FROM THE EDITORS .............................
ON THE FRONT LINES
S
ince January, we have read about and watched on televi- sion the massive devastation wrought by a disease as it spread from nation to nation.
COVID-19—caused by a novel coronavirus that was first traced to a live animal market in Wuhan, China—only became known to the public through the brave pleas of doctors for urgent action and the journalists who were eventually able to convey their mes- sages, even though the outbreak originated in a country that censors news. In the months of self-quarantining that
followed, we have depended upon the media’s daily updates that digest the complex, rapidly changing information. Reporters and other news personnel risked exposure to this deadly virus to bring us breaking news from medi- cal personnel, first responders and others on the front lines. Media professionals were among the more than 5 million infected worldwide—and the hundreds of thousands who consequently died. This issue of American Indian magazine
is a tribute to all those in the media profes- sion, particularly Indigenous journalists and photojournalists who are closest to the issues impacting Indigenous peoples. During the past few years, Indigenous affairs that had been virtually absent in mainstream media have once again been brought into the light. In part, this is due to the hard work of Indigenous
8 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2020 NEWS AS ART
The American Indian Movement that activists founded in 1968 and the organization’s partici- pation in the occupation of Alcatraz the follow- ing year brought Native American civil rights to the attention of mainstream media. But that attention waned in the decades that followed. Many people say the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline running next to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota united Native Nations as never before and gathered supporters from around the world, reigniting their passion to speak on behalf of Indigenous affairs. An iconic photo born of these protests (“December 5, 2016/Standing Rock,” right) became a symbol for those fighting for Indigenous civil rights. Tlingit photographer Zoe Urness wanted
to join the protestors at Standing Rock, but, she says, “I didn’t want to go there to just take up space.” She decided she could contribute best by documenting this historic event. From a bridge, she was warming her freezing digital camera beneath her coat when she saw the protestors marching toward her. She ran down through the deep snow to snap a photo. Just after she took the shot, she stumbled and fell into a ravine. When she looked at the image through the preview window, she realized she had captured a unique moment in time that
JOURNALISM MAY NEVER BE SO NEEDED—OR SO ENDANGERED
journalists, some of which has inspired art and some of which has become art.
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