‘Long, Long Overdue’: Native American Tribes’ Long Wait For Federal Emergency Funding Is Starting To End
More than 600 tribes, some of whom have the highest rates of infection in the nation, were promised weeks ago a total of $8 billion. About 60% of that is now starting to flow into bank accounts. The delay is attributed to an argument about which tribes should receive funds. In other news on Native Americans, Ireland returns a favor.
ABC News:
Tribes Will Begin To See Some Of Coronavirus Relief Money Owed By Federal Government
Native American tribes were expected to see some long-awaited relief money from the federal government trickle in as soon as Tuesday, according to the Treasury Department -- but the battle is long from over with no timetable set for the remaining funds and a court fight over some of that cash potentially going to for-profit corporations. The nearly 600 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. have not yet received any of the $8 billion set aside for tribes in the CARES Act, which passed over a month ago, despite the devastation Native American tribes have disproportionately experienced from coronavirus. (Haslett and Romero, 5/6)
The New York Times:
Irish Return An Old Favor, Helping Native Americans Battling The Virus
More than 170 years ago, the Choctaw Nation sent $170 to starving Irish families during the potato famine. A sculpture in County Cork commemorates the generosity of the tribe, itself poor. In recent decades, ties between Ireland and the Choctaws have grown. Now hundreds of Irish people are repaying that old kindness, giving to a charity drive for two Native American tribes suffering in the Covid-19 pandemic. As of Tuesday, the fund-raiser has raised more than $1.8 million to help supply clean water, food and health supplies to people in the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation, with hundreds of thousands of dollars coming from Irish donors, according to the organizers. (O'Loughlin and Zaveri, 5/5)
