Native OK 1/25 Weekly Newsletter

Cynthia Chavez Lamar, first Native woman to be named Smithsonian Museum director.

Native woman named director of Museum of the American Indian

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cynthia Chavez Lamar has been named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, effective Feb. 14. She is the first Native woman to be named as a Smithsonian Museum director, according to a news release from the Smithsonian.

Lamar has been at the museum most recently since 2014, and earlier in her career was an intern and an associate curator. She is currently acting associate director for collections and operations.

Lamar will oversee the museum’s three facilities: the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, the George Gustav Heye Center in Lower Manhattan and the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland. The Cultural Resources Center houses the museum’s collections and its curatorial and repatriation offices; laboratories and work rooms for conservation, collections management, registration, photography, film and video; a computer and information-resource center; a library; and indoor and outdoor spaces for Native cultural care practices.

“Dr. Chavez Lamar is at the forefront of a growing wave of Native American career museum professionals,” said Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian. “They have played an important role in changing how museums think about their obligations to Native communities and to all communities.”

As acting associate director since January 2021, Lamar has been responsible for overseeing the collections, facilities, safety and information technology departments. She has led efforts to ensure effective management of and care for the museum’s collection, which is comprised of more than 1 million objects and photographs and more than 500,000 digitized images, films and other media documenting Native communities, events and organizations.

Lamar was director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, N.M., from 2007 to 2014. She raised the visibility of the 12,000-object collection and led and supported the development of guidelines to assist Native communities in accessing museum collections.

From 2006 to 2007, she was director of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

From 2000 to 2005, Lamar was an associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian and the lead curator of one of the inaugural exhibitions in the museum when it opened in 2004.

Lamar is an enrolled member at San Felipe Pueblo, and her ancestry also includes Hopi, Tewa and Navajo on the maternal side. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College in studio art, a master’s degree in American Indian studies from UCLA and a doctorate in American studies from the University of New Mexico.

Lamar is the third director of the museum. She succeeds Kevin Gover (Pawnee), who served as director from December 2007 until January 2021. He is now the Smithsonian’s undersecretary for museums and culture. The founding director was W. Richard West Jr. (Southern Cheyenne), who led the museum from 1990 to 2007. Machel Monenerkit has served as acting director since Gover left in January 2021.

Ryan Dirteater (Cherokee) will Coach All-Native PBR team

Oklahoman Ryan Dirteater Named Coach of All Native American Team USA Wolves for 2022 PBR Global Cup USA

Coaches Announced for 2022 PBR Global Cup USA in Arlington, Texas on March 5

Team USA fields brand new coaching staff with Ring of Honor inductee Ross Coleman set to lead the Eagles and recently retired Ryan Dirteater slated to helm all Native Wolves

PUEBLO, Colo. (January 20, 2022) – Ahead of the 2022 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Global Cup USA, the PBR today announced the six coaches who will lead the competing teams inside AT&T Stadium in their quest for national pride, including Ring of Honor inductee Ross Coleman (Molalla, Oregon) and 12-time World Finals qualifier Ryan Dirteater (Hulbert, Oklahoma) who have been tapped to helm the hosting Team USA Eagles and Wolves, respectively, for the first time.

The fifth edition of the PBR Global Cup, the only nation vs. nation bull riding competition, will make its third stop at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on March 5, 2022. The new team tournament debuted in Edmonton, Alberta, in November 2017, visited Sydney, Australia, in June 2018, and made subsequent stops in Arlington in February 2019 and 2020.

The 2022 PBR Global Cup USA will feature six teams representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. For their home-nation advantage, the USA delegation will field two squads via the Eagles and all Native American Wolves.

Joining Coleman and Dirteater as coaches for the 2022 PBR Global Cup USA are: 1998 World Champion Troy Dunn (Bloomsbury, Queensland, Australia) who will lead Team Australia; three-time PBR World Finals event winner Robson Palermo (Rio Branco Acre, Brazil) who will helm Team Brazil; four-time PBR World Finals qualifier Tanner Byrne (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) who will guide Team Canada; and two-time PBR World Finals qualifier Gerardo Venegas (Juarez, Mexico) who will pilot Team Mexico.

The one-day event will feature two rounds of competition, where three riders from each team will attempt one bull. Throughout those rounds, every rider from each team must attempt a minimum of one bull. Following the initial rounds, each team will select one rider to attempt the nation’s final bull in the bonus round. The 2022 PBR Global Cup USA Champion will be the team with the top combined score through their seven outs.

The 2022 PBR Global Cup USA will mark the first iteration of the event since 2020 when Team USA Eagles made history as the first nation to defend home soil. Two-time PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana) and Cole Melancon (Sour Lake, Texas) each went 2-for-4 to champion the nation’s victory.

Additionally, in winning the 2020 PBR Global Cup USA, Team USA Eagles joined Team Brazil as the only nations to win the event multiple times, victorious at the inaugural PBR Global Cup in Canada in 2017.

Action for the 2022 PBR Global Cup USA gets underway on Saturday, March 5 at 5:45 p.m. CST in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium.

Adding to the blockbuster weekend, via a landmark partnership between PBR and Teton Ridge, following the PBR Global Cup USA, The American will take over the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, March 6 starting at 12:00 p.m. CST.

The American, the richest single-day rodeo in the world, features competitors in all eight rodeo disciplines: barrel racing, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, team roping (heading and heeling), tie down roping, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. Each qualifier who makes it to the 2022 finals will be eligible for their discipline’s $100,000 prize money and will also have their shot at the bonus millions.

Phil G. Busey Sr. (Cherokee) is chairman and CEO of DRG and The Busey Group of Cos.

Viewpoint: Oklahoma is stronger with tribal partnerships

Phil G. Busey Sr.

