement!

Intercultural Insights
October 14, 2025
On Tue from 11:30 am EST to 12:00 pm EST

Listen / download:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/greasy-frybread--64844925?utm_medium=app&utm_source=widget&utm_campaign=episode-title&deep_link_value=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spreaker.com%2Fepisode%2Fgreasy-frybread--64844925%3Futm_medium%3Dapp%26utm_source%3Dwidget%26utm_campaign%3Depisode-title&af_channel=widget

Wikipedia entry on frybread:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frybread

Show info:
https://www.wmpg.org/wmpg-podcasts/returning-the-land/

https://www.wmpg.org/show/tue1130/#

#colonization #Colonialism #CulturalErasure #Starvation #NativeAmericanHistory #NativeAmericans #TraditionalFoods #BoardingSchools #CommodityBoxes #Commods #Rations #Frybread #FoodInsecurity #WMPGFM #CommunityRadio #IndigenousVoices #IndigenousFoodSovereignty

We're Still Here: Why It's Still a Good Day to Be #Indigenous

By Levi Rickert, October 13, 2025

"Opinion. It’s a good day to be Indigenous.

Yes, even now. Even after what we witnessed this past week when the White House issued a proclamation for Columbus Day and failed to acknowledge #IndigenousPeoples’ Day. Even with the return of a presidential administration that has made no secret of its disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI) efforts. And even though white nationalists continue to grumble at the idea of honoring Indigenous peoples at all—yes, it is still a good day to be Indigenous.

Being Indigenous doesn’t depend on who sits in the Oval Office. It doesn’t hinge on whether a president utters the words “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” or if federal websites decide to scrub Native achievements from their pages. Our strength is not defined by visibility in colonial spaces. Our strength comes from something much older, deeper, and more enduring.

We are still here.

Let’s talk about what happened. This past Thursday, the White House only released a proclamation for Columbus Day — nothing for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which has now been recognized in some form by more than 20 states and over 130 cities and towns. That silence was loud. But it wasn’t surprising.

After all, this is the same administration that stormed back into office declaring war on DEI initiatives. Federal agencies began purging mentions of contributions by people of color. Even the Defense Department — prior to renaming itself the Department of War — removed references to the #NavajoCodeTalkers from its website. It took serious backlash from Indian Country for them to quietly restore those mentions.

And just last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced he would not rescind the Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who killed as many as 300 Lakota people — most of them unarmed women, children and elders — at the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre. The pattern is clear: This administration will honor those who committed atrocities against Native peoples while erasing the contributions of those who served with distinction.

So no, we weren’t shocked when Indigenous Peoples’ Day was erased at the federal level. But we’re also not deterred. We’ve always had to fight to be seen. And we’ve never needed permission to celebrate ourselves."

Read more:
https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/we-re-still-here-why-it-s-still-a-good-day-to-be-indigenous

#CulturalHeritage #CulturalPreservation #CulturalErasure #IndigenousPeoplesDay

The "voluntary" nation-building in Afghanistan is a facade, hiding a history of violence, displacement, and cultural erasure. 🩸🗡️ #Afghanistan #NationBuilding #CulturalErasure #Justice #BreakNews

https://kokcha.news/9015/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social