ICE Casts a Shadow on This Year’s MMIR March; Two Native College Stars to Watch this Basketball Season

Transcript

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Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: Welcome to Minnesota Native News. I'm Marie Rock. This week, a report on this year's march honoring missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, followed by a conversation with Native college athletes making their mark on the basketball court. First, Zan Holston reports on how federal enforcement actions in the state are affecting this year's march for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.

Xan Holston: No more so-roost relatives! No more so-roost relatives! No relatives! For the past 10 years, relatives, friends, and community members have gathered in March to honor and bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Indigenous women and girls make up about 1% of the population, but 10% of the state's missing women. This year, under the shadow of federal immigration crackdown, Operation Metro Surge, the event has taken on new significance.

Nicole Matthews: As we see immigrant relatives and really anyone who visually looks black or brown, being taken off the streets, being, you know, racially profiled, it causes a lot of outrage, fear and anxiety and heartbreak. It's deeply troubling.

Xan Holston: Nicole Matthews is CEO of the Minnesota Indigenous Women's Sexual Assault Center in St. Paul. She says as ICE agents have swept up Native people and immigrant relatives, the present is echoing the past. And that...

Nicole Matthews: Activates some historical trauma of, you know, our relatives who were taken from their homes and put into boarding schools. So this has already played out in Indian Country.

Xan Holston: Matthews says she's grateful for the growing number of non-Native community members showing up in solidarity, but she emphasizes that the movement remains rooted in Indigenous leadership and Indigenous lives.

Nicole Matthews: Because we need to keep that outrage alive, you know, when we don't have this, you know, metro surge, when it is, you know, anytime a Native woman or a Native person goes missing.

Xan Holston: Leading up to the march, organizers are creating space for remembrance, healing, and action beyond a single day.

Nicole Matthews: Really, we want justice, and we want to keep raising our voices until we have a day that we don't have to talk about this because it's not an issue.

Xan Holston: On Friday, the day before the march, the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center will host a community art event at its Minneapolis location from 2 to 7 p. m. and serve a community meal at 5. The march is scheduled from 11 a. m. till 2 p. m. on Saturday and starts at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on Franklin Avenue. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Zan Holston.

Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: Next, producer Dan Ninham speaks with two Indigenous basketball players at Bemidji State about their season.

Dan Ninham: Two Minnesota Indigenous athletes, both from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Cass Lake Bina High School, are making moves on the basketball court as Bemidji State University guards. Both chose to stay close to home for college.

Gabrielle Fineday: Watching, like, older people from Leech Lake, you know, was really helpful. just, like, seeing them just fall in love with the game made me want to fall in love with.

Dan Ninham: Gabrielle Finday is a freshman on the NCAA D2 Bemidji State University women's basketball team. Dominic Staples Fairbanks, playing on the men's side, is a sophomore.

Dominic Staples Fairbanks: I started wrestling probably preschool. I started playing basketball when I was in Cure Garden, and my whole life has just been athletics.

Dan Ninham: Both Gabrielle and Dominic come from sports families. For Dominic, besides basketball mentors, others, like his grandmother, Bonnie Fairbanks-Stangle, helped guide him off the court.

Dominic Staples Fairbanks: She taught us a lot growing up, and even now she still pushes us to go to ceremony, go to Sweat Lodge, and hosting ceremonies at her house. She has really helped me stay connected to my culture.

Dan Ninham: Transitioning from high school to college basketball this year brought both anxiety and accomplishment for Gabrielle.

Gabrielle Fineday: I think the most rewarding moment was my first career start, you know, like, I was, like, really nervous. We played a very good team. We played Concordia-St. Paul, and being able the next game to just start the game off, I was, hit my first two threes at the beginning of the game. Hearing, you know, just the gym, like, really loud, felt really rewarding.

Dominic Staples Fairbanks: So, last year, I never really thought I'd be playing this year, but showing what work can do and how far putting the work in can go. I feel like that's really rewarding and has boosted my confidence a lot as well.

Dan Ninham: Both Dominic and Gabrielle have four remaining regular season games left on February 12, 14, 19, and 21. Check out bsubeavers.com for more information. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Dan Ninham.

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Marie Rock: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS: Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities. Made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.