MN Native News: Angela Two Stars Selected For Mpls. Sculpture Garden Commission

Here’s reporter Cole Premo with Angela Two Stars, talking about the artwork she is creating for the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden.

INTRO SOUND OF POW WOW GROUNDS

At the All My Relations Arts gallery off of Franklin Avenue, I meet with Angela Two Stars. Sharing the same building, the bustling Pow Wow Grounds shop is just a few feet away, smelling of fresh coffee and echoing with the conversations of locals.

FADE SOUNDS

I’m here with Two Stars, who is the Gallery Director here at All My Relations Arts, to chat about about her recent commission: a new artwork piece to be part of the iconic Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

But first, recently it’s been a whirlwind of experiences, relocation and job opportunities for Two Stars. Let’s start with that quick:

TWO STARS: (00:32) “Yeah, it's been, um, a busy two years. I actually graduated from Kendall college of art and design in may of 2017 and actually before that, um, I exhibited here at all my relations arts. It was my first exhibition, um, as a, as a professional artist. And that kind of just launched my career.”

Two Stars, who grew up on Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was later selected to make art pieces around Bde Maka Ska … wildlife depictions paired with their Dakota name.

TWO STARS: (01:07) “I learned of the call for art for the Bde Maka Ska and as a descendant of I was really excited to apply for that opportunity. And I was selected and started coming back here to Minnesota to be part of that planning process.”

After numerous art opportunities and exhibitions, she was offered the role of gallery director at All My Relations Arts, a native art organization in Minneapolis, and Angela Two Stars officially moved to Minnesota, a place she felt at home.

TWO STARS: (18:59) “For me, it was like that connection to the land, you know, cause this is where my ancestors originated from. So I feel so like a blood memory to the land.”

And that brings us to back Angela Two Stars’ latest commission: a piece at the sculpture garden that emphasizes Dakota language. She says it’s inspired by her grandfather Orson Bernard, an elder who worked in the tribe’s language program for the last 15 years of his life.

TWO STARS: (09:47) “I just remember thinking like what a legacy he was leaving behind because because of him and his work and all other elders, um, their work, like with language revitalization like that was keeping that language alive for myself and for my children and my grandchildren. So I wanted to create something that would honor that essentially like ripple effect across generations. And that's what my idea like spirit from as like a, the way one drop of water can reach out across a whole pond. One language speaker doing work can reach out to generations of speakers.”

Her work is a sculptural seating of sorts, based on the ripple effect of water.. Intended for children to climb and engage with, as well as adults.

TWO STARS: (11:38) “what I'm doing is I'm inviting the audience to come on a language journey with me. So like this ripple effect that they're going to be, um, exposed to is going to be something they have to kind of meander through. And so it also speaks for me, it's about how people come to the language. Um, I want to have a variety of language incorporated into this piece of Dakota language. The outside, I want to have some like basic language and then it gets more advanced the closer and closer you get into the center. So it's like these layers that you're getting into of like your language growth.”’

There will also be medicinal plants and water involved. A place of healing, and a place to reconnect with a language spoken across these lands for ages.

TWO STARS: (24:50) “The more you become reconnected with your language and culture, the more you become healed from, you know, past trauma and intergenerational trauma become more of a whole Dakota, you know, person.”

Two Stars’ proposal was selected by the Indigenous Public Art Selection Committee and Walker Art Center curatorial staff. Two Stars will be working closely with the Walker Art Center and consultants to install the new piece, with the completion and installation expected by Fall 2020. I’m Cole Premo.

MN Native News: Pipestone Nat’l Monument Will No Longer Sell Pipes

the Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota says it will stop selling pipes.

That’s following consultation from tribal nations, who for decades have been saying that the sales desecrate sacred grounds.

For hundreds of years, native people have quarried the red pipestone at the site.

Native craftspeople will continue to demonstrate pipestone carving and share cultural history with visitors at the national monument.

Additionally, a downtown location, away from the site, will be opened to sell pipestone pipes.

MN Native News: Angela Two Stars Selected For Mpls. Sculpture Garden Commission & Pipestone Nat’l Monument Change

This week on Minnesota Native News, we talk with a native artist who has been selected for a new commission at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and we hear about a new change at the Pipestone National Monument after years of concerns from tribes.

First, here’s reporter Cole Premo with Angela Two Stars, talking about the artwork she is creating for the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden.

INTRO SOUND OF POW WOW GROUNDS

At the All My Relations Arts gallery off of Franklin Avenue, I meet with Angela Two Stars. Sharing the same building, the bustling Pow Wow Grounds shop is just a few feet away, smelling of fresh coffee and echoing with the conversations of locals.

FADE SOUNDS

I’m here with Two Stars, who is the Gallery Director here at All My Relations Arts, to chat about about her recent commission: a new artwork piece to be part of the iconic Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

But first, recently it’s been a whirlwind of experiences, relocation and job opportunities for Two Stars. Let’s start with that quick:

TWO STARS: (00:32) “Yeah, it's been, um, a busy two years. I actually graduated from Kendall college of art and design in may of 2017 and actually before that, um, I exhibited here at all my relations arts. It was my first exhibition, um, as a, as a professional artist. And that kind of just launched my career.”

Two Stars, who grew up on Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was later selected to make art pieces around Bde Maka Ska … wildlife depictions paired with their Dakota name.

TWO STARS: (01:07) “I learned of the call for art for the Bde Maka Ska and as a descendant of I was really excited to apply for that opportunity. And I was selected and started coming back here to Minnesota to be part of that planning process.”

After numerous art opportunities and exhibitions, she was offered the role of gallery director at All My Relations Arts, a native art organization in Minneapolis, and Angela Two Stars officially moved to Minnesota, a place she felt at home.

TWO STARS: (18:59) “For me, it was like that connection to the land, you know, cause this is where my ancestors originated from. So I feel so like a blood memory to the land.”

And that brings us to back Angela Two Stars’ latest commission: a piece at the sculpture garden that emphasizes Dakota language. She says it’s inspired by her grandfather Orson Bernard, an elder who worked in the tribe’s language program for the last 15 years of his life.

TWO STARS: (09:47) “I just remember thinking like what a legacy he was leaving behind because because of him and his work and all other elders, um, their work, like with language revitalization like that was keeping that language alive for myself and for my children and my grandchildren. So I wanted to create something that would honor that essentially like ripple effect across generations. And that's what my idea like spirit from as like a, the way one drop of water can reach out across a whole pond. One language speaker doing work can reach out to generations of speakers.”

Her work is a sculptural seating of sorts, based on the ripple effect of water.. Intended for children to climb and engage with, as well as adults.

TWO STARS: (11:38) “what I'm doing is I'm inviting the audience to come on a language journey with me. So like this ripple effect that they're going to be, um, exposed to is going to be something they have to kind of meander through. And so it also speaks for me, it's about how people come to the language. Um, I want to have a variety of language incorporated into this piece of Dakota language. The outside, I want to have some like basic language and then it gets more advanced the closer and closer you get into the center. So it's like these layers that you're getting into of like your language growth.”’

There will also be medicinal plants and water involved. A place of healing, and a place to reconnect with a language spoken across these lands for ages.

TWO STARS: (24:50) “The more you become reconnected with your language and culture, the more you become healed from, you know, past trauma and intergenerational trauma become more of a whole Dakota, you know, person.”

Two Stars’ proposal was selected by the Indigenous Public Art Selection Committee and Walker Art Center curatorial staff. Two Stars will be working closely with the Walker Art Center and consultants to install the new piece, with the completion and installation expected by Fall 2020. I’m Cole Premo.

PIPESTONE PIECE

In other news, the Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota says it will stop selling pipes.

That’s following consultation from tribal nations, who for decades have been saying that the sales desecrate sacred grounds.

For hundreds of years, native people have quarried the red pipestone at the site.

Native craftspeople will continue to demonstrate pipestone carving and share cultural history with visitors at the national monument.

Additionally, a downtown location, away from the site, will be opened to sell pipestone pipes.

OUTRO

Minnesota Native News: A Report from the Recent Native American Journalism Association Conference

INTRO/HEADLINE: This week on Minnesota Native News, reporter Melissa Townsend reports on the 35th Annual Native American Journalists Association Conference hosted at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

MELISSA:

The Native American Journalism Association conference was 4 days of workshops, speeches, eating and visiting.

One of the workshops at the conference featured Native artists.

[Dyani introduces herself in Dakota] (:13)

Dyani is a painter usually using acrylics and oils.

