Indigenous

Willy Pepion had a cracked skull, and guards at the federal jail on the Blackfeet Reservation dismissed his pleas for help. He died in his cell. Three hours went by until anyone noticed.

"The corrections officers are basically holding these lives in their hands with their decisions."

The National Congress of American Indians has urged the federal government to place medical personnel in its tribal jails, arguing that the current situation "exacerbates the already challenging problem of health disparities for American Indians."

After months of repeated written questions and public records requests from NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau, Interior Department officials said they now plan to contract with an outside agency to examine the troubles plaguing tribal detention centers.

Learning Indigenous languages became even harder during the pandemic. In some communities, language learning ground to a halt. And many tribal communities saw the tragic deaths of native speakers. The latest federal relief package includes $20 million in emergency funding for Indigenous language programs, but advocates say it’s not enough.

Indigenous Americans have suffered the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths, according to data from the CDC. But even those numbers could be an undercount.

As Native American Tribes across the Mountain West reopen to the public, one Tribe in Nevada is enjoying their pandemic-related closure.

The latest coronavirus relief package includes $20 billion for tribal governments, a potentially transformative infusion of cash. Idaho Matters talks with Mountain West News Bureau reporter Savannah Maher about this issue.

Before white colonizers took land from indigenous people already living in Idaho, the Nimiipuu people occupied much of the north central part of the…

Some Indigenous histories are preserved in stories, songs, ceremonies and elder testimony that are passed down orally - rather than with written records...