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Marc Dadigan

Articles From This Author

Mauna Kea Protectors Pua Case and Hāwane Rios sing Hawaiian chants at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Run4Salmon, organized by the Winnemem Wintu.
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Winnemem Wintu Work to Bring Salmon Home From New Zealand

By Marc Dadigan
Pit River tribal members Laura Seal (center) and Jessica Jim (right) with the help of a young friend rally April 19 outside the Robert T. Matsui Courthouse in Sacramento, California where a federal judge ruled the Bureau of Land Management illegally extended geothermal leases in the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands.
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Pit River Tribe Scores Court Victory in Battle for Medicine Lake

By Marc Dadigan
An aerial view of the Willits Bypass, which is 90 percent complete.
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Feds Don’t Approve Caltrans Treatment of Cultural Sites During Willits Bypass Construction

By Marc Dadigan
After gathering at the California State Capitol February 27, more than 100 walkers including Native supporters representing several tribes and allies marched through the streets of Sacramento to honor the one year anniversary of the San Carlos Apache’s occupation of the sacred lands at the Oak Flat campground. Under the terms of a deal approved by the U.S. government in December, Phoenix-based Resolution Copper will take control of 2,400 copper-rich acres in and around Oak Flat. In return, the company will transfer about 5,400 acres of privately owned parcels of conservation land throughout Arizona to the U.S. Forest Service.
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Walking to Save Oak Flat [7 Photos]

By Marc Dadigan
Protesters hold signs while workers continue work on the Willits Bypass, which will cut through Northern Pomo ancestral territory.
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Rogue Agencies Can Ignore Historic Preservation Law

By Marc Dadigan
Leaving Kaho`olawe at sunrise, Hawai`i. This island is the topic of the PBS documentary “Islands of Sanctuary.”
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PBS Sacred Site Documentary to Detail Roadmap to Mauna Kea Victory

By Marc Dadigan
The Bosmun ceremonial canoe launch. The village is concerned that a new nickel mine upstream will pollute the Ramu River, their main source for food, water and bathing. Bosmun, Papua New Guinea.
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Defenders of Sacred Sites Around the Globe Featured in PBS Series

By Marc Dadigan
On March 12, 2015, about 150 Pit River tribal members, environmentalists and supporters rallied outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after the judges listened to arguments about the legality of a massive geothermal fracking project planned for the Medicine Lake Highlands, a sacred area to the Pit River people.
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Pit River Rallies to Protect Sacred Medicine Lake Highlands from Fracking

By Marc Dadigan
Aryana Henthorne, the daughter of Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer Hillary Renick, helps fix a damaged orange fence used by state agencies to cordon off a sensitive cultural area for the Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians in Northern California.
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Shrinking Budgets Putting Tribal History at Risk?

By Marc Dadigan
Lowicha Lake Falls-Rock—pictured here with his child Haluma Charging Thunder Blackowl and girlfriend Zintkala Mahpiya Wi Blackowl—alleges he lost his job with the Nez Perce Tribal Police Department because of his traditional religious beliefs.
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Former Nez Perce Police Officer Says He Was Fired For Traditional Practices

By Marc Dadigan
A trio of Ohlone singers provide a welcoming to their homeland for those who attended the January 24 “Gold, Greed and Genocide” event in San Francisco to raise awareness about the past and continued effects of the Gold Rush era on California Indians.
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CA Indian Leaders Discuss Lasting Effects of the Gold, Greed and Genocide Era

By Marc Dadigan
At the Change the Name: No Honor in Racism demonstration Sunday, Nov. 23, more than 300 demonstrators, representing dozens of tribes, joined in solidarity against Native American mascots and team names at the Santa Clara Civic Center, a few hundred yards from Levi’s Stadium where the San Francisco 49ers played the Washington professional football team.
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At Least 500 California Native Americans Protest,Tell Redskins They’re ‘Not Your Mascot’

By Marc Dadigan
Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians tribal representatives Priscilla Hunter (left) and Eddie Knight (right) with tribal Chairman Mike Hunter visit the Willits Bypass construction site on the Northern California coast, where they and Sherwood Valley Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians officials say Caltrans officials are breaking the law and damaging important archaeological sites.
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Tribes Say CalTrans Illegally Destroying Historical Sites for Bypass

By Marc Dadigan
Solfdo-o-dachi (Uchi) Gali Garcia, a first grade Pit River Tribal student, told his mother that he was punched in the arm September 24 by his teacher at Fall River Elementary in Northern California.
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Back to Boarding School? Teacher Allegedly Punches Pit River First Grader

By Marc Dadigan
Rhonda Pope, tribal member of the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians and one of the organizers of the Water Is Sacred march to the California State Capitol, speaks to the marchers on Friday, September 26.
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California Governor a No-Show at Native American Day After 'Water Is Sacred' March

