Indigenous People’s Weekend Basketball Expo: Continuing a Legacy – NDNSPORTS

Indigenous People’s Weekend Basketball Expo: Continuing a Legacy – NDNSPORTS

(Reposted from NDNSports.com #1 Online Resource for Native American Sports News)

In the Twin Cities American Indian community, there’s a known legacy for what many states are now calling Indigenous People’s Day. Falling on the 2nd Monday in October, Indigenous People’s Day is federally recognized as Columbus Day. For many, it is a controversial holiday because Christopher Columbus didn’t discoverer, but rather colonized America through the forceful taking of land, widespread genocide, & loss of Indigenous ways of life. Fortunately, Minnesota declares a statewide proclamation every year to honor Indigenous People’s Day & that fact that we are still here.

Brook LaFloe grew up attending the Indigenous People’s Day Parade in the East Metro, as a child, student, teacher, & now as an organizer & member of the planning committee. The parade would lead from the American Indian Magnet School to a historically sacred site called Mounds Park. Continuing this legacy to expel Indigenous erasure, Brook & the Niniijaanis MMIW boys basketball team are creating a new legacy around Indigenous People’s Weekend. Preceding Indigenous People’s Day & proceeding the work of our leaders, we take back the weekend – Indigenous People’s Weekend (IPW).  

Last year was the inagural Indigenous People’s Weekend Basketball expo which aimed to use the sport to support healing, further raise awareness, & engage in conversations about the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women's (MMIW) endemic.  The public health event hosted a youth skills camp, MMIW panel, high school & adult 3 x 3, community feast, & performances. The biggest change this year is taking on an additional day on Sunday to add a 5 x 5 tournament & the Midwest Best MMIW Awareness game.

The Midwest Best MMIW Awareness game features some of the best ballers & role models representing 16 different tribes across the Midwest. The game also features an intentional network of sponsors weaving public, private & tribal support including Niniijaanis One of Ones, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Minnesota Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office, the Kiowa Tribe, & the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. 

Midwest Best MMIW Awareness game players & coaches:

Darius Lasley, Meskwaki Nation, Clarke University

Amya Gourneau, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Minot

Tayzha Buck, Mdewakanton Sioux, University of Evansville

Latesha Buck, Mdewakanton Sioux, University of New Mexico

Wayne Runnels Jr, Cheyenne & Arapaho, Creighton University

Brook LaFloe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Tulane University

Brady Fairbanks, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Bemidji State University

JR Gunville, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Bismark State College

LeRoy Fairbanks IV, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, University of Minnesota Morris

Kolby Gourneau, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Turtle Mountain Community College

Rob McClain Jr, Muscogee Creek & Red Lake Ojibwe, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Marco Mayorga, Fond Du Lac Band of Superior Chippewa, Rainy River College

Amerin Chamberlain, Ho-Chunk Nation, South Minneapolis High School

Jesse Heart, Oglala Lakota, Central Community College-Platte Campus

Brook LaFloe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Tulane University

Jacob Dorian, Rosebud Sioux, Minnesota West Community College

Eldayshan Big Bear, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Isle High School

Johnny Crow, Oglala Lakota, McCook Community College

Isaiah Dow, Lower Sioux, Redwood Valley High School

Shauna Long, Standing Rock Sioux, Lamar University

Derek Tofpi, Kiowa Tribe, Carnegie High School

Tim Gill, African-American, Clarion University