Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities
17 Unique Stations from Border to Border
17 Unique Stations from Border to Border
Special Editions | documentaries and special reports
Native Lights | stories of people within Minnesota’s Native communities
This is Minnesota Native News and I’m Marie Rock. A recent report from the state of Minnesota shows nearly half of Minnesota Counties that border reservations are not protecting federal rights of vulnerable Native children and their families. Reporter Melissa Townsend tells us more.
This week on Minnesota Native News, a top COVID-19 federal health official, Dr. Deborah Birx, recently visited Minnesota, and talked about her experience with the Fond du Lac tribe in Duluth. We also hear about an online native film festival that features some Minnesota native creators.
Marcie Rendon has just been awarded the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award for 2020. She is the first Native woman ever to receive the award. Rendon is a citizen of the White Earth Nation who lives in south Minneapolis. She is a mother, grandmother, great-mother, play write, author and poet. The McKnight honor comes with 50-thousand dollars. Reporter Melissa Townsend talked with Rendon about her work and the most recent recognition.
Last month, the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis had a virtual watch party on social media, bringing together viewers to see what community members are saying about sexual health and and related topics, including why it’s difficult to talk about sex.
We’ll hear more about how the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis works with the community to talk about sexual health.
But first… the US Census is well on its way, collecting information from citizens across the country… And, there’s still time to fill out the Census.
The U.S. Census Bureau has extended the 2020 census deadline to September 30th.
In the U.S. there are more than 1400 unresolved American Indian and Alaska Native missing person cases… 136 of those cases are in Minnesota. That’s according to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.
Several top federal officials were in Bloomington, on July 27th to announce the creation of a new office dedicated to solving these cold cases. Minnesota’s office will be the first of seven across the country.
But the announcement was a surprise to Native leaders in MN who have been working tirelessly for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives.
Families and school districts across Minnesota are thinking about what the next school year may look like for teachers, children and families. The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing districts to consider distance learning with kids doing lessons at home on computers. Reporter Melissa Townsend talked with Native educator Govinda Budrow about lessons learned from distance learning last school year and how it might change for Native students in September.