She was one of the artists who spoke to a group of reporters - including me. She wants us to know we’ve let her down. The other artists in the room agreed. She shared a story to explain what she meant.

DYANI: So I got asked to be a panelist for an upcoming conference here in Minneapolis - thousand of people - it’s a really big deal apparently.

She’s been chosen as a featured speaker to address the National Arts Education Conference.

DYANI: And then they told me who some of the past guests have been. And they were people like Jeff Koons and Amy Sherald.

Koons and Sherald are two very famous non-Native artists.

DYANI: I got really intimidated and I was like Oh My God. I can’t meet that level of notoriety .These were the biggest, they are everywhere. Everybody knows them who is in the field. I can’t give you that.

And then she realized that’s partly because of the news media.

DYANI: I can’t give it to you because you aren’t giving us the coverage that’s equal to these other folks. We aren’t being reported on with that same respect and value placed on what we have to contribute.

Being ignored in the media contributes to a cycle of feeling invisible and being undervalued.

There is a serious need for better reporting in Indian country.

And that’s hard to do when non-Native reporters and audiences may not even understand the basics.

DYANI: To see and understand the value and the worth of what we make - we have to first fill them in with the entire history of our country. For them to even be able to look at a work and be able to unpack what’s in that work… often times they miss it because they don’t know the history, they aren’t taught the history, they don’t know our communities.

[luncheon ambi]

This is where the Native American Journalism Association can play a role.

The association represents nearly 600 journalists - many who are Native - from tribal media, Native outlets and mainstream newsrooms.

NAJA President Tristan Ahtone says the mission is to support indigenous journalists and promote better media coverage of Indian country.

AHTONE: I’ve been working professionally for a decade now. There is a lot more recognition that newsrooms should be doing this type of reporting.

At this year’s conference, NAJA honored the elders among us who have helped build the industry.

Mark Trahant received the “NAJA - Medill Milestone Achievement Award”.

It was recognition of his decades of incredible work, most recently in his role at the helm at Indian Country Today.

TRAHANT: Indian Country today is around because just so many people over the years have invested their time and energy to a simple idea and that is serving Indian readers.

The NAJA conference also offered tools and insight for new generations of reporters.

Hunter Hotulke [hole TOLL kee] is from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

He is one of the Native American Journalism Fellows at the conference - receiving specific support from more veteran journalists.

HOTULKE: We all have Native ancestry and we all want to report the news for the betterment of our people so just to get everyone in that environment and foster that creativity is really good.

Mindee Duffell was also there. She works with the Citizen Potawatome Nation. She is non-Native.

DUFFELL: And I think that’s important for people like me who are non-Native to be able to submerge themselves in what being Native actually is.

In addition to honoring the work of Native journalists, correcting history and contradicting stereotypes - as if that’s not all enough - NAJA leaders are also lifting up the importance of a free press.

Another conference discussion focused on a recent NAJA survey.

It showed many are subject to censorship by tribal governments.

So the Native American Journalism Association has plenty of work to do.

All with intention of growing the volume of well-reported stories about Native America - and supporting Native reporters.

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend

MN Native News: Season of Change and Tradition

Headlines:
Marie: This week on Minnesota Native News, a groundbreaking, a grand opening and a mid-season update.
This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock.
[Story #1 Mino-bimaadiziwin}

[Marie:]
Hundreds of people celebrated on the site of the last year’s homeless encampment in Minneapolis. They were celebrating a Native-led affordable housing project that broke ground over the weekend. Laurie Stern reports.
[1-2-3 yayayayay…] That’s the sound of two dozen shovels biting into the dirt to celebrate a milestone. Construction has begun for a 110-unit apartment building that will house low-income and formerly homeless people. The land is owned by Red Lake Nation, which is developing the project just blocks from the Native cultural corridor on Franklin Avenue. Sam Strong is secretary of Red Lake Nation.

