Laura Evans
@lauraevans.bsky.social
Poli Sci prof at University of California, Riverside. I write and teach about the politics of Native Nations, Indigenous peoples, federalism, and race. I am both a dog person and a cat person.
2 things to note:
-Tribes are not subsets of states, as press release implies.
-States cannot choose whether tribal rights, including tribal rights, are constricted or not.
Tribes are sovereigns that precede the states.
(Yes, there are tons of nuances here. But remember the fundamentals.)
-Tribes are not subsets of states, as press release implies.
-States cannot choose whether tribal rights, including tribal rights, are constricted or not.
Tribes are sovereigns that precede the states.
(Yes, there are tons of nuances here. But remember the fundamentals.)
JOINT STATEMENT:
@governor.ca.gov Gavin Newsom, Governor Katie Hobbs and Governor Joe Lombardo released the following statement on the Colorado River deadline:
@governor.ca.gov Gavin Newsom, Governor Katie Hobbs and Governor Joe Lombardo released the following statement on the Colorado River deadline:
February 13, 2026 at 7:41 PM
2 things to note:
-Tribes are not subsets of states, as press release implies.
-States cannot choose whether tribal rights, including tribal rights, are constricted or not.
Tribes are sovereigns that precede the states.
(Yes, there are tons of nuances here. But remember the fundamentals.)
-Tribes are not subsets of states, as press release implies.
-States cannot choose whether tribal rights, including tribal rights, are constricted or not.
Tribes are sovereigns that precede the states.
(Yes, there are tons of nuances here. But remember the fundamentals.)
If teaching US modern territorial politics for the first time, may I suggest using US v. Vaello Madero
Gorsuch concurrence details how the entire basis for territorial governance today is racist.
Here are highlight quotes
🧵
Gorsuch concurrence details how the entire basis for territorial governance today is racist.
Here are highlight quotes
🧵
February 10, 2026 at 8:53 PM
If teaching US modern territorial politics for the first time, may I suggest using US v. Vaello Madero
Gorsuch concurrence details how the entire basis for territorial governance today is racist.
Here are highlight quotes
🧵
Gorsuch concurrence details how the entire basis for territorial governance today is racist.
Here are highlight quotes
🧵
Reposted by Laura Evans
If you or someone in your network is interested in working at @brookings.edu on issues affecting Native Americans and Tribal economies, I am hiring for a (paid!) summer intern. You can find more info or apply here:
Jobs and Internships
interns-brookings.icims.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:57 PM
If you or someone in your network is interested in working at @brookings.edu on issues affecting Native Americans and Tribal economies, I am hiring for a (paid!) summer intern. You can find more info or apply here:
The leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe have a helluva lot more courage of conviction than a lot of mealy-mouthed politicians out there.
The Oglala have banned ICE and the u.s. border patrol from Pine Ridge Reservation
January 29, 2026 at 10:36 PM
The leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe have a helluva lot more courage of conviction than a lot of mealy-mouthed politicians out there.
Reposted by Laura Evans
Cuddles and coffee. We all need a dose of unconditional love right now. These pups are future Guide Dogs for the blind.
January 25, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Cuddles and coffee. We all need a dose of unconditional love right now. These pups are future Guide Dogs for the blind.
Remember that at this point, the Trump Administration has researched the best arguments they have available to justify Pretti’s murder. Their best wonks and analysts were up all night designing a strategy.
It’s telling that their best arguments are devoid of fact and reason.
It’s telling that their best arguments are devoid of fact and reason.
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Remember that at this point, the Trump Administration has researched the best arguments they have available to justify Pretti’s murder. Their best wonks and analysts were up all night designing a strategy.
It’s telling that their best arguments are devoid of fact and reason.
It’s telling that their best arguments are devoid of fact and reason.
Genuinely—can someone explain to me Bondi’s request for MN voting records?
In every state I know, it’s already public record whether you’re registered, for which party, and which elections you’ve participated in.
