Author Archive | Jason Coppola

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies protest construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo: Waniya Locke)

Lakota Lead Native Americans, Ranchers and Farmers in Fight Against Dakota Access Pipeline

Amidst the cries of “protect our water, protect our land, protect our peoples,” Native Americans, ranchers and farmers are standing their ground along a highway in North Dakota. They are blocking the crews of Energy Transfer Partners — a Dallas-based company whose workers are protected by both police and armed, private security personnel — from […]

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Yvonne "Tiny" DeCory of the Sweet Grass Suicide Prevention Program with children from her "Be Excited About Reading,” suicide prevention and mentorship program. (Photo: Teton Saltes)

Suicide on the Great Sioux Nation

Suicide arrives in waves on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. On Christmas Day, a 15-year-old Lakota girl took her own life. Soon afterward, a boy, just 14, took his. Since then, a young man and six more girls, one as young as 12, have followed as this current wave continues to swell. There have been numerous […]

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A Maori warrior chants at a Haka during a Waitangi Day celebration, February 6, 2009, in Waitangi, New Zealand. The Maori are one of many groups that have struggled against the violent effects of colonization on their languages. (Photo: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-73509p1.html?cr=00&pl=edit-00" target="_blank">Patricia Hofmeester / Shutterstock.com</a>)

After Centuries of Colonial Violence, a Resurgence of Indigenous Language Learning

It’s a crisis point in history for Native American languages. Without a concerted effort to revitalize them, many will soon go extinct, succumbing to the generations-long effort to destroy them. “You could reasonably say every single Native American language, including the large ones, are endangered,” said linguist K. David Harrison, a National Geographic fellow teaching […]

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