RFK Jr. wants to target chronic disease in tribes after gutting key traditional food & medicine program

CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent time in tribal communities in Arizona and New Mexico this week highlighting ways they are trying to prevent chronic disease among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, something he has said is one of his top priorities.

But Kennedy didn't appear to publicly address a Native health program using traditional medicine and foods to tackle disproportionate rates of conditions like diabetes and liver disease. The program, called Healthy Tribes, was gutted in this month's federal health layoffs.

Some Native leaders say they are having trouble grasping the dissonance between Kennedy's words and his actions. With little information, they wonder if Healthy Tribes is part of the Trump administration's push to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. There also is confusion about what and who is left at the 11-year-old program, which was part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under Kennedy's agency, and doled out $32.5 million a year.

Tribal leaders and health officials told The Associated Press that cuts to the Healthy Tribes program are another violation of the federal government's legal obligation, or trust responsibility, to tribal nations under treaties, law and other acts. That includes funding for health care through the Indian Health Service, as well as education and public safety for citizens of the 574 federally recognized tribes.

But federal funding has long fallen short of meeting those needs, leaving tribal governments to rely on additional grants and programs like Healthy Tribes.

"So many layers of communications of collaboration and partnerships have just been turned off," said Onawa Miller, a Quechan Indian Nation citizen and director of tribal public health for United South and Eastern Tribes, which serves 33 tribes in those regions of the U.S. She said her organization already has received its annual $2 million in Healthy Tribes funding.

Several tribal facilities received an email from a CDC employee April 1 notifying them that the positions of many people who staffed the Healthy Tribes program had been eliminated "as part of the reduction in force efforts at CDC."

The American Federation of Government Employees union, which represents thousands of workers at the CDC in Atlanta, said more than 30 civil servant jobs were or are being eliminated. That includes 11 positions in the Healthy Tribes program and others in the larger Division of Population Health.

An email sent to the account of Healthy Tribes director Dr. Julianna Reece, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was met with an automated reply: "Due to the recent HHS reduction in force, I have been placed on administrative leave and will be separated from the agency on June 2nd." Reece did not respond to requests for comment sent to her federal and personal email accounts.

Native leaders call change 'a violation of trust'
Part of the government upheaval in the past several weeks includes top officials at the National Institutes of Health being offered transfers to Indian Health Service offices far from Washington, D.C. The National Indian Health Board also has said the government eliminated key staff and programs at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health's Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health.

The government is required to consult with tribes on decisions impacting them, like mass layoffs in February at the Indian Health Service that were rescinded hours later, and tribal leaders have warned the Trump administration that such consultations are not happening. In some cases tribes can take legal action against the U.S. for failing to meet its trust responsibilities.

"It is a violation of trust, without a doubt," said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in Washington state.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not answer questions related to the Healthy Tribes cuts but told the AP in an email that the Indian Health Service was not impacted by this month's workforce reductions and there are no plans to consolidate any of its offices.

Kennedy's swing through the Southwest included a visit to a community health center in metro Phoenix that provides physical and mental health care to Native people and a hike with the Navajo Nation president. He also moderated a panel at the Tribal Self-Governance Conference, held on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, but didn't take questions from the audience, tribal leaders on stage or journalists.

Allen said he had a constructive conversation with Kennedy, reminding him IHS is already underfunded and understaffed and that tribes rely on additional federal grants and programs.

"Your issue is to reduce the central office, and so we're OK with that, but move the functions that serve the tribes out to the tribes," Allen said he told Kennedy. "Because if we don't have those resources, how are we gonna make our communities healthy? He agrees."

Grants fund traditional medicine practices
Research shows Native Americans have shorter life expectancies than other ethnic groups, and the Indian Health Service says they face higher mortality rates from chronic conditions like diabetes and liver disease.

In Seattle, Healthy Tribes money pays for a program called GATHER, which focuses on integrating traditional tribal medicine practices into health care. Providers at the Seattle Indian Health Board can use medicine made from plants grown in a community garden. A traditional Native medicine apprentice or healer is a part of a patient's care team.

Seattle Indian Health Board President Esther Lucero, a descendant of the Navajo Nation, said her staff meets with people from the CDC and other Healthy Tribes grantees bimonthly to discuss project updates and ensure compliance with grants. But after last week's layoffs, they are having trouble contacting anyone.

