Vision Maker Media Celebrates Women’s History Month

 

...in March with Online Film Event and Panel Discussion Featuring Prominent Indigenous Women Leaders

LINCOLN, Neb., March 2, 2021 — Vision Maker Media (VMM) is marking its 45^th anniversary in 2021 with a yearlong celebration of free “commUNITY” events, including thematic online film screenings, online virtual programs and more. To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, VMM will launch its first online program of 2021, a community-themed online film streaming event, titled “commUNITY: Herald Native Women.”  All March programs are free and open to the public but registration is required. The Cherokee Nation Film Office is a sponsor of VMM’s 45^th anniversary events.

The March celebration will include a program of seven films — two short and five feature-length documentaries — all produced and/or directed by women, and a panel discussion organized in partnership with Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO). Founded in 1970 by LaDonna Harris (Comanche), AIO advances, from an Indigenous worldview, the cultural, political and economic rights of Indigenous peoples in the United States and around the world.

The seven films will be available all month for streaming 24/7 at visionmakermedia.org. The films portray Native women in leadership, coming of age, and language revitalization. All are available worldwide. For more information about the films and to register, visit visionmakermedia.org.

“Making Matriarchs – Indigenous Values-Based Leadership Development,” a panel discussion featuring four Native women leaders who are among the more than 250 graduates of AIO’s Ambassadors Program, will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, March 16 at 7 p.m. CST. AIO’s Ambassadors Program is the only national leadership training that encourages Native leaders to weave their traditional tribal values in a contemporary reality in order to affect positive social change and advance human rights.

“Americans for Indian Opportunity is pleased to partner with Vision Maker Media during Women’s History Month as we showcase some of the many contributions of Indigenous women to American society,” says AIO Executive Director Laura Harris (Comanche). “Together, we can amplify Native voices, build awareness and understanding, and share a positive and contemporary Indigenous narrative.”

Panel participants include: Francene Blythe-Lewis (Diné, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Eastern Cherokee), executive director, Vision Maker Media (introduction); Laura Harris (Comanche), executive director, Americans for Indian Opportunity (moderator); Janeen Comenote (Quinault/Hesquiaht/Oglala), executive director, National Urban Indian Family Coalition (panelist); Brittany Schulman (Waccama Siouan), director of leadership initiatives, AIO (panelist) and Lindsay Early, deputy director, National Indian Child Welfare Association (panelist). The fourth panelist is unconfirmed at press time.

The panelists will discuss the importance of female leadership and the influence of matriarchy. They will talk about the work they do for social change and education, and how they utilize the teachings of the AIO Ambassadors Program and their “Medicine” (personal strengths and talents) for the good of their communities and humanity. 

 

 

About Vision Maker Media

https://youtu.be/WVZtMXX6ZB4 Vision Maker Media (VMM) is the premiere source of public media by and about Native Americans since 1976. Our mission is empowering and engaging Native people to share stories. We envision a world changed and healed by understanding Native stories and the public conversations they generate. We work with VMM funded producers to develop, produce and distribute programs for all public media. VMM supports training to increase the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives producing public broadcasting programs. A key strategy for this work is in partnerships with Tribal nations, Indian organizations and Native communities. Reaching the national public and a global market is the ultimate goal for the dissemination of Native public media that shares Native perspectives with the world. VMM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). For more information, visionmakermedia.org, visionmaker@unl.edu or (402) 472-3522.

Indigenous well-being | Cultural Attachment #ICWA

DULUTH, Minnesota | February 15, 2021 | by Lissa Maki   source

Visiting scholar’s research examines the ways Indigenous culture and well-being are intertwined.

 

Estelle Simard is in her second year of a visiting scholar role in the UMD Department of Social Work. Her research features a theory of cultural attachment—or the idea that one’s connection to culture can help protect their well-being. 

Simard obtained a Master of Social Work degree from UMD in 2009. For the research component of the program, she wrote a paper about the need for culturally restorative practices in American Indian child welfare. This foundational work impacted her career research trajectory.