Sam: a year and a half from now, we're going to have our drums out here. We're going to be teaching our kids to the language. We're going to be helping our people overcome the addiction struggles that they're dealing with. And we're going to, we're going to have a place to call home.
Red Lake is working with Minneapolis, state and federal officials to make sure the new permanent housing will serve community needs.
Sam:
when the system is broken, it must be fixed. And so we're working on fixing the system. And this development has really been a huge impetus for not only Red Lakers, but for all native people to say, wait a second. If we're the most underserved, under representative portion of the population, why are these laws that are meant to protect us, hurting us.
Plans for the project have been underway since 2015. It’s called Meenobeemadizzy-man, the good life. The new units should be ready in 2021.
[Story Two Migizi]
Marie: Native Minnesota and allies also turned out for the grand opening of Migizi (Mih-GIZZ-ee) Communications in its new space just off Lake Street near South High School. The 40-plus-year-old nonprofit trains Native youth to tell their own stories and stories of their communities. The spacious new location features a media studio, an art gallery and plenty of gathering space. Kelly: I am Kelly Drummer, executive director of Migizi Communitcations, Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan is here, Mayor Jacob Fry is here, we are thrilled to be in this new space with so many supporters. Bdishekwe: It's been so quiet til tonight. This is Bdishekwe {bah-DEESH-ee-kway} Means. She started at Migizi in high school and now is part of the staff.
Bdishekwe:
we have a green jobs program and we have cultural programs like sacred visions and we do homework help and things like that for the community. And so we're just, we're always working with youth and trying to build that next generation to make sure that, you know, one, they're getting livable wage jobs and that they're educated, um, and that they know how to navigate throughout our community.
[Story Three wild-rice harvest]
Marie: Now that we’re well into the wild rice season, we thought we’d check in with Jeff Savage, a lifelong harvester and member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Jeff: Now that I’m older I’m teaching my grandchildren, went out with my 14-year-old grandson this year.
Marie: Jeff said they had to go west to find good rice though. He says so far the harvest hasn’t been great on Leech Lake either, but it’s okay on White Earth.
Jeff Savage
As Anishinabe people it is our sacred responsibility to go where the food grows on the water and to be caretakers///And then we have these other issues like a mining waste, invasive species that are very serious disruptors to not only this//And then we have all of this we have to deal with and still try to keep the wild race for the future generations. So it’s not just a food product it’s also the way we identify ourselves.

MN Native News: The Dakota Project

Headlines:
Marie: This week on Minnesota Native News, a peek behind the curtain of a play that’s bound to change minds.
This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock.
[Story #1 The Dakota Project]
Marie: Mainstream institutions have struggled to accurately and ethically tell the story of what happened to the Dakota People in 1862. As Laurie Stern reports, Minnesota’s History Theater is working on that now.

Laurie: The History Theater has a mission, and that is to tell the story of everyone who lives in Minnesota. But the theater has been stuck on what happened during the U.S. Dakota War of 1862. It’s a hard story to get right.
Larissa Fasthorse mitakuyapi. my name is Larissa Fasthorse. I'm from Sicangu Lakota nation. I am a playwright and I have been asked by history theater to create a play around the events of the Dakota people in Minnesota in 1862. Um, I've spent the past year talking to lots of Dakota people to ask them how they want that story to be told. And today's the first reading of my first version of trying to fulfill their wishes.
Larissa Fasthorse is not the first playwright to work on what the History Theater calls The Dakota Project. But she is doing something that makes it more likely her play will be produced. She asked Dakota community members whether the story should even be told, and she asked them how it should be told. That’s because she and the History Theater understand it’s not THEIR story to tell – it’s a story that belongs to the Dakota people who lived it. Now their descendants are helping to write the play. This summer Larissa Fasthorse and the History Theater asked indigenous actors to read what she has so far to an audience at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
(play excerpt) What is it you enjoy so much about the white ceremony? The women sing together with the men all the time and it is so beautiful. You do not think our Dakota singing is beautiful? The missionary singing is in Dakota too – so beautiful like nothing I’ve ever heard before.
The play’s central characters are a Dakota mother and daughter who react differently to the turmoil around them. The play also features Taoyateduta (Little Crow) - the flawed Dakota leader who tries to negotiate with the government despite impossible odds. The script so far develops all its characters with empathy and humor. For instance, everyone has a laugh when the cast tries to pronounce the settlers’ names.

Mark. Just Mark, such sad little name. Here’s a good one, Lee, like they’re starting to say something but swallow it. HAHAHA.

After the reading, The History Theater and Larissa Fasthorse ask for feedback and suggestions. The audience responds, some with their own memories.