"If you can't actually administer the dollars, how are you going to actually get them out to the programs?" she said. "With this current administration, it's almost like every day we receive an unexpected notice, and then we will get a follow-up notice that says ... you need to move forward as usual."

Lycia Ortega, interim CEO of Los Angeles-based United American Indian Involvement, echoed concerns about the ambiguous and somewhat confusing messages. Her organization uses Healthy Tribes money to foster connections between younger people and elders in Native American and Alaska Native communities.

Native communities have had to push back against the Trump administration's efforts to cut programs that might be considered DEI initiatives, she said, with the help of lawyers, policy experts and watchdogs who point out areas where the government might not be honoring the trust responsibility.

Native people "have a distinct political power," said Ortega, a citizen of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, but "there are policymakers who see tribes as a threat rather than a partner."

Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community, said he told Kennedy privately that consulting with and engaging in respectful partnerships with tribes is key to fulfilling the federal government's trust responsibilities.

Since the Trump administration began making massive cuts to the federal workforce, many tribal leaders have had to clarify with newly appointed federal officials that services to tribes are not based on race but rather on the political status of tribal nations.

"I made it very clear, we are not DEI — as tribal nations, as a political entity," he said.

After a decade of failed attempts, bill establishing Indigenous Peoples Day poised to become law in Montana

By NORA MABIE
Montana Free Press Montana Free Press
Walking up to the podium during a March committee hearing, Marsha Small told Montana state lawmakers, "I feel like I've been here forever."

Small, the co-founder of Indigenous Peoples Day Montana, and others have testified in support of establishing the state holiday for the last 10 years, to no avail.

This year, though, will likely make history, as a bill establishing Indigenous Peoples Day cleared the state Legislature on Thursday and is poised to become law. Senate Bill 224 now heads to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte's desk — marking the most significant progress the legislation has made in a decade.

Lawmakers through the years have cited different reasons for their opposition to establishing Indigenous Peoples Day as a state-recognized holiday in October. Some took issue with past legislation that would have eliminated Columbus Day, arguing that Christopher Columbus is an important historical figure. Last legislative session, lawmakers criticized bill sponsor Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula and a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, for speaking about the atrocities Columbus committed against Native Americans when he advocated for the 2023 bill on the Senate floor.

This year, though, Morigeau and other supporters took a different path. Rather than eliminate or replace Columbus Day, SB 224 allows Montanans to celebrate either or both holidays. Morigeau has consistently emphasized inclusivity in his remarks to lawmakers this session, saying the holiday is meant to celebrate all Montanans. He told Montana Free Press in March that those changes in approach have likely contributed to the bill's success.

Morigeau in a March House State Administration Committee meeting said SB 224 would establish a "flexible holiday," giving people the choice to celebrate however they please.

"It's a day that celebrates the ancestral lineage of all Montanans," he added. "It's a day that is shaped and molded by each community and how that community wants to celebrate each other."

Small told lawmakers in the same hearing that establishing Indigenous Peoples Day "can bring us together."

"I believe celebrating Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day on the same day will go a long way to healing our communities," she said.

Several non-Native supporters this session said the bill encouraged them to research their own lineage. Jacob Zimmerer, a graduate student in Indigenous and rural health at Montana State University, addressed committee members first in Irish. He told lawmakers that his trips to Ireland prompted him to think deeply about ancestral stories and connections.

"Indigenous Peoples Day to me is an opportunity for us all to feel those layers of stories," he said.

Olivia Adams, a senior at Arlee High School and citizen of the Blackfeet Nation, told lawmakers in the March committee meeting that establishing the holiday "is a chance to celebrate the resilience and strength of Indigenous people."

"It's about recognizing the histories and cultures of Indigenous people who have been here for thousands of years — long before Montana became Montana," she added.

While SB 224 has advanced through the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, the only hitch in its progress came on the afternoon of April 9 when Rep. Ed Byrne, R-Bigfork, proposed an amendment on the House floor that would list Columbus Day first in the bill's language, before Indigenous Peoples Day. Byrne argued Columbus Day should be named first to "maintain its precedence of establishment."

Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning and carrier of the bill on the floor, said the amendment would "delay the process and might kill the bill." The amendment was voted down 27-71 and the bill ultimately cleared the chamber with bipartisan support.

Native Americans make up 6.7% of Montanan's population. The state is home to 12 tribal nations and seven reservations.
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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.