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Protesters urge US president to declare climate emergencyUS marks federal holiday of Indigenous Peoples’ DaySign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by emailThe Boston Marathon is underway and US interior secretary Deb Haaland is running in the event. In an op-ed today in the Boston Globe, she said: “My feet will pound the ancestral homelands of the Massachusett, the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Pawtucket people and will follow in the footsteps of Indigenous runners who have participated in this race over its 125-year history. In fact, there have been several Indigenous winners. Tom Longboat of the First Nations Onondaga won the Boston Marathon in 1907. Ellison “Tarzan” Brown of the Narragansett won the marathon in 1936 and again in 1939. Patti Dillon of the Mi’Kmaw people helped to pave the way for women runners who placed second in the Boston Marathon in 1979, 1980, and 1981. I am honored to have met her during my visit here. These runners have a place in history. They are inspirations to all runners, but particularly to Indigenous runners. In the days of my ancestors, runners ran from house to house and village to village to spread news. In the high desert, runners kept watch for spring floods, alerting villagers and sprinting to the fields to capture water for that year’s crops. Native American runners saved lives during the tragedies of colonization. Now, traditional foot races in our Pueblo villages honor those who were strong and fast. I run because my ancestors gave me this ability.Indigenous Peoples’ Day is also a day when we remember the sacrifices of our ancestors and their survival during the dark eras of colonization and assimilation — eras in which Native Americans suffered atrocities that manifest themselves in health disparities, lack of basic infrastructure, the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples’ crisis, and so much more. Continue reading...