A member of the Couchiching First Nation in Canada, Simard's research seeks to bring the concept of cultural attachment from the Indigenous world into academia. She also wants it to inform mainstream social work practice, particularly as it relates to child welfare.

The dominant approach to child welfare in the United States and Canada has long ignored the significance of culture. The overarching goal of the child welfare system is to protect children from harm. But removing Indigenous children from their homes and communities strips them of their cultural identity.

Because culture plays a role in nearly all aspects of Indigenous life, Simard asserts that culturally responsive services need to be integrated into social work practice. “Any service provision there is, culture has to be embedded within it. It needs to be a driving force,” she says, noting that otherwise Native children become “casualties of the system because we’re not addressing their unique cultural needs.”

Last summer, Simard helped facilitate the development of curriculum for the new Aabinoojiiyag-Wakhanheza Un Thantanhanpi - “For All the Children”  Sacred Being: Tribal Training and Certification Partnership (TTCP), a foundational training for all Minnesota child welfare workers. This training is considered a foundational training piece for all practicing child welfare workers across Minnesota. 

Simard calls the program and curriculum offered by the TTCP “provocative” and says it helps people to understand the true intention of the Indian Child Welfare Act and how to apply it in practice. This “decolonized social work practice” aims to protect children while preserving Native families.

She’s enthusiastic about the first virtual training, and says it was “exciting and pivotal” with people across Minnesota participating—including tribal child welfare workers in Leech Lake and Red Lake.

Developing and Sharing Knowledge 

The UMD Department of Social Work, which houses the TTCP, aligns itself and its coursework with social justice principles and places an emphasis on providing culturally responsive services to American Indians, which Simard appreciates. “These are exciting times—there are a lot of good developments. I like the direction the department is taking. It feels really good to be part of that.”

She credits Professor Priscilla Day for being a supportive mentor and is thankful to have a chance to share her expertise broadly within the UMD social work program. “To be able to have a space where I could bring the things I learned in my clinical social work experience—to bring that knowledge forth and rest it. To share, grow, and develop. It’s an incredible opportunity to be able to do that,” she says.

Simard teaches classes about trauma-informed and culturally responsive social work practice. “Students come to my class knowing they’re going to work. The information is really powerful and important,” she says.

Despite the COVID-19 constraints since last March, Simard remains optimistic and says teaching and helping students navigate intercultural relationships with American Indians has been a good experience.

Though she admits that the pandemic, racial injustice, and a contentious Presidential election all combined to make 2020 especially challenging, she says, “We have a real need and real opportunity to help students process that stuff out. Through our work, we’re keeping their minds focused and helping them develop strategies on how to deal with that stress.”

The department has a structure in place to respond effectively to the pandemic, which has been important, according to Simard. She also appreciates having the flexibility to make accommodations for students as needed. 

A tight-knit community of UMD colleagues that work together and support one another is key to maintaining that balance. “There’s enough chaos in the world,” says Simard. “We’re all in the same canoe—don’t tip it over.”

Simard recently published the article (click)➣ “Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Research, Narratives, and Self-Actualization" in the International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies. A forthcoming article, written with colleague Jennifer McCleary, associate professor and department head in the social work department, addresses the issue of white supremacy within social work and the systematic changes needed to decolonize social work practice.

She’s also working on a manuscript that outlines 130 factors in Indigenous well-being. “I like being an Indigenous scholar. I like writing and putting ideas out there,” Simard says.

Learn more about UMD's Department of Social Work.

Native Greiving During COVID-19

I Rejected the Native Grieving Ceremonies My Mother Taught Me When She Died. But Losing Friends During the Pandemic Changed That

Terese Marie Mailhot, pictured at 16 with her late mother Wahzinak Joyce Bobb

Courtesy of Terese Marie Mailhot

 

By Terese Marie Mailhot

December 28, 2020

I cut a fistful of hair over the bathroom sink in tears. This is how our people have mourned for generations. Nlaka’pamux women, my mother taught me, would cut their hair. They swallowed a spoonful of oil. They prayed and stopped harvesting for a year when a loved one died. There are stories about a woman who tried to pick berries after the death of a child, and the bush dried up, never grew back.

