Clara Caufield Northern Cheyenne Columnist As a reader and collector of books about Indians, especially, the Northern Cheyenne, I have found that thrift shops and used bookstores harbor many such treasures. Heck, I even read the ones about Custer, trying to figure out what made him tick or more meaningfully, what made him quit ticking. The Cheyenne had a hand in that. Recently, I found a most amazing book: Magpie’s Blanket, a novel by Kimberly D. Schmidt with Jennifer A. Whiteman and a foreword by Henrietta Mann. It was printed in 2016 by the University of New Mexico Press. The cover illustr ..read more

SDNA karaoke contest winner Kirk Dickerson with fellow Native Sun News Today staffers Marnie Cook and Ernestine Anunkasan Hopa. (Photo by Sheila Ring, editor Oneida Watchman) HURON – Last week the South Dakota Newspaper Association hosted their annual convention and Better Newspapers Contest for its members. The 2024 convention was April 25-27, 2024 at the Huron Event Center/Crossroads Hotel in Huron, SD. Presenters and speakers during our convention, including Amanda Dulitz of the Reporter & Farmer at Webster, Jeremy Waltner of the Freeman Courier, Carson Walker of South Dakota News Wat ..read more

Community members gathered for the groundbreaking of the Remembering the Children Memorial. (Photo by Marnie Cook) As supporters gathered in the field behind the Canyon Lake Methodist Church to share in the groundbreaking of the Remembering the Children Memorial, Executive Director Amy Sazue (Oglala/Sicangu Lakota) took a moment to talk to Native Sun News Today about her efforts to bring people together with one common goal – to build a memorial to the victims of the boarding school era who were buried there and forgotten. The Remembering the Children Memorial website estimated that at least ..read more

Henry Lafferty Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe CRST Chairman Harold Frazier’s address to the SD state legislature is reminiscent of previous historical attempts at social reform between city, state and federal governments and Indian Country. Literally we are a microcosm of global, national and regional state of affairs. We feed out of the same trough of adversity that others do as well. In the trickle down affect we are near the bottom. First and foremost, co-existence amongst our own is paramount. As direct products of documented root causes, our people exist today in a symptomatic lifestyle of ..read more

Hospital entrance sign. Monument Health’s flagship hospital in Rapid City, S.D., shown here in April 2024, says its federal quality ratings have improved. (Photo: News Watch file) RAPID CITY, S.D. – After two years with the lowest possible health and safety rating from the federal government, Monument Health’s score will rise from a 1-star to a 3-star rating when the new results are released publicly in July, the Rapid City hospital said Wednesday. “These achievements demonstrate the effectiveness of our ongoing quality initiatives, and we will continue to strive for excellence in all aspect ..read more

Rebecca Clarren’s next stop on her book tour for “The Cost of Free Land” is Bismarck on April 29, where she’ll be having a reading and open discussion about the dispossession of Indigenous land. (Photo by Shelby Brakken, photo courtesy of Rebecca Clarren) “The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance” by Rebecca Clarren intertwines her Jewish ancestors’ immigration story, the United States government’s history of broken treaties with tribal nations, and the Lakota’s dispossession of land into a hard-hitting novel. According to the publisher’s website, the book “captures t ..read more

Letter to the Editor “Like so many others who were shaken out of their submission and lethargy and indifference in the 1960s, I joined the fight for civil and human and Indian rights. I decided that where I went in America from that day on, I would do everything possible to help my people.” So spoke Leonard Peltier in Prison Writings. “ You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight but do what always.” so spoke Wovoka (Paiute). Be commended to the book of Peter Matthiessen’s: In Spirit of Crazy Horse, which marks the history surrounding the events and times that led to the ..read more

LAME DEER, Mont. – Six days a week (Monday through Saturday) one of the five drivers for the Northern Cheyenne I.H.S. Transportation Program arises about 2:30 a.m.to prepare for an average 12–14-hour day.  The mission is to transport Northern Cheyenne diabetics from the reservation to Billings for dialysis treatment, each going in three times per week. If not for that life-sustaining support, those people would eventually become sick and die, their kidneys would stop working. Presently, there are eleven tribal members in need of such treatment. In the past, the numbers were higher, but CO ..read more

For the 2024 observance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Day on May 5, Native Hope has created a new quiz to test participants’ knowledge regarding the issue of MMIWG, saying “Assessing your comprehension of these matters and motivating others to address any gaps in their understanding is an effective method of advocacy.” The quiz consists of eight questions: One in _____ Native Americans live in poverty. 6 4 10 8 Four out of ______ Native American women are affected by violence. 5 7 9 Murder is the _______ leading cause of death among Native American women. first se ..read more

“To quote the opening line of the 1969 documentary Salesman, ‘the best seller in the world is the Bible.’ It’s not surprising, then, that as a mask for greed and shamelessness, upselling bibles is one of the oldest tricks in the book.” Courtney Thomas – Slate Magazine If there is one thing we can say about former President Donald Trump is that he is an entrepreneur. He knows how to turn lemons into lemonade, a defining trait of a true entrepreneur. He is able to tune into his entrepreneurial skills and use setbacks as opportunities to raise money. And he has no shame. He even monetized his r ..read more