Are Bondi’s staff so incompetent that they don’t know this? Or is MN law unusual?
In every state I know, it’s already public record whether you’re registered, for which party, and which elections you’ve participated in.
Are Bondi’s staff so incompetent that they don’t know this? Or is MN law unusual?
January 25, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Genuinely—can someone explain to me Bondi’s request for MN voting records?
In every state I know, it’s already public record whether you’re registered, for which party, and which elections you’ve participated in.
Are Bondi’s staff so incompetent that they don’t know this? Or is MN law unusual?
In every state I know, it’s already public record whether you’re registered, for which party, and which elections you’ve participated in.
Are Bondi’s staff so incompetent that they don’t know this? Or is MN law unusual?
These claims are patently false. Here’s the data on Native health
Native Life expectancy
Greenland: 74.0 for women, 69.2 for men
Alaska: 72.8 for women, for 68.1 men
Share of Native women involuntarily sterilized in US in 1970’s: one quarter
🧵
Native Life expectancy
Greenland: 74.0 for women, 69.2 for men
Alaska: 72.8 for women, for 68.1 men
Share of Native women involuntarily sterilized in US in 1970’s: one quarter
🧵
Waltz: "Denmark has ignored Greenland from a defense standpoint and they have ignored the Greenlandic native iniut people ... if you get a cancer diagnosis in Greenland right now, it's darn near a death sentence. Denmark has not invested in the way it should've over the years."
January 25, 2026 at 6:27 PM
These claims are patently false. Here’s the data on Native health
Native Life expectancy
Greenland: 74.0 for women, 69.2 for men
Alaska: 72.8 for women, for 68.1 men
Share of Native women involuntarily sterilized in US in 1970’s: one quarter
🧵
Native Life expectancy
Greenland: 74.0 for women, 69.2 for men
Alaska: 72.8 for women, for 68.1 men
Share of Native women involuntarily sterilized in US in 1970’s: one quarter
🧵
Heart-shaped whale spray, for anyone who needs something good and beautiful to sustain them.
🐳🤍 Sat, Jan 24
No word on those orcas yet, but a gray whale has been reported in Saratoga Passage near the entrance to Holmes Harbor, Whidbey.
📸 Heart-shaped exhalation of North Puget Sound gray whale (Sounder) CRC53 "Little Patch". By Jason Cook, from Hidden Beach, Whidbey Island 1/18/26.
#psws
No word on those orcas yet, but a gray whale has been reported in Saratoga Passage near the entrance to Holmes Harbor, Whidbey.
📸 Heart-shaped exhalation of North Puget Sound gray whale (Sounder) CRC53 "Little Patch". By Jason Cook, from Hidden Beach, Whidbey Island 1/18/26.
#psws
January 24, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Heart-shaped whale spray, for anyone who needs something good and beautiful to sustain them.
Helpful explanation of why it’s important to think about US power plays over Greenland through the lens of Native politics.
Too much other news coverage has been built on a lot of presumptions about the people of Greenland and their desires.
grist.org/global-indig...
Too much other news coverage has been built on a lot of presumptions about the people of Greenland and their desires.
grist.org/global-indig...
Greenland is a global model for Indigenous self-governance. Trump’s demands for the island threaten that.
Historians say underpinning Trump's talk of national security lies a longstanding pattern of American entitlement to Native land.
grist.org
January 23, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Helpful explanation of why it’s important to think about US power plays over Greenland through the lens of Native politics.
Too much other news coverage has been built on a lot of presumptions about the people of Greenland and their desires.
grist.org/global-indig...
Too much other news coverage has been built on a lot of presumptions about the people of Greenland and their desires.
grist.org/global-indig...
Sometimes we talk about the enduring presence of genocidal institutions in a metaphorical way. But sometimes it’s physical.
ictnews.org/news/former-...
ictnews.org/news/former-...
