A Season of Reflection and Rising Voices
Hello Crosswinds Community!
We are pleased to bring you the first edition of Crosswinds Monthly.
The Crosswinds News team has been working nonstop since we announced our rebrand from Verified News Network (VNN) Oklahoma to Crosswinds News last month. In case you missed it, the big announcement happened during our annual Indigenous Roots American Indian History Symposium.
Catch our symposium highlights here.
Our parent company, which helps fund Native and ally news coverage and resources for families connected to Oklahoma’s 39 tribes, also rebranded to Talking Circle.
These big changes underscore our commitment to producing stories that support our communities and our connections to one another.
In-person events are also a great way to highlight some of our Crosswinds Special Projects, including our Returning To Balance Solutions Journalism Series to accelerate harm reduction in Native communities and our MMIWG2T Historical Research and Reporting Project which explains how historical injustices and systemic violence against Indigenous people contribute to ongoing patterns of harm today.
We have five more stories set to publish as part of the MMIWG2T series this year. The latest “Relative of neglected Native girl uncovers pattern of atrocities and greed in Oklahoma” is the final story in a mini series about Ledcie Stechi, a full-blooded Choctaw minor who died in August of 1923 after allegations of neglect by her white guardian, W.J. Whiteman. She was only seven years old.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Crosswinds News spent the last few weeks digging into the history of Oklahoma’s 39 tribes. Did you know only eight consider it their ancestral homeland? The ancestral homeland of the remaining 31 span more than 30 states. So, how did Oklahoma as we know it become so populated with tribal nations? Read our latest story to find out.
In other Native news, the Muscogee Nation, one of the tribes forcibly removed to Oklahoma, celebrated a landback ceremony earlier this month. Hundreds gathered to witness the official return of the Council Oak Tree Park and Stickball Park to the Nation.
And that wasn’t the only exciting intergovernmental news this month. Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols gave his first State of the City address in November, acknowledging the role tribal nations have played in the city and the importance of co-governing with tribal leadership. In addition to Tribal inclusion, our story also highlighted how the city is beginning to incorporate Native inclusion in its initiatives.
It’s not just Tulsa making moves. Crosswinds News reported on the recent decision by the Broken Arrow City Council to fly the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Flag.
And in honor of Veterans Day, Crosswinds produced a story about the Choctaw Code Talkers, interviewing the descendants of one of the men who served as a code talker during World War I. The Choctaw Code Talkers are credited with helping the allied forces win the war.
As November comes to a close, many people are ramping up their shopping trips. It’s a great time to support Native artists and business owners. We have the best list for your upcoming shopping destinations right here, in our latest edition of Native Commerce News.
Crosswinds and Talking Circle CEO and President Kelly Tidwell is back from London after spending a week across the pond to share how we developed the Indian Country Chatbot. As concerns continue to mount in Native communities relating to AI consumption and data sovereignty, we’ve paused further chatbot development for the time being to focus on how to build AI technology in ways that better support Native authors and our natural resources.
As with our friends and family, it's been a busy couple of months for us all at Crosswinds News. We look forward to ending the year strong and sharing more exciting updates in December!
Thanks for being with us for the last seven years and through our recent rebrand. We look forward to continuing to build strong, supportive relationships with the communities we serve.
With gratitude,
The Crosswinds News Team