I remember conversations with my grandmother, her daughter, about some of the rites such as communion, the body and blood of Christ. It made her uncomfortable that Christians would eat their own savior like cannibals. You just see eat, spiritual worlds collide, that was very interesting to me.
This story really humanzed Dakota people and the struggle, broken treaties we all know about but America doesn’t really know, a beautifully portrayed story of the true history.
So people had to do what they had to do. That’s why we’re all here. Our ancestors did what they had to do so we would survive.
Larissa Fasthorse says she appreciates the feedback and looks forward to more. She and her team continue looking for descendants and gathering stories. She lives in Los Angeles now but will come back this winter for more workshops in Native communities in Minnesota.
MARIE:
If you have a story to share with the playwright, email artistic director Ron Peluso (Peh-LOOSE-oh) at rpeluso@Historytheatre.com. Theatre is with an r-e at the end. RPeluso at historytheatre dot com.

Minnesota Native News: Award Goes to Native Artist and Suicide Prevention While Embracing Culture

Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.

Headlines: This week… the McKnight Foundation’s 2019 Distinguished Artist Award goes to a Native artist for the first time.

And… September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis speaks to the need and availability of culturally specific programming to reduce suicide rates.

Here’s Reporter Leah Lemm with these stories.

STORY #1 - McKnight Foundation Names Painter Jim Denomie 2019 Distinguished Artist

REPORTER: The McKnight Foundation created the Distinguished Artist Award to honor a Minnesota artist who has made major contributions to the cultural life in the state. This year, the award goes to visual artist Jim Denomie.

JIM DENOMIE: My name is Jim Denomie. I am enrolled at Lac Courte Oreilles and northern Wisconsin and I live in Franconia, Minnesota and I'm a painter primarily. I play with printmaking, and found objects, sculpture, and photography.

REPORTER: I spent some time looking at Jim Denomie’s paintings. His work is active with bold and vibrant colors.

JIM DENOMIE: I paint about intuitive things, creative portraiture, erotic, spiritual landscapes. You know, what, whatever tell me can be whenever I can fit to my universe.

REPORTER: And sometimes, his work leads into politics and history. He’s received praise and criticism, including negative comments on social media, which even prompted a six-week break from Facebook. But he relates this work to journalism… or investigative reporting.

JIM DENOMIE: I've always said that I've tried to be as honest and fearless as I can when I comment about history and social events. I don't try to create controversy just to create a shock value for my work and my career. I just comment on what I see and what's important.

REPORTER: Jim Denomie reports that the 50 thousand Distinguished Artist Award money will go towards studio time, to taking some time off from his full-time construction job, and to purchase supplies.

STORY #2 - September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

REPORTER: Next up, September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the American Indian population experienced the highest suicide rate in Minnesota and had a rate nearly two times greater than the national rate when comparing suicide rates by race during the 2013-2017 period.

Bryce Premo is a Youth Worker with the Division of Indian Work’s Youth Leadership Development Program. Which as part of its programming, makes sure to have an active role in suicide prevention with the youth it serves.

Full disclosure: Bryce is my brother.

Bryce Premo: It's an afterschool program for literacy improvement, homework help, cultural lessons and also alcohol and drug prevention. So a part of that program, the alcohol and drug prevention is a really talking about coping skills, better habit forming, hobby farming, coping skills, and then also informing them of the side effects of alcohol and drug and tobacco use which can be depressive disorders and sometimes suicide. So they can really exacerbate these underlying mental, historical traumas.

REPORTER: And some of the culturally based healing methods that the Division of Indian Work embraces include stories and ceremony.

BRYCE PREMO: We're trying to really, you know, reach through to the kids through cultural, through the community, through their schooling, through their parents and then to them as well. So we really try to go through all the layers of their shelf, social, educational awareness.

REPORTER: Events are being held this month to raise awareness for suicide prevention. At the Division of Indian Work, Bryce Premo is giving a presentation called Safe Talk to help increase suicide awareness.

BRYCE PREMO: It’s through a program called Living Works and they're a worldwide organization to promote suicide awareness.

So on September the 19th, we'll be hosting a safe talk training for community members and basically that is to raise awareness for spotting the suicidal ideation. It's a culturally based presentation and it has different aspects for the first nations or indigenous culture.

