Indian country

Next, tribal colleges in Montana and across the country are facing steep federal funding cuts and inconsistent support, according to a new report.

The American Indian College Fund and the Brookings Institution Study finds chronic underfunding in Indian Country.

Fort Peck Community College Interim President Elijah Hopkins says federal grants have become extremely competitive and his college has lost several of them over the past few years.

And the same amount of students, the support services to pay for staffing and for other technological supports has really entered our ability to provide qualitatively strong services to all

And the book, if you're not familiar with it, it's a comedy satire textbook about all the, you know, Native American history, culture, and notable people that aren't taught about in schools.

Kind of like if The Onion or The Daily Show wrote a book about Indian country.

Yeah, I learned a lot from the book, including stories of Native badassery.

And so as a screenwriter, what story from Native history do you want most to see adapted into a movie?

So one of the things that was so great about researching this book and writing this book is, you know, like I'm enrolled Cowlitz.

I grew up on the Toledo Preservation.

I'm native, but I'm not like an expert of all things, you know, Indian country.

I, you know, I know what I know from lived in experiences.

These subjects are literally the worst of the worst, and this is what happens when you pick up the phone and call your partners.

Indian Country is something that's deeply important to me and something that I didn't want to have forgot.

So Operation Steadfast Promise is the largest ever surge to Indian Country across our country.

We have almost 500 FBI employees dedicated to this mission alone that has never happened in the history of the FBI.

We also launched Voices Not Forgotten for Indian Country.

If you're a missing person, if you're a victim, if you have information regarding the most high-profile cases on Indian Country, this FBI quadrupled the reward to at least $25,000, and it's going to be an enduring, continuing program.

We have investigated more and opened more Indian Country investigations during these last 18 months than any FBI before.

We've also opened up the Billings, Montana field office to add resources to

Who is it that actually owns that outcome from step A to step B to step C to step D all the way to Z?

By rights, it should be Indian country, but they don't.

You know, in the other episode, I talked about the importance of leadership.

Here's where the people in Indian country need to start questioning and start looking at the leaders that have been elected and sitting in those positions that could be the game changer that can make or break Indian country or even make or break their own communities.

If they're not doing their job that they've been elected to do or have been hired to do, then get rid of them.

Because then you're not going to see the outcomes.

You won't.

And even that individual who may have a buddy, let's take healthcare, for example, and why I keep bringing up healthcare, because healthcare is a great avenue for Indian country to utilize.

But even when the federal government acknowledges a tribe's sovereignty, it can still have a lot of control.

State laws may not be enforced in Indian Country, But Congress can give states some power over tribal affairs in ways that diminish native sovereignty.

And it's done so before, without consulting native nations first.

For example, in 1953, Congress enacted Public Law 280, which gave state law enforcement control that they didn't previously have on native lands in six states.

Alcatraz was the beginning.

It was also giving permission to everybody in Indian Country that it's okay, you can stand up for your rights.

In the years that followed, plenty of Natives heeded that call, pushing the US government toward a more just relationship with Native nations, and that work is ongoing.

For example, the National Association of Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations consults with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to advocate for better access to fresh and traditional foods.

And really, all these layers are connected.

Take the term Indian country.

To us, that's just another word for home, but it's also a legal term that broadly describes land held in trust for Native American tribes, which includes lots of different types of lands.

all of it governed by federal Indian law.

All told, about 56 million acres of land in Indian Country is held in trust by the federal governments.

That means while the land officially exists for the benefit of the individual tribe or Indian, the federal government holds its legal title.

Which means tribes face far more barriers to using their land than private landowners would.

Land-back.

It shows up on t-shirts, billboards, flags, and street art across Indian Country.

But what does it actually mean? Is it a political movement? A philosophy? A form of protest? Well, it's sort of all of the above.

Basically, land-back describes any effort by Native people to reclaim authority over stolen land and resources.