Native American Issues

Groups are working to end violence against Indigenous women

Understanding and addressing the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls has been brought to the forefront in the United States, with hundreds of organizations working to prevent and eliminate violence against Native Americans. There is currently little data to understand how...

Vast majority of local COVID-19 deaths have been Native American

According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 252,000 people live in Washington, Iron, Kane, Garfield, and Beaver counties. The five counties make up a single health district known as the Southwestern Utah Health District. In contrast, the population of San Juan County is estimated at 15,000....

Ten racers run from Bears Ears to Salt Lake

Last week ten Native American runners participated in a 360-mile prayer run from San Juan County to Salt Lake City. The Running As Medicine Indigenous Youth Prayer Run began on Tuesday, September 1 at Bears Ears National Monument and concluded at Warm Springs in Salt Lake City on Saturday,...

Legislature approves $3.9 million to extend Wi-Fi for remote students

A $3.9 million dollar project to increase wireless internet accessibility (Wi-Fi) for students in the River Region of the San Juan School District (SJSD) will be paid by the State of Utah. In the August 20 special session of the Utah State Legislature, the legislative bodies passed HB6002...

Schools throughout San Juan County, included pictured Monticello Elementary, will delay their start by two days

San Juan School Board finalizes plans for start of year

San Juan County School Board finalized plans ahead of the start of the academic school year later this month. Key items passed include 100 percent remote learning for students in the south part of the county for the start of the year. The district moved the first day of school for students from...

The Cedar Mesa Perishables Project: Looking through museum drawers

by Andrew Gulliford In the 1890s cowboy archaeologists dug caves in remote sections of Utah’s Bears Ears. They created Basketmaker and Ancestral Puebloan artifact collections that have been hidden away for over a century in prestigious museums. Now a group of scholars and researchers is focusing...

Reservation lands receive delivery of sheep

Hundreds of live sheep were delivered to needy families on the Navajo Reservation on Memorial Day as part of the “Farmers Feeding Utah” project. The distribution was for families in the Montezuma Creek, Aneth, Red Mesa, and Tódahadekanii areas. An additional distribution of live sheep will take...

It’s black and white

It started with a “Splat,” then came “Black Hole,” “Boomerang,” and most recently, “Diné Diamonds.” What can all those things possibly have in common? Well, when it comes to Twin Rocks Trading Post, the likely answer is Navajo baskets, and baskets it is. First, a little context. Several years ago,...

The irony of ignorance

As I look back on the early days of Twin Rocks Trading Post, I am reminded what Orson Welles said shortly after the release of his cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane. When asked what allowed him to write, produce, direct, and star in Kane, the 26-year-old novice filmmaker commented that ignorance...

Traders, agents, weavers in book by McPherson

Local author Bob McPherson has recently published the history Traders, Agents, and Weavers: Developing the Northern Navajo Region (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020). The book centers around the story of Navajo economic and cultural development through the testimonies of traders,...