Wednesday, October 16, 2024

National Native News

Today’s National Native News is written and anchored by Brian Bull. Antonia Gonzales is on assignment.

Several Native American tribes have filed a lawsuit against some social media giants, alleging their apps hurt the mental health of young Native Americans.

CBS News says the case was heard Monday in Minneapolis, Minn.

The 164-page suit was filed by Minnesota’s Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, and two other tribes in the Dakotas.

The defendants include Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

The suit claims parent companies to these popular social media sites — including Alphabet, ByteDance, Meta, and Snap — violated Minnesota’s laws against public nuisance, negligence, deceptive trade practices, and unfair or unconscionable acts.

The allegations further say the social media companies failed to warn users of negative mental health consequences associated with social media use, especially for children and adolescents.

It claims the companies knew the more time spent on the platform, the more likely users would see content that is violent, sexual, or encouraged self-harm.

Native Americans suffer higher rates of suicide than other demographics in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CBS affiliate WCCO said an Alphabet representative said the allegations were untrue, and that providing young users with a safer and healthier experience has always been at their core.

WCCO also reached out to ByteDance, Meta, and Snap, but did not hear back.

(Courtesy Netflix)

The new film Rez Ball streaming on Netflix follows the Chuska Warriors, a high school basketball team from a town in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation.

Clark Adomaitis spoke with the Shiprock based designer who designed the Chuska Warriors’ basketball uniforms that are featured prominently in the movie.

Rez Ball follows the high school basketball players as they deal with issues that disproportionately affect Indigenous communities, including suicide and alcoholism.

SpringHill Company, Lebron James’ film production venture, produced the film. But the film’s wardrobe didn’t feature Nike-exclusive clothing despite the basketball legend’s life time deal with the company.

Instead, the players don uniforms designed by Shiprock, N.M. resident Roddell Denetso.

“I’m just this little Rez kid with, with a shop that I ran out of by my house from Shiprock.”

Denetso runs a one-person business Black Streak Apparel, designing Indigenous-themed sports garments for youth teams all over Indian Country.

He often designs teams’ jerseys based on their tribal imagery.

Denetso designed Chuska Warriors’ home and away uniforms, a turquoise championship colorway, shooting shirts, team bags, travel gear, full zip jackets and pants, the cheerleaders’ uniforms, and other apparel seen throughout the movie.

“What if I do pinstripe but with spears?, in return, it goes with the team name, which is the Warriors. then the colors, you know, turquoise, one of our sacred colors.”

Denetso got to watch his jerseys in action on set.

As a resident of Shiprock, he felt emotional watching the filming in and around the community.

“I was able to be on set when they shot at Shiprock High, I went over and and I think my coming to reality moment was they were unloading stuff to go on set, and they had a cart, and that cart, you know said Black Streak Apparel. It had, like, the stuff I had done, that, the jerseys I made, and they were pushing that in.”

Roddell Denetso says he hopes to inspire young people to show pride in their culture. And he hopes to reach more customers for his custom-made garments because of his work being shown to a large audience via Netflix.

President Gerald Ford delivers remarks before signing a proclamation designating Native American Awareness Week in 1976 at the Montego Bay Hotel in Lawton, Okla.

And 48 years ago, as part of America’s 1976 bicentennial commemoration, a Senate resolution authorized President Gerald Ford to proclaim October 10-16 as “Native American Awareness Week.”

Fourteen years later, Congress passed a joint resolution to designate November as the first National American Indian Heritage Month, which President George H.W. Bush signed into law.

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