We grieve with ceremony—we have practices and traditions that go back thousands of years, before borders were created, before colonization, before smallpox brought more stories about devastation that made our healthy children skeletal and wiped out whole communities. Grief is honor work, and if you don’t follow instructions, it could hurt your family, hurt the dead trying to pass over into the next life.

READ:   https://time.com/5923276/grieving-during-covid-19-pandemic/

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45 Years of Engaging Native Voices + How to be an ALLY

*only 0.4 % Of Primetime TV & Films have a native character

 

LINCOLN, Neb., Feb. 9, 2021 — This year, Vision Maker Media — founded in 1976 as the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium — is celebrating 45 years of engaging Native voices in public media platforms.

“What began as a film archive to conserve and document Native American stories has, through the years, transformed into the nation’s public-media leader in content by and about America’s first people — Native Americans and Alaska Natives — for public broadcasting,” says Executive Director Francene Blythe-Lewis (Diné, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Eastern Cherokee).

With continuous support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, Vision Maker Media’s mission empowering and engaging Native people to share their stories remains meaningful. Currently, Vision Maker Media has 28 projects in various stages of production and 34 films in public-media broadcasting, 5 of which were added in fiscal year 2020.

Vision Maker Media’s content reaches nearly 90 million Americans on public television series, including Independent Lens, POV, America ReFramed, American Masters and others.

 

NEWS from their website:

 

 

Six Native Politicians Currently Serving in Congress

January 27, 2021

Regardless of the party they represent, having first-hand Native voices in positions of power is a victory worth celebrating. Keep reading to learn more about the six Politicians currently serving in congress,

Read More »

 

HOW TO BE AN ALLY for Native People

2021

Vision Maker Media is marking its 45^th anniversary with a yearlong celebration of free commUNITY events, including thematic online film screenings, online virtual programs, and more. The Cherokee Nation Film Office is a sponsor of the 45^th anniversary events.

March — Women’s History Month

* “commUNITY: Herald Native Women,” will showcase six films free to the public for 24/7 streaming all month at visionmakermedia.org.

* An online moderated panel discussion will feature Native women leaders, in partnership with Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO), who are graduates of AIO’s Ambassadors Program—the only national leadership training that encourages Native leaders to weave traditional tribal values in a contemporary reality in order to affect positive social change and advance human rights.

April — Focus on Mother Earth and the Environment

* International Earth Day on April 22 will be observed with a community-themed online film streaming event titled, “commUNITY: Environment is Sacred.” Five films will feature themes of water, energy, Indigenous food and health. The films will be available free to the public for 24/7 streaming all month at visionmakermedia.org. Additional online events and a panel discussion are also planned.

June — Youth Media Project

* Vision Maker Media is partnering with several Native American organizations and communities with existing and sustainable youth programs. The goal is to nurture the next generation of Native youth media makers by furthering the development of the youths’ creativity through a sequence of conceptualizing, investigating and planning, to ultimately produce a short 30-60 second PSA around the topic of wellness.

October — Indigenous Peoples Day and Halloween

* Indigenous Peoples Day on October 11 will be celebrated with a free film program that will stream online from October 6-13 at visionmakermedia.org.

* On October 25-31, look for a curated encore of Vision Maker Media’s popular 2020 Halloween horror-themed film program, “Nightmare Vision.” The program is free and open to the public and will stream 24/7 at visionmakermedia.org.

November — Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month and Veterans Day

* “commUNITY: The Meaning of Home” is a short production featuring Native veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. This is a Vision Maker Media-commissioned work by Charles “Boots” Kennedye (Kiowa). The film program is free and open to the public and will stream 24/7 from November 10-24 at visionmakermedia.org.

December — Frank Blythe Award in Native Media

* This legacy award honors Vision Maker Media’s Founding Executive Director Frank Blythe’s leadership as a path maker and recognizes a lifelong career that has supported opportunities for Native Americans and Alaska Natives in public broadcasting and radio. 

