Informing and involving my community
How I’m using my JSK Fellowship experience to connect citizens of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation
As the director of a rural-based, Native-focused newsroom, I have myriad issues to address. How do I expand the reach of our digital news site at buffalosfire.com? How do I share information within the reservation community on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota? How do I open tribal government records to tribal citizens and all news organizations? How can I include tribal citizens in the news gathering process?
I’ve spent most of my career reporting on national news. Since I founded the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance (IMFA), sharing news isn’t just about me writing stories. It’s about me creating a news venue that allows community members to gather and distribute information. As the founder-director, my job also means I help tribal citizens understand how press freedom can shape and influence our lives.
This fall, we’ll be asking tribal citizens to vote on creating a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, to allow for much-needed transparency of The Three Affiliated Tribes ruling party, the tribal business council. In contrast, all 50 states and the federal government have FOIAs, which allows for the release of records from the government.
Tribal citizens need greater government accountability in areas ranging from management of natural resources and environmental issues to a public accounting of each reservation district’s annual multimillion-dollar budgets to the tribe’s even bigger budget for the same time period.
Despite the absence of open records — a major challenge to reporting on local news — the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance is committed to finding solutions. As a 2021–22 John S. Knight Community Impact Fellow at Stanford, I’m thankful for new ideas introduced during this past academic-year.
I’ve been part of a cohort of journalism leaders all working to serve underreported communities in locations across the United States. My fellowship ends in early June. I’m leaving equipped with new leadership teachings to better serve my resilient community of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Locally, we have a lot of stories to tell, both past and present. Our people have endured several smallpox epidemics. Those of us with Mandan ancestry are the survivors of the 1837 smallpox outbreak. It reduced our population down to an estimated 150 people. My great-great-great-great grandfather Raven Chief became a leader of Mandan during this time.
We survived the flooding of our homes in the 1950s. About 80% of families on the reservation had to move “on top,” the higher and drier prairie lands above the river. Most tribal families lived near the beloved Missouri River bottomlands down below prior to construction of the Garrison Dam.
Today, a new generation is bearing witness to yet another cataclysmic event brought upon our land. We are experiencing a massive social, cultural, political and environmental upheaval. Our reservation sits atop one of the most prolific shale oil formations in North America. We have become an industrial corridor to some of the world’s largest oil corporations.
These stories need to be told, shared. Our people need to be informed. We need access to information in order to participate in decision making for ourselves and future generations.
I knew I’d face many challenges when I founded an independent news organization on the reservation back in 2016. Engaging with other JSK Fellows — Celeste Fremon, Geoffrey King, Sarah Lomax-Reece, Simon Galperin, Lawrence Caswell, Sonam Vashi, Jen Larino, Paulette Brown-Hinds and David Rodriguez-Munoz — has inspired me to make some changes within our organization.
We started by implementing a new text messaging app called Groundsource. This spring, one of our IMFA staff members presented the texting app to the local Twin Buttes Elders Organization, a nonprofit organization that provides health and wellness services to local residents. The group voted to be part of the messaging system.
The messaging app connects our organization with community members whether they are local or 1,000 miles away. We invite anyone who wants to receive or share information about local events in Twin Buttes to contact us. It’s simple. Just text UPDATE to 1–833–473–4111.
Beyond local updates, we also want to connect with 17,000 enrolled tribal citizens of the Three Affiliated Tribes. About 75% of our citizens live away from Fort Berthold.
We’re ready to use the texting app to promote the press freedom work of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. We are working on a ballot initiative to create a Freedom of Information Act for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. To learn more, simply text BALLOT to 1–877–876–0111.
If the measure passes, all citizens, all reporters and all news organizations can file a request for tribal government records. An independent press supports a critical pillar of sovereignty requiring tribal leaders to act in accordance to the will of the people.
How can you lead the people if you’re not listening to the people? How can you lead people if you keep them in a vacuum absent of news and information? I wrote two Medium columns that provide more details on what it’s like to live in a tribal news desert.
Dictatorial governments and leaders tend to control the media and information that would might otherwise keep people informed. In addition, a free flow of information helps keep those leaders accountable.
Finally, we’re hoping our new texting app will help connect us to allotted landowners who are battling the unlawful trespass of Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, a subsidiary of Marathon Oil, the largest oil refiner in the United States and a top-five global refiner.
The trespass began in June 2013. Department of Justice lawyers recently met with some of the Fort Berthold landowners. Unfortunately, many of the 400-plus landowners remain unaware of recent legal developments that could affect families for generations. We encourage allottees to stay informed. Simply text TRESPASS to 1–877–876–0111 for updates.
As director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, it’s my goal to also employ and train community documenters to help share community information. I am inspired by Documenters.org, a program I learned about since becoming a JSK Fellow. The network equips journalists, curious citizens, organizers, and educators with the ability to access and produce the information they need to create change in their communities.
The plans I have — and the ones already in motion — began incrementally. One of my most useful teachings this year rests with the knowledge that it’s easier to make behavioral changes by taking small steps. The book “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything,” by BJ Fogg has been a go-to read for me. I like the version on Blinkist.com.
I come from a historically agricultural tribe. As a rural news organization, we’re doing our part to serve the community. We’re planting informational seeds, one at a time, and taking pride in watching our community news garden grow.
Jodi Rave is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance located on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. She is also the publisher of Buffalosfire.com.
