NATIVE AMERICAN ISSUES
The latest information on Native American Issues, advocacy and actions you can take to help.
Teri Conrad (conrad@hotmail.com)
Arizona has many Native American tribes within our boundaries. They are our Presbyterian brothers and sisters who bring a rich cultural history and deep values that we can learn from. This page will bring to light many opportunities for our churches to learn, partner and help with current Native American issues.
This page will seek to provide information in three sections: This general information section, Documents you read and download, and Links section that will lead you to current activities of interest or additional sites for information about honoring the land and these peoples.
This section will provide information about the tribes, nations and communities in our presbytery. We will seek to cover general information on the Navajo Nation, Tohono O'odham Nation, Pasqua Yaqui Tribe, Colorado River Tribes, and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Additional detail on these tribes, nations and communities may also be found in specific documents you can download in "Native American Materials" section below.
The "Native American Materials" section below will not only provide more detailed documents abouth these peoples but will also focus on issues that affect Native people. These can include categories such as MMIP (Murdered and Missing Indigenous People), Sovereignty, Land, Water, Education, and Health.
Be sure also to check out the third section, "Links of Interest". Here we will point you to additional information about honoring the land and current activities of interest, such as the MMIP event in May, or camp meetings at some of our churches, arts activities, etc.
Speakers are available to come to your church on Native American topics such as:
Joan Fenton (jffenton5@gmail.com) , a member of our Peace & Justice Network, is a facilitator for the "Roots of Injustice: Seeds of Change" 2 hour workshop that provides a very impactful exercize that provides a hands on experience educating the audience on US historical injustice to Native Peoples.
Additionally, the 2023 Presbyterian Women focused their triannual USA Mission Experience on Arizona and the Borderlands. This hosting of 18 women from PW Synods accross the nation flew into Phoenix, visited Native American churches, landmarks & museums, and traveled to Tucson, Douglas, and Agua Prieta to meet with Mission Partners to learn about migration, immigration and more. Our Synod representatives are Christine Casenova, Dodie Weiland, and Bonnie Thompson who give presentations throughout our Synod. We encourage all churches, even if you do not have an active PW group, to click on the link in the section below to discover a presentation near you and/or to invite them to present at your church or organization.
The Gila River Community has scheduled a walk/run on May 4. | Details to follow on Gila River Community Facebook page. |
U of A program on MMIP awareness | |
Heard Museum in Phoenix at 2301 N. Central Ave., (You can visit free, using a Culture Pass, available at the local library). A trip there will teach about Arizona tribes, boarding schools, and arts and culture from a variety of American indigenous people. | |
Arizona State University Law Library where one can find contact information for each of the tribes, and also basic information about their locations, structures, and pictures of official seals. | |
Labriola National American Indian Data Center at ASU’s Hayden Library on the Tempe Campus has a collection of archives that focuses on Arizona Native communities. They have recently expanded and should be offering programs soon. | |
Learn the facts of how Native American women are at greater risk of violence and neglect. | |
Events for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples and other current events can be found atNative News Online, | |
Many church meetings now begin with a land acknowledgement—a recognition that the event is taking place on land European colonizers stole from Native Americans. The 223rd General Assembly (2018) urged many church bodies to incorporate this practice into meetings, as a step in dismantling racism and addressing the denomination’s historic harms against Indigenous people. | |
For decades, Native American and Alaska Native communities have struggled with high rates of assault, abduction, and murder of tribal members. Community advocates describe the crisis as a legacy of generations of government policies of forced removal, land seizures and violence inflicted on Native peoples. | |
Most PC(USA) Native American churches are located on reservation and trust lands. The one off-reservation church is located in Phoenix, Arizona. Rev. Martha Sadongei is the pastor at this church, Central Presbyterian (Inter-Tribal) Church at 37 East Indian School Road, Phoenix. | Native American Congregations directory above |