Weekly Highlights

Native American Heritage Month

When COVID-19 hit the Navajo Nation, it limited students’ educational opportunities after schools closed, eliminated essential school services, exposed ongoing inequities, and made health and economic hardships families face worse.

Navajo health officials said COVID-19 started spreading across the nation after a tribal member attended a basketball tournament in early March then went to a church revival the next day in Chilchinbeto, a small community south of Kayenta.

This crisis shines a spotlight on the chaos and poverty many Native Nations face daily, said Serena Denetsosie, deputy associate superintendent for the Office of Indian Education.

“COVID-19 has exposed the massive gap between reservation life and mainstream society,” Deputy Associate Supt. Denetsosie said.

Read more here.

For highlights on events related to Native American Heritage Month, read more here.

Record number of Native American women elected to Congress

The 117th Congress will have a record number of Native American women after voters elected three to the House of Representatives.

Democrats Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo member representing New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a Ho-Chunk Nation member representing Kansas, both retained their seats after becoming the first Native American women elected to Congress, in 2018.

They are joined by Yvette Herrell, who is Cherokee. Herrell, a Republican, beat the Democratic incumbent Xochitl Torres Small for her New Mexico congressional seat.

The wins for Herrell and Haaland mean that New Mexico will be the first state to have two indigenous women as congressional delegates. The state also became the first to elect women of color as all three of its delegates in the US House of Representatives.

According to a Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) report, 18 indigenous women were running for congressional seats this year – a record in a single year. Native American women made up 2.6% of all women running for Congress this year, the highest percentage since CAWP started collecting data in 2004.

There have been four Native Americans in the US Senate and a handful of indigenous US representatives. All were men until Haaland and Davids were elected in 2018.

In Kansas, Stephanie Byers, who is Chickasaw and a retired teacher, became the state’s first transgender lawmaker when she won her race for a seat in its house of representatives.

“We’ve made history here,” Byers said on Tuesday. “We’ve done something in Kansas most people thought would never happen, and we did it with really no pushback, by just focusing on the issues.”

Also in Kansas, Christina Haswood, a Navajo Nation member, became the youngest person in the state legislature at 26. A third member of the Kansas house , Ponka-We Victors, a Tohono O’odham and Ponca member, won her re-election campaign.

The US House of Representatives will have its highest number of indigenous representatives after Tuesday’s election, according to the independent Native American newspaper Indian Country Today.

Six candidates, including Haaland, Davids and Herrell, won their elections. Two Oklahoma representatives, Tom Cole, who is Chickasaw, and Markwayne Mullin, who is Cherokee, won their re-elections, and Kaiali’i “Kai” Kahele, who is Native Hawaiian, won an open seat for Hawaii. There were previously four indigenous members of Congress, all in the House of Representatives.

New Jersey's Statewide “Handle With Care” Program

Attorney General Grewal hosted a virtual symposium on Nov. 17, 2020, on Handle With Care for officers and educators that included presentations and panel discussions about the Handle With Care program and related topics, including the impact of ACEs on children, promoting resiliency in children and officers, and how the program complements other community policing initiatives and school programs that address childhood trauma. All law enforcement officers in New Jersey viewed the symposium online on that date or will do so by Dec. 31, 2020, the effective date of the Statewide Handle With Care Directive.

The symposium emphasized how Handle With Care fits in the larger context of “trauma-informed policing.” Trauma-informed policing helps officers understand the lasting impacts of trauma, creating better awareness of the needs of victims as well as their own needs. Last year, Attorney General Grewal created a first-in-the-nation statewide Resiliency Program for Law Enforcement to assist officers in coping with the emotional, mental and physical stress of their jobs.

“By raising awareness among police officers and educators about trauma and offering them ideas and practices to promote resiliency, we empower them to help children— and we also empower them to help themselves,” said Attorney General Grewal. “This is an important program for officers and teachers as well as children.”

Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner’s Handle With Care program led to the first countywide program in Cape May County, in partnership with the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association. Chief Leusner also supported and fostered development of Handle With Care programs in other parts of the state.

The DEA’s New Jersey Division has implemented Handle With Care programs in Ocean County, in partnership with Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer and the Ocean County School Superintendents; in Monmouth County, in partnership with Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni and the Monmouth County School Superintendents; in Hunterdon County, in partnership with Acting Prosecutor Michael Williams and the Hunterdon County School Superintendents; and in Newark, in partnership with the Newark Police Department, Newark Board of Education, and the New York/New Jersey HIDTA Task Force. The program originated in Charleston, West Virginia.

“The Handle with Care Directive will make a difference in the lives of young people in this state,” said Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner. “We know from the science and research around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that toxic stress puts a child at risk for poor health and social outcomes. This program will improve communication between law enforcement and education to help support our youth and contribute to building resiliency.”

“I am very proud that DEA was able to play a role in the implementation of this very important program,” said Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s New Jersey Division, Susan A. Gibson. “This is a program that can have long lasting, positive results for children who may have experienced some type of trauma. This will allow a school to set in motion the necessary actions to assist a child in need.”

Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) leads the NJ ACEs Collaborative, a partnership among DCF, the Center for Health Care Strategies, and three private foundations— The Nicholson Foundation, The Burke Foundation, and The Turrell Fund. Their mission is to reduce the incidence and impact of ACEs in New Jersey. Commissioner Beyer also leads the NJ ACEs Interagency Team, which advises the Collaborative and includes representatives of the Governor’s Office, Office of the First Lady, Attorney General’s Office, Department of Education, and other state agencies.

“Through this partnership and the work around ACEs happening throughout State government, we’re taking important steps to keep children’s well-being in mind, and to better identify, understand, manage and mitigate the stressors that children face when dealing with trauma and adversity,” said Commissioner Beyer. “By advancing our Statewide collaboration around ACEs, New Jersey is sending the message that the work of mitigating the effects of toxic stress, adversity and trauma is a collaborative effort that requires all departments and agencies to focus on the well-being of the child at the center of an adverse event. It puts the needs of children above all else, and promotes a community of care around children experiencing adversity to help them become and remain safe, healthy and connected.”

Dena Simmons

The fact is that while many people exhibit typical signs of trauma, many others, like me, have found ways to cope by pouring themselves into work to avoid the discomfort of their distress. Too often, the trauma of high achievers, especially those of color, goes unrecognized because their achievements are sometimes mistaken for resilience. While some of us may be excelling thanks to having a caring adult and other supports in our lives, the scars of our past remain, and we are still in need of care, love, and healing.

Read more here.