Former Native American concentration camp lies beneath current immigration detention center - ICT
Fort Snelling, the site of a Dakota War era concentration camp, is once again being used to detain Indigenous people
ictnews.org
January 23, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Sometimes we talk about the enduring presence of genocidal institutions in a metaphorical way. But sometimes it’s physical.
ictnews.org/news/former-...
ictnews.org/news/former-...
Ah, old familiar speech that non-Christians are monsters who don’t love children.
January 23, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Ah, old familiar speech that non-Christians are monsters who don’t love children.
Yup. I read this as saying the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all Arctic peoples is up for grabs.
January 21, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Yup. I read this as saying the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all Arctic peoples is up for grabs.
Reposted by Laura Evans
Trump is not “bringing back” the age of U.S. imperialism. From Indigenous nations, to Guam and Puerto Rico, to migrants detained at our border, the U.S. has always controlled the lands and lives of people who had no say. The U.S. has always been an empire.
January 21, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Trump is not “bringing back” the age of U.S. imperialism. From Indigenous nations, to Guam and Puerto Rico, to migrants detained at our border, the U.S. has always controlled the lands and lives of people who had no say. The U.S. has always been an empire.
Reposted by Laura Evans
man could we please stop with the ignorant “Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, so the people who live there must be white” takes?
89.51% of Greenland’s population are Greenlandic Inuit.
89.51% of Greenland’s population are Greenlandic Inuit.
#Nunavut
‘This is all our family’: Nunavummiut rally to support Greenland, as Inuit leaders also speak up
Dozens of people participated in rally and walk in Iqaluit on Saturday
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
‘This is all our family’: Nunavummiut rally to support Greenland, as Inuit leaders also speak up
Dozens of people participated in rally and walk in Iqaluit on Saturday
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
‘This is all our family’: Nunavummiut rally to support Greenland, as Inuit leaders also speak up | CBC News
Nunavummiut rallied on Saturday in Iqaluit to show their support for Greenland, as thousands of others did the same in Greenland and Denmark.
www.cbc.ca
January 21, 2026 at 5:05 PM
man could we please stop with the ignorant “Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, so the people who live there must be white” takes?
89.51% of Greenland’s population are Greenlandic Inuit.
89.51% of Greenland’s population are Greenlandic Inuit.
Maybe Trump’s reference to Iceland is dementia. But maybe it’s a tell.
If someone informed him that his logic wrt Greenland applies as well to Iceland and to the Arctic islands of Canada and Norway, he’d be pleased as punch.
If someone informed him that his logic wrt Greenland applies as well to Iceland and to the Arctic islands of Canada and Norway, he’d be pleased as punch.
Iceland, Greenland.
Greenland, Iceland.
Greenland, Iceland.
Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
January 21, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Maybe Trump’s reference to Iceland is dementia. But maybe it’s a tell.
If someone informed him that his logic wrt Greenland applies as well to Iceland and to the Arctic islands of Canada and Norway, he’d be pleased as punch.
If someone informed him that his logic wrt Greenland applies as well to Iceland and to the Arctic islands of Canada and Norway, he’d be pleased as punch.
Seriously, what’s going to happen when he learns Reykjavik is in the Western Hemisphere, too?
Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
January 21, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Seriously, what’s going to happen when he learns Reykjavik is in the Western Hemisphere, too?
Reposted by Laura Evans
Across the country Indigenous nations are warning their citizens they may be targeted by ICE and to carry tribal IDs. If this is not evidence of racial profiling, I don’t know what is.
January 20, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Across the country Indigenous nations are warning their citizens they may be targeted by ICE and to carry tribal IDs. If this is not evidence of racial profiling, I don’t know what is.
Reposted by Laura Evans
WELKER: Why is it necessary to do something 85% of Greenlanders oppose?
BESSENT: Denmark has a terrible history w/ Greenlanders. There were forced sterilizations until the '90s. Now that the US has expressed an interest, there is this new interest. But the