Today is the United Nations declared International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a day celebrated each year on August 9, and this year dedicated to “Indigenous Media, Empowering Indigenous Voices.” I count myself so blessed to have the opportunity to work with Native American youth, mentoring in playwriting and creativity, as together we discover young, marginalized voices…so this theme is particularly close to me (see lots of previous posts about MAPP: Mentor Artists Playwrights Project).
Sourcing news and current events directly from Native media is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of our nation’s first people. Some (by no means all) online resources for Indigenous Media in the US are (links below):
Indian Country Today Media Network
You can also find spectacular radio stations online and across the country broadcasting music, talk, and news that matters to tribal communities. Take some time to break away from the stronghold of TV networks and mainstream newspapers, to see how closely your priorities jibe with native community concerns near where you live. It’s a perspective we miss, or can tragically even forget is there…don’t turn your back, dig down and learn.
Change by Doing 
Posted by Panama on August 11, 2012 at 9:38 PM
I would propose adopting the US census two-part definition: native ancestry and community attachment. That way, if someone is not enrolled in a tribe, the burden of proof would be determine they are descended from indigenous Americans and have a community attachment. The challenge would be, how to determine/cite Native community recognition of the individual as a Native American and a member of that community, in reliable, published, secondary sources?? For instance, I don’t believe Martha Redbone is enrolled but she’s definitely accepted by the larger Native community – how to prove this?
Posted by mercadeo en linea on August 21, 2012 at 2:08 AM
Morales began work on his “indigenous autonomy” policy which he launched in the eastern lowlands department on 3 August 2009, making Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.