By Marc Dadigan
Winnemem Wintu tribal member Michael Preston dances on the first day of the tribe’s H’up Chonas (Dance in the Old Way or War Dance) held September 11-14, 2014, at the Shasta Dam in Northern California. A federal proposal to raise the dam by 18.5 feet to increase state water storage by 1.5 percent would submerge or damage nearly 40 sacred sites, villages and burial grounds vital to the Winnemem culture and religion.
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Stop Damming Indians: Dancing Against Shasta Dam Raise

By Marc Dadigan
Jeanne Eagle Bull-Oxendine and James Oxendine are shown here with their four children - Jase “Maste”, 5; Jada “Sich”, 7; Jake, 13; and Caske, 15.
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Family Sued for Standing Against School’s Racist Thanksgiving Curriculum

By Marc Dadigan
Pictured, from left, are Pit River tribal members Tyler LaMirande, 7th grade; Mikaela Gali-LaMirande, 10th grade; Talissa Gali, 5th grade; and Alexis Elmore, 7th grade, have reported systemic bullying targeting them and other Indian students at Burney Junior-Senior High School and Burney Elementary in Northern California.
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‘Watch Your Red-skinned Back’: Racist Notes Surface in California Schools

By Marc Dadigan
Medicine Lake in California is sacred to many tribes, the Pit River Tribe of Northern California among them.
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Calif. Sacred Sites Bill Would Boost Protections but Exclude Some 50 Tribes

By Marc Dadigan
aclu-northern-california
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Lawsuit Against California Districts Allege Abuse of Native Students

By Marc Dadigan
The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary on the West Coast.
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California’s $25 Billion Delta Tunnels Plan Leaves Tribes Behind

By Marc Dadigan
Protesters in Umatilla, Oregon, blocked mega-loads headed for the Alberta oil sands in early December.
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Umatilla Tribe Battles Mega-Loads Headed for Alberta Oil Sands

By Marc Dadigan
Jeanne Eagle Bull-Oxendine and James Oxendine are shown here with their four children - Jase “Maste”, 5; Jada “Sich”, 7; Jake, 13; and Caske, 15. After taking a stand against their children’s school’s stereotype-laden Thanksgiving curriculum, the family says Jada’s scholarship was revoked as retribution. School officials deny this.
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Family Stands Against School’s Racist Thanksgiving Curriculum

By Marc Dadigan
Betti Comas, Winnemem Wintu elder, walks among the Curl plot where many of her relatives are buried in the Shasta Reservoir Indian Cemetery. When the Shasta Dam was built, Comas’s pregnant mother lost her home, was never compensated and had to live in a tent at what is now the Redding Rancheria.
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U.S. Celebrates Dam; Wintu Say It Is 'Scar That Will Never Heal'

By Marc Dadigan
Ishi entered the small pioneer town of Oroville on August 29, 1911.
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Native History: Ishi Emerges from Mountains and Enters the White World

By Marc Dadigan
Philip Harper, Nor-Rel-Muk Wintu Tribal Council member, leads the young people in the Redding Rancheria’s Youth Leadership Program into a sacred cave at the Bridge Creek Massacre Site in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California.
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Wintu Massacre: 'A Very Sacred Area Where Some Very Bad Things Happened'

By Marc Dadigan
Alicia Scholfield, 16, of the Winnemem Wintu from Northern California will celebrate her Ba?as Chonas (Coming of Age ceremony) on the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake July 20-23.
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Winnemem Fear Forest Service Harrassment During Sacred Ceremony

By Marc Dadigan
Kayla Godowa-Tufti smokes tobacco June 22 on the shores of Waldo Lake, the ancestral homeland of her great-great grandfather and his people, the Chakgeenki-Tufti Band of the Mollalish. Located in the western slopes of the Cascades, Waldo Lake is believed to be one of the purest lakes in the world. Tufti was among several Oregon advocates who successfully lobbied the state to ban motorboats and floatplanes at the lake to protect its world-renowned water quality.
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Protect the Drinkable Water of Waldo Lake

By Marc Dadigan
Carson Viles is studying how best to learn Native languages at home to get closer to his ancestral people, the Joshua and Sixes bands of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz from southern Oregon.
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Oregon Undergrad Researches Native Language Learning

By Marc Dadigan
Victoria Garica, Chiricahua Apache/Round Valley, receives a Pendleton blanket from Native American Student Development staff during the May 18 UC-Berkeley Native graduation ceremony.
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UC-Berkeley Native Graduates Celebrate Long Journey to Degrees

By Marc Dadigan
Darrick Baxter, the Ojibway programmer of the language app code, decided to give the source code away for free so other Native languages could be preserved with the use of technology.
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Learning a Native Language? Ojibway Programmer Has an App For That

