Muscogee in the News -- Death of a forest defender, museums harboring remains and media censorship
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
There are three news articles today about the Muscogee which together are a powerful statement, a force. Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, forest defender was shot and killed by police in his tent in Atlanta, Georgia, on the ancestral land of Muscogee.
Meanwhile, following the release of new data by ProPublica, it is revealed that museums, universities, and U.S. buildings are harboring the remains of Muscogee throughout the Southeast. There are thousands of of remains of Muscogee and other Native people at the University of Alabama.
And, the film "Bad Press" premiered at Sundance, which documents the censorship of the media by the Muscogee Creek tribal government in Oklahoma. Nationwide, the systematic censorship and oppression by tribal governments, modeled after the United States government, results in displacement, tribal government corruption, violations of human rights, mining, and ongoing suffering from the need for water, food, and heat, regardless of the revenues available.
Together these three news articles today signal the state of the nation of the United States, as it is, and as it has been.