Guest Columnist

The September opening of First Americans Museum (FAM) became a reality after over a decade in the making because of widespread community, tribal, government and business efforts. This museum is long overdue in honoring the legacies of our Native American brethren. Soon after FAM’s grand opening, the Chickasaw Nation announced plans to build a $300 million resort next door to the iconic facility.

Achieving these impactful drivers for our city and state has made a statement of preservation, dedication and resilience on the national level. These successes also highlight the great achievements of our tribal nations — coming from virtual elimination a little over 100 years ago to becoming equivalents of Fortune 1,000 companies today that have reshaped our state’s economy and culture for the better.

Our tribes have a significant place in our history and are necessary business and community partners. Oklahoma, with only 4 million people, is a small state considering over 7 million live in the Dallas metroplex alone. Regardless of ethnicity, we must work together for economic advancement. The 39 federally recognized tribes are rural Oklahoma and influence our educational, infrastructure and economic growth statewide.

Our First Americans represent a unique legacy and ingrained part of this country. For over 400 years, tribes initially welcomed our pilgrims and settlers. Encroachment, broken treaties, forced removals, disease and war reduced our tribes to mere remnants of themselves — including my people, the Cherokee and Delaware (Lenape). Tragedies imposed on them — including losses of lands, families, wealth and rights — diminished tribal influence. By the 20th century, First Americans could not vote, government policies were aimed at eliminating tribal governments all together. That meant destruction of cultures, as well. Despite these injustices, tribes survived and have persevered.

Few know the game of football evolved at a Native American boarding school. In spirit and play, the first real “All-American” football team was the 1912 Native American team of Carlisle Indian Industrial School. As told in “The Real All Americans” by Sally Jenkins, these students were ripped from their tribes and forbidden to be “Indian.” Their coach, Pop Warner, became a pioneer in American sports. With players smaller in size, he used speed and innovated formations like the forward pass and other techniques that were precursors to today’s game. Players included Jim Thorpe. Despite stigmas and discrimination, this team beat the best of the best, gaining respect of athletes on opposing teams. They proved they were as good as their Ivy League counterparts. However, it still took decades to gain equality and over 100 years for FAM to open.

Oklahoma is Indian Territory — by treaty to belong to the First Americans’ forever. That lasted 50 years. This was their land, and we cannot separate our combined heritages.

Today, Oklahoma is much stronger because of our tribal nations rising like phoenixes from the darkness of exclusion. They now give back at all levels to our people.

First Americans are equal to the task. They keep their commitments. Can we? Our government, and we as a people, must embrace them and respect them as part of our stories.

It is with gratitude and acceptance we are called to link arms with our fellow First Americans. Our image outside our borders depends on projecting the valuable blended cultures that set us apart from other states. Our future depends on establishing viable partnerships for advancement of all Oklahomans and Americans.

FireLake Discount Foods always looks for new ways to serve its customers, such as including EBT payments with online shopping.

FireLake Foods Offers Safety, Convenience to State SNAP Recipients

By Mary Leaver, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department

Demand for online shopping exploded during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Customers began ordering via mobile devices to purchase food items and household goods safely and easily without entering a store. However, one group of customers learned many grocery stores in Oklahoma did not accept state food benefits cards online to purchase groceries.

Fortunately, Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s FireLake Discount Foods has since removed that barrier. In 2021, the Tribe’s store joined a group of Oklahoma grocers that began accepting online purchases through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“We always wanted to be a part of it,” said FireLake Foods Director Richard Driskell. “We were one of the first independent locations in the state when they opened it up.”

While FireLake Discount Foods customers already order groceries online, they lacked the ability to make those purchases using SNAP’s electronic benefits transfer cards, Driskell explained. Customers either had to use another form of payment or come to the store during a pandemic, potentially risking infection.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, to allow recipients to order and pay for groceries online. OKDHS then began working with a small group of independent grocers to accept SNAP’s EBT cards online.

“They had a number of (chain) pilot stores during nationwide testing, but they opened it up to allow independent stores to apply (for the program),” Driskell said.

“We are so thankful to FireLake Discount Foods, and all the other Oklahoma grocers, who have begun accepting SNAP food benefits for online purchases,” said Casey White, OKDHS spokesperson. “Particularly during COVID-19, our customers found online purchasing to be an easier and safer way to keep food on their families’ tables.”

Driskell said FDF first began the process to accept online EBT transactions in July 2020 and started allowing the new form of electronic payment by spring 2021. Many people stayed home during quarantine periods, and FDF began to see a noticeable increase in online grocery orders.

“It really took off during COVID,” Driskell said.

With the effects of the pandemic somewhat easing and the demand for online shopping returning to normal levels, Driskell estimated about five to 10 shoppers a day use the online EBT payment option.

“That number is growing since we’ve advertised, and we’re letting people know in as many different ways as we can,” he said. “We have had people who use EBT tell us it’s a great resource.”

Online ordering with EBT gives people another payment option besides their bank account or credit card. SNAP customers also said they choose online shopping strictly for the convenience factor, Driskell said.

“If you have younger kids, it’s challenging for a mother or father to shop and corral the kids at the same time. They’re glad it’s available,” he said.

According to OKDHS, 20,331 individuals in Pottawatomie County received SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2021. During that same period, 9,711 families received assistance in the county.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute reports that 28 percent of county residents receive food benefits, ranking 22nd among the state’s 77 counties.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture fully funds SNAP benefits to help low-income families supplement their food budgets, White said. Most recipients are children, older adults and individuals with disabilities, including disabled military veterans.

SNAP applications are accepted online at OKDHSLive.org. Customers using SNAP benefits can set up their online account at firelakefoods.com and download the FireLake Foods app.