Indigenous peoples and the borderless beat

“There’s this whole community, a society that exists in both (the United States and Canada) and transcends the border in a lot of ways."

|
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A mural titled “Mending” in Winnipeg, Manitoba, incorporates elements of North, Central, and South American cultures.

From popular culture to news media, Indigenous peoples are often painted with a broad brush that glosses over any sense of individuality and agency. Monitor reporters Sara Miller Llana and Henry Gass feel a responsibility to counter that perception with stories that highlight not just the plight, but the ideas, experiences, and hopes of Indigenous individuals and communities. This week, they carry that idea a step further, as they (along with reporters Moira Donovan, Jessica Mendoza, and Jingnan Peng) turn their pens over to six Indigenous people to tell their own stories. 

It becomes clear that “from Alaska to Nova Scotia to Navajo Nation, so many issues are exactly the same,” Sara says.

In Winnipeg, Manitoba, where this issue’s cover story and People Making a Difference feature are both set, Sara found vibrant Indigenous communities focused on renewal and reclamation of their own futures. These themes echo those explored by Henry in his June 13 cover story from the Navajo Nation in the American Southwest. Indeed, though Sara and Henry are based 1,400 miles apart in Toronto and Texas, the two frequently collaborate on story ideas and see themselves as a team covering a borderless reporting beat.

“The idea that there’s this whole community, a society that exists in both countries and transcends the border in a lot of ways, is really interesting,” says Henry. “There aren’t very many things you can zoom out on like that.”

Indigenous society is inevitably influenced by the decisions of Canadian and American governments. But in many ways, Indigenous peoples have always lived outside these political structures, separated by philosophy but also by force. In both countries, Indigenous children were sent to residential schools designed to assimilate them while entire communities were relegated to remote reservations. And on both sides of the border, stereotypes of hapless victims have flourished. As a result of this history, many members of First Nations and Native American tribes do not see themselves as a part of either country. 

“A lot of Indigenous people in Canada don’t even believe in the idea of Canada, so they certainly don’t believe in a border between the U.S. and Canada,” Sara says. “It’s not just that Indigenous peoples see themselves as not belonging to the U.S. or Canada. The issues are the same, but we silo them.”

Together, Henry and Sara aim “to draw attention to the interconnectedness of Native issues in both of these countries,” Henry says. It’s about “how they’re connected, but also how they’re different, how they’ve perhaps diverged, how they vary from one side to another and between different tribes and different First Nations,” he adds.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Indigenous peoples and the borderless beat
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/From-the-Editors/2022/0711/Indigenous-peoples-and-the-borderless-beat
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe