by Rich Wandschneider | Jan 17, 2026 | African Americans, Alvin Josephy, American Indian history, assimilation, bureau of Indian Affairs, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Depression, Donald Trump, Eisenhower, expulsions, German immigrants, ICE, immigration, Indian assimilation, Indian boarding schools, Indian Relocation, Indian reservations, Indians and fire, Nixon on Indians, Termination, Termination act, termination policy
I thought about this as the president rampaged against the “garbage” people and country of Somalia. When he asked why we couldn’t get more people from Norway, Sweden, or Denmark. And a year ago, when he and the Veep went on about Haitian immigrants eating pets in...
by Rich Wandschneider | Jul 4, 2025 | 4th of July, Albert Andrews, Code of Indian Offenses, Colville Reservation, Indian assimilation, Indian boarding schools, Indian Offenses, Nespelem, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce Homeland, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Nez Perce War, Nezpercians
Years ago, Albert Red Star Andrews of the Joseph Band of Nez Perce on the Colville Reseravtion in north central Washington, told me about a unique Fourth of July event on his reservation. It was called Pasapalloynin, meaning “to make them rejoice, to make them happy!”...
by Rich Wandschneider | May 3, 2024 | Indian Bands, Indian boarding schools, jazz, Julia Keefe
ta ‘c meeywi folks (good Morning) The Joseph Center was fortunate to have Julia Keefe’s quartet perform here in February. For those who have not followed this Nez Perce musical thread, here is a press release about Julia’s Indigenous Big Band’s...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 1, 2024 | Deb Haaland, Harry Slickpoo, Indian boarding schools, Nez Perce
It’s hard to get a handle on it. So much has happened in and for Indian Country since Biden took office and appointed Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) Secretary of the Interior. Haaland had held tribal offices, headed the New Mexico State Democratic party, and had served...
by Rich Wandschneider | Jun 19, 2023 | Allotment Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act, BIA, Indian assimilation, Indian boarding schools, Indian Child Welfare Act, Indian Freedom of Religion Act, Indian history, Indian religious freedom act, Indian wars, land ownership, National Geographic, Neil Gorsuch, Relocation program, Removal Act of 1830
Last week the Supreme Court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act. “The bottom line is that we reject all of petitioners’ challenges to the statute, some on the merits and others for lack of standing,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the conservative Trump...
by Rich Wandschneider | Jun 9, 2021 | Black Hills, David Treuer, Indan history, Indian boarding schools, Indian land tenure, Indian reservations, Indian treaties, Mount Rushmore
It’s complicated—but here are some first thoughts: In 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates made the argument for reparations to the descendants of African-American slaves in The Atlantic Magazine. The country, he said, would never be “whole” until it came to terms with the bad...
