Navajo Nation Washington Office

FY 2022 Appropriations Passes with VAWA Reauthorization

The reauthorized VAWA is especially important to Alaska Native Villages as they have been left out of previous reauthorizations. Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera USA

Families Feeling Pain at the Pump as

Gas Prices Reach a 14-year High

Gasoline prices displayed at a station in Arizona on March 3, 2022. Photo courtesy of AZ Central

Still feeling the damaging economic and human effects of the pandemic, Native American communities now face the reality of continuing high inflation. Any prospect of relief from rising inflation was dashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday March 8th President Joe Biden unveiled the administration’s plan to block imports of Russian oil to further weaken Vladimir Putin’s economy in response to increasing violence against Ukrainian civilians. However, President Biden was clear on what this will mean for Americans proclaiming that “defending freedom is going to cost. It is going to cost us as well in the United States.”

Soaring inflation disproportionately affects many on Tribal lands in rising costs of goods and services and importantly gas prices. This week the price of gas rose to $4.252 per gallon, a 10% increase from last week and an average not seen since the financial crisis of 2008. Many Navajo communities are in geographically remote areas, with poor or non-existent public transport, thus residents rely solely on their vehicles to access essential services. A SUV or pick up (28-gallon fuel tank) at $4 per gallon will now cost over $120 to fill. The Navajo Nation covers more than 27,000 square miles, with sparsely available infrastructure such as grocery stores and medical services in more remote regions. People need to commute long distances to access these services, in comparison to the average American. Fuel costs are now straining family budgets and the latest price hikes are likely to create serious economic hardship.

In light of the crisis, the energy industry is pushing the Biden administration to support more domestic oil production by opening up drilling on Federal lands and restarting pipeline projects. Although the U.S. is the world's largest oil producer, the Federal government still imports millions of barrels each day from other parts of the world as demand far outstrips supply. President Biden is now turning to regimes he once sought to isolate or avoid with officials traveling to Venezuela for talks to potentially allow the country to sell its oil on the international market.

President Biden Nominate Roselyn Tso to Lead the Indian Health Service

During Biden’s Presidential campaign, he promised to address the longstanding issues plaguing the Indian Health Service (IHS). After more than a year without an appointed leader, on March 9th, President Bident announced his nominee Ms. Roselyn Tso, a member of the Navajo Nation, for the Director of the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Ms. Tso who is currently the Navajo Area Indian Health Service Area Director, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she will oversee the Federal agency responsible for providing health care services to roughly 2.6 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives with a budget of $7.4 billion and 15,000 employees. No confirmation hearings have been set.

With 40 years of service in the Indian health system that began in 1984, Ms. Tso has worked in various capacities in Portland Area IHS in the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Maryland before her appointment to Navajo Area IHS. In her leadership position, she was responsible for the implementation of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act and worked directly with tribes and direct service tribes.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said Tso is "exceptionally qualified" to lead the IHS. "Over many years, Director Tso has demonstrated her commitment to public health and the well-being of all people at the Federal and Tribal levels, which have prepared her for this new opportunity," Nez said. "On behalf of the Navajo people, we congratulate Director Tso, her family and colleagues. We thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for their continued support for Tribal nations and for putting forth this nomination.”

Ms. Tso hails from LeChee, AZ with family from Kaibeto, AZ and Crownpoint, NM, she is of the Deeshchii’nii (Start at the Red Streak People) and Hashk’aa hadzohi (Yacca Fruit Strung Out) clans. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies from Maryhurst University in Portland, Oregon, and a graduate degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix, Portland Oregon.

The world observed International Women’s Day (IWD) on Tuesday with the theme #BreakTheBias spotlighting the individual and collective biases that fuel gender inequality globally. In celebration of IWD and of Women’s History Month NNWO acknowledges the many Native women who have broken down barriers, offering strength, wisdom, and their voices to campaign for the aspirations and needs of women and their communities in Indian Country.

Sports have long been a male-dominated field, but Native women have a long and storied history with amateur, college, and professional sports, facing not only institutional barriers as women, but further challenges due to their Native identities. Despite this, Native women have overcome the odds, becoming highly successful athletes. In this week’s issue of Wááshindoon Weekly we highlight a few of them.

A career as a table tennis champion took Angelita Rosal Bengtsson (Dakota Sioux) around the globe, competing in ten USA Table Tennis National titles over her career and winning the National Table Tennis Doubles Championship four times. Bengtsson was the first ever female athlete to be inducted to the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973 and was later inducted into the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame in 1996. After her successful career playing table tennis, she went on to become the head coach of the U.S. Para Table Tennis Team in 2015.

Dawn Kelly Allen (Euchee/Quapaw/Cherokee) was inducted to the American Indian Hall of Fame in 1995. She was a women’s single, double, and mixed double champion in the National North American Indian Tennis Championships; as well as a single and double champion in the Worlds Fair All-Indian Tennis Tournament, the Arizona Indian Tennis Tournament, and the Creek Nation Indian Tennis Tournament. 

Karen Mackey (Santee Sioux) is a Rokudan sixth degree black belt who distinguished herself in the sport of judo. Her accomplishments as a national and elite international competitor include a third-place showing in the U.S. Olympic Sports Festival. She placed third at the Pan Am Trials and was a medalist at the National Championships (1978-80).

In 1996 Navajo Ryneldi Becenti became the first Native American woman to play in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Becenti grew up playing basketball on the reservation with her brothers on a court marked by flour. Starting her career at Arizona State University (ASU), she quickly became a star on the court, earning bronze at the 1993 World University Games and becoming the first women’s basketball player at ASU to have her jersey retired. She went on to play professionally in the WNBA, touring Europe and forever changing the face of women’s basketball.

In February of this year, Abby Roque became the first Native woman to compete at the Olympics for the U.S Women's National Hockey Team and was named the 2020 Bob Allen Women’s Hockey Player of the Year. Roque grew up in Michigan, but her tribe, Wahnapitae First Nation, is from the Sudbury area of Ontario, Canada. A forward for the U.S. women’s hockey team, Roque’s debut Olympic appearance was historic, placing her among only a handful of Native athletes who have ever represented the U.S. at the Winter Olympics.

Mariah Bahe, at 17-years-old, is one of the United State's top-ranked junior boxers and one of only a few female Native Americans in the sport. A fourth-generation boxer from Chinle on the Navajo Nation, she already has several national titles to her name. In 2021 the Olympic channel released a film Mariah: A Boxer’s Dream documenting her journey as she aspires to become the first boxer from the Navajo Nation to win a medal at the Olympic Games and the first ever female Native American to compete in boxing at the Olympics.

WNBA’s Shoni Schimmel (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation) was a former All-American college player at the University of Louisville and was selected with the 8th overall pick in the first round draft pick of the 2014 WNBA draft by the Atlanta Dream. Her sister Jude also starred at Louisvile alongside her sister before playing overseas. Jude is now an ambassador for Nike's Native-inspired N7. The Schimmel sisters were the subjects of the basketball documentary Off the Rez-- an inspiration for indigenous female basketball players.

This is just a small sampling of the accomplishments of American Indian female athletes. As Women’s History Month continues, WW will be looking at the contributions of Native women in the arts, government, and sciences.

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