By Marc Dadigan
Ben Wolf (Marc Dadigan)
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Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow Brings Everyone Back Into the Circle

By Marc Dadigan
Psychology doctoral student Virgil Moorehead makes an Icarus sign (“Fly high or die trying,” he explains) while talking to youth, during a cultural exchange between urban and reservation Native students in the traditional Yurok village in Patrick’s Point, California. The exchange was part of the Youth Wellness Initiative of the Native American Health Center of Oakland, where Moorehead is a psychology intern.
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Psychology Student Explores the Healing Power of Digital Storytelling

By Marc Dadigan
The Warriors logo at Lebanon High School in Oregon.
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Three New Bills in Oregon Legislature Seek to Undermine Native American Mascots Ban

By Marc Dadigan
Melissa Leal, Esselen/Ohlone, was captivated by rap and hip hop music growing up and is now using it to teach culture and Native languages to her students.
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California Educator Bridges the Generation Gap with Hip Hop

By Marc Dadigan
Eagle Rock, located in the McCloud River canyon in Northern California, is sacred to the Winnemem Wintu and has been desecrated with graffiti and carvings.
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California Legislator Seeks Tribal Input on Sacred Sites Protection Bill

By Marc Dadigan
Julia Parker, Pomo/Coast Miwok, demonstrates to University of California, Berkeley students and community members how to make acorn mush.
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After Controversial Ishi Play, University of California, Berkeley Co-Sponsors Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration to Promote Healing

By Marc Dadigan
Winnemem Wintu Chief and Spiritual Leader Caleen Sisk (in the red shirt) is flanked by tribal members, who along with supporters protested her ceremony citations outside the federal courthouse in Redding, California on October 16. The charges were dismissed by the court.
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Citations Against Winnemem Wintu Chief Dismissed

By Marc Dadigan
During the third day of the Coming of Age ceremony, Winnemem Wintu Chief and Spiritual Leader Caleen Sisk, tribal members and supporters gathered aboard the boat used to ferry elders across the McCloud River to prevent Forest Service law enforcement officers from towing it away.
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Winnemem Wintu Chief Receives Court Date for Ceremony Citations; Faces Up to a Year in Prison if Proven Guilty

By Marc Dadigan
Cutcha Risling Baldy, a doctoral student at the University of California Davis, is collecting oral narratives from women who have participated in flower dances. She hopes the project will shed light on how the important roles women played in traditional culture were suppressed and even erased by anthropologists, government officials and missionaries.
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University of California Student Brings Young Women’s Flower Dances Into the Spotlight

By Marc Dadigan
Lyla-Johnston-Regeneration-Festival-Video-e1345585036717
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Video Spotlight: Student Promotes Regeneration Festival to Show Youth They Are Sacred

By Marc Dadigan
During a February trip into the field, Stanford anthropology student Lyla Johnston stopped to rest while taking a GPS and elevation reading of an endangered Winnemem Wintu sacred site
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Stanford Student Driven to Revive Culture and Prevent Youth Suicide

By Marc Dadigan
Sisk (right) was ticketed for having a motorboat on the river during the ceremony.
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Winnemem Wintu Tribe Wrestles With Bureaucracy to Perform Sacred Ritual

By Marc Dadigan
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Sacred Sites Listening Sessions Scheduled

By Marc Dadigan
Members of the Committee to Protect Glen Cove, which included Native and non-Native supporters, protest at the unveiling of the refurbished Glen Cove park, in Vallejo, California, where they say an Ohlone burial ground and shellmound was desecrated during construction.
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Protesters Say Vallejo Park Construction Desecrated Shellmound and Burial Ground

By Marc Dadigan
Two Sisters Mountain rises above the Winnemem Wintu’s former village site, and its rocky crown is home to two spirit beings who provide teachings to young Winnemem women during their Coming of Age ceremonies.
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Sacred Sites Along the McCloud River Endangered, Winnemem Wintu Fight For Coming of Age Ceremony Privacy

By Marc Dadigan
During the Winnemem Wintu's War Dance May 26, Supporters and activists from the Klamath Justice Coalition, American Indian Movement, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Eugene, Earth First! and members of numerous tribes temporarily enforced their own closure of the McCloud River in preparation for the Winnemem's Coming of Age ceremony next month where they intend to close the river to protect the ceremony from aggressive and abusive boaters.
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Grassroots River Closure, Coordinated Boater Harassment Highlight Winnemem Wintu’s War Dance

By Marc Dadigan
Blood Island Rock - Lake County California
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Pomo Indians Remember 1850 Bloody Island Massacre With Events May 18-19

By Marc Dadigan
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Winnemem Wintu Prepare War Dance

By Marc Dadigan
Ishi
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Provocative, Misleading Play About Ishi Opens Wounds From California Genocide

By Marc Dadigan