REPORTER: For more information about the Safe Talk training on September 19th contact Bryce Premo at bpremo AT diw HYPHEN MN DOT ORG.

If you or someone you know needs help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-TALK, that’s 1-800-273-8255. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free, 24/7 service that can provide suicidal persons or those around them with support and a range of information.

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.

Minnesota Native News: Fixing What’s Broken

HEADLINES: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.

STORY #1 - DHS Overpayments (3:30)
The White Earth and Leech Lake Bands of Ojibwe continue their efforts to straighten out a costly mistake involving the state Department of Human Services.

Reporter Melissa Townsend has the latest on the story.

It was sometime last spring when state Department of Human Services officials realized the state had been overpaying the tribes for their Medically Assisted Treatment programs.

Those are the Suboxone or Bupenorphine programs at Leech Lake and White Earth.

D-H-S says the tribes are required to pay back 23-million dollars

That’s 11-million from White Earth and 12 million from Leech Lake.

DHS and Tribal officials met in June to discuss the problem.

And they met again in July.

In August, the news hit the headlines and a State Senate committee held a hearing on August 13th.

In that hearing - the issue became clearer — sort of.

STEVENS: Thank you Chairwoman Benson and Chairman Abler and community members… (:04)

Dani Stevens is the White Earth Interim Quality Assurance Coordinator. She described how the tribe billed the state for its Suboxone program.

STEVENS: If the patient qualifies for that consolidated funding at the high rate - which is our encounter rate - which goes up every year - but 2019 for example it’s 455 for that encounter rate. (:11)

That’s 455 dollars per visit.

STEVENS: Now if they’re on consolidated funding, don’t qualify for MA but qualify under housing or financial reasons, they’re at a low rate at 61.15. (:13)

That’s 61 dollars and 15 cents per visit.

STEVENS: And we also have people who don’t qualify at all and are over-income and we eat the cost. (:05)

Stevens is describing how the tribe charges different rates based on the patient’s eligibility.

But that’s not how the state talks about it. They say billing is based on the services provided.

DHS says the higher rate is for patients who get Bupenorphine and intensive treatment.

The lower rate is for patients who just take the medication home without seeing a counselor.

So why are there two different versions of how billing should happen? That’s the subject of investigation.

The state is looking into its own handling of the situation.

White Earth officials say they have suspended the Behavioral Health Director while they investigate.

And Leech Lake says they’ve already looked into it. And they’ve reportedly produced all the emails between tribal and DHS officials. They prove the tribe was following the billing instructions they got from the state.

Tribal officials say there will be a serious long term impact on tribal members if they have to find 23-million dollars to give back to the state.

Dani Stevens, White Earth Interim Quality Assurance Coordinator, talked about it at the hearing.

STEVENS: The impact will be far reaching, including loss of jobs, loss of housing, increase of security and safety concerns, increased health concerns and increased child welfare involvement. (:12)

It does seem there is a growing sense that D-H-S is also on the hook and should share the responsibility.

This is State Senator Scott Jensen at the August hearing:

JENSEN: So bottom line is we have a 455 dollar per day or a 61 per day and DHS hasn’t helped you understand which it should be so that you could be doing this without any impugning your integrity is that correct?
STEVENS: There are a lot of grey areas in regards to the manual and in regards to billing.

Leech Lake and White Earth tribal officials are asking for timely and comprehensive consultation to solve this problem.

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.

STORY #2 - 1 minute
There’s a new billboard on the corner of Superior and Garfield streets in Duluth.

It’s not an ad for anything — it’s a call to action.

The sign reads “Invisible No More” and says we’ve lost count of the missing and murdered indigenous women and people in Minnesota - and the country.

It’s part of a national billboard campaign by the Global Indigenous Council and Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council to draw attention to the problem.

DeDe Drift is one of the organizers behind the sign.

DEDE DRIFT: Our main purpose is to raise awareness of the need for data and statistics and numbers of missing and murdered indigenous people. (:11)

She also wants to show support for a state-wide task force to address the problem.

De De Drift and her friends Millie Richard [rish- ARD] and Renee Van Nett are organizing a prayer vigil on Sunday, September 15th at the billboard at 3pm.

DRIFT: It’s important that we all come together because we all need to support each other. (:06)

They are also collecting funds to keep the billboard up long term.