Vision Maker Media (VMM) is the premiere source of public media by and about Native Americans since 1976. Our mission is empowering and engaging Native people to share stories. We envision a world changed and healed by understanding Native stories and the public conversations they generate. We work with VMM funded producers to develop, produce and distribute programs for all public media. VMM supports training to increase the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives producing public broadcasting programs. A key strategy for this work is in partnerships with Tribal nations, Indian organizations and Native communities. Reaching the general public and the global market is the ultimate goal for the dissemination of Native public media that shares Native perspectives with the world. VMM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). 

 

FMI: visionmakermedia.org, visionmaker@unl.edu or (402) 472-3522.

 

 

2019 Sundance: Native Shorts

 

In The News : New Mexico, Colorado, Dutch Halt Adoptions #ICWA

Bill to keep Native children within their community receives bipartisan support

By Susan Dunlap

A bill to keep Native children within their tribe or pueblo when the state separates them from their parents passed the House State Government and Indian Affairs Committee unanimously on Feb. 8.

Sponsored by state Rep. Georgene Louis, D-Albuquerque and of the Acoma Pueblo, HB 209 has overwhelming support from various organizations and Tribal and pueblo governments in the state. 

If it becomes law, the bill would codify the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which was passed in the 1970s but is poorly enforced, according to experts. The bill would guide the state Children, Youth and Families Department to notify tribes and pueblos when a child removal occurs and to work with the Tribal community to place a Native child with extended family or friends or foster families within their own sovereign nation.

Keep reading

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Arapahoe County agency did not comply with federal American Indian child adoption law, court finds 

The department did send notice to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes about the child’s case. But the appellate panel found no evidence to confirm whether the tribes received those notices. Prior Court of Appeals decisions have established that notification must take place by registered mail with a return receipt requested.

“As a result, the juvenile court and the Department did not comply with ICWA’s notice provisions,” wrote Judge Sueanna P. Johnson. The panel returned the case to the lower court for compliance with ICWA.

In an annual report on American Indian child adoption cases, Kathryn Fort of the Michigan State University College of Law and Adrian T. Smith found that state appellate courts across the country decide approximately 200 cases implicating ICWA each year. Of the appeals that cite a lack of tribal notice, appellate judges returned nearly two-thirds of them to lower courts in 2019.

Larimer County violated federal Indian child adoption law, court finds

Larimer County did not comply with the federal law that protects the rights of Indian children when it failed to notify the relevant tribes in a custody proceeding, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday.

 Source 

 

Around the World

Dutch halt adoptions from foreign countries

by The Associated Press 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Dutch government suspended adoptions from foreign countries Monday after an investigative committee report criticized past ruling coalitions for being "too passive" in the face of years of reported abuses including impoverished mothers being coerced into putting up their children for adoption.

The committee said that abuses included "the falsification of documents, the abuse of poverty among the birth mothers and the abandonment of children for payment or through coercion." Dutch media began reporting on them in the late 1960s, but previous governments failed to take decisive action to tackle the problems, it added.

"Not only have there been many abuses in the past, the system of intercountry adoption is still open to fraud and abuses continue to this day," the government-installed committee warned.

It said that the government needs to "restore its damaged relationship with adoptees, adoptive parents, birth parents and families."

Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker conceded that Dutch governments had fallen short.

The committee studied adoptions from 1967-1998 in five countries -- Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Adoptions already underway will be allowed to continue, authorities said. The committee also found cases of corruption, falsification of documents to make it impossible or more difficult to establish the birth families of adoptees, child trafficking and "baby farming."
VIA

 

 

 

 

Podcast: Unreserved (CBC)

From beaded cat clothes to plant knowledge: Indigenous people pick up skills during pandemic

CBC Radio · Posted: Feb 05, 2021

Cheryl Simon (left) and her seven-year-old daughter Carolyn are using porcupine quills to make art. When her mom couldn't come to her class to teach the students how to quill due to COVID-19, Carolyn stepped in. (Emma Smith/CBC) From beaded cat clothes to plant knowledge: Indigenous people pick up skills during pandemic