skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, May 10, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Louisiana teachers worry about state constitution changes. Ohio experts support a $15 minimum wage for 1 million people. An Illinois mother seeks passage of a medical aid-in-dying bill. And Mississippi advocates push for restored voting rights for ex-inmates.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Biden says the U.S. won't arm Israel for a Rafah attack, drawing harsh criticism from Republicans. A judge denies former President Trump's request to modify a gag order. And new data outlines priorities for rural voters in ten battleground states.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Some small towns in North Dakota worry they'll go to pot if marijuana is legalized, school vouchers are becoming a litmus test for Republicans, and Bennington, Vermont implements an innovative substance abuse recovery program.

Data Sovereignty Movement for Native Populations Reaches SD

play audio
Play

Thursday, July 6, 2023   

Around the U.S., there are efforts among tribal nations to reclaim stolen land from colonization and preserve language history, and a South Dakota organization is part of a movement to empower communities with data.

The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation is embracing what's known as data sovereignty.

Dallas Nelson, Lakota language and education director for the group, is helping to lead efforts to develop a system to preserve key information for communities within the Pine Ridge Reservation. He said there are common barriers, such as non-Native researchers and academic entities mining language and cultural history and putting it behind a paywall, which makes it harder for youths in his area to access it.

"They should never have to buy their language, and that's not the case right now," Nelson pointed out. "Data sovereignty addresses those main issues of access, storage and stewardship."

He argued having a local database of the Lakota language is vital as they see more tribal elders pass away. Thunder Valley first developed a set of principles to guide data collection and is working with a local tribal college to store it in the school's archives. Beyond language and culture, data sovereignty also aims to close information gaps in areas such as health care and road infrastructure.

Nelson explained it is not just about figuring out the best way to collect information and safely store it. He emphasized tribal communities will need to bolster how they analyze key data in hopes of establishing a stronger sense of self-governance. He feels being able to interpret locally gathered statistics remains a challenge for tribal communities.

"For us in Indian country, we're usually at the tail end of things when it comes to accessing new technology or accessing new ways of helping our people," Nelson observed. "At Thunder Valley, that's the approach around data sovereignty, to try to jump ahead."

Organizers with similar efforts, such as one involving the University of Arizona Native Nations Institute, said a lot of tribal data is held by state governments and federal agencies, which means research on quality-of-life issues for Indigenous populations often contains viewpoints from those entities and not the tribes themselves.

Some national survey institutions, such as the Census Bureau, are investing resources to get a more accurate reflection of key data concerning Native populations.

Disclosure: The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation contributes to our fund for reporting on Housing/Homelessness, Human Rights/Racial Justice, Native American Issues, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Research shows children in families of color, particularly Black and Latino families, have been more likely to experience gaps in health coverage. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

More than 300,000 children have been dropped from Medicaid and Peach Care for kids since the pandemic ended. A report from the Georgetown University …


Health and Wellness

play sound

A Chicago mom who lost her son to cancer in 2022 is using the occasion of Mother's Day to call on Illinois lawmakers to pass medical aid-in-dying legi…

Environment

play sound

Wisconsin's clean-energy portfolio is growing. Communities seeing the transition happen at their doorstep might get benefits, but sometimes have …


Part of the New York HEAT Act ensures no household would pay more than 6% of its annual income on gas or electricity bills. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

With less than a month left in the New York Legislature's session, environmentalists are pushing for the HEAT Act's passage. Last-minute stalling …

Social Issues

play sound

Teachers in Louisiana are trying to stop an upcoming constitutional convention proposed by Gov. Jeff Landry. The governor, who has been in office for …

Around 43% of participating voters said that while they are personally against abortion, they do not believe government should be preventing someone from making that decision for themselves. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

Arizona's primary election will take place in July, and a new Rural Democracy Initiative poll shows that likely voters from rural areas of the state …

Social Issues

play sound

Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for most Ohio workers and create a refundable Ohio Earned…

Social Issues

play sound

Voting-rights advocates continue their push to restore these rights for formerly incarcerated Mississippians after lawmakers failed to act. House …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021