Chairman Cromwell to Speak at National Congress of American Indians

NCAI to Convene Tribal Leaders to Discuss Tribal Lands and Sacred Sites Issues and Threats across Indian Country

Chairman Cedric Cromwell will join a panel of five tribal leaders from across Indian Country tomorrow at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) upcoming forum: Protecting Tribal Lands and Sacred Places: Current Threats across Indian Country. The forum will be held online Tuesday, June 23 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m EDT and will be moderated by Fawn Sharp, President, National Congress of American Indians and President, Quinault Indian Nation.

Chairman Cromwell will be joined by Mark N. Fox, Chairman, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation; Harold C. Frazier, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; Ned Norris, Jr., Chairman, Tohono O’odham Nation; and Terry Rambler – Chairman, San Carlos Apache Tribe.

This Forum will share the stories of five tribal nations working to protect their tribal homelands in the face of baseless and arbitrary attacks by the federal government, and they will discuss how the federal government must recommit to its trust and treaty obligations to all tribal nations in this critical area.

Each participant has a unique perspective and experience with tribal land issues and its effects to their rights as sovereign nations: Mashpee experienced attempts from the Secretary of the Interior to disestablish their reservation and take their lands out of trust; the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are currently fighting the illegal confiscation of minerals beneath the Missouri River on the Fort Berthold Reservation; the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has faced several issues including a recent attempt by the governor of South Dakota to force the removal of COVID-19 checkpoints into their tribal nation without cause or jurisdiction; the Tohono O’odham Nation has long opposed fortified walls on the border of their reservation, and despite a 2017 Executive Order, the Nation reiterates their stance on border walls; and the San Carlos Apache Tribe recently testified in front of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States to discuss the irreparable environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed copper mining operation.

WHERE: Official Event Registration: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7395488239360720652
WHEN: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT
CONTACT: NCAIPRESS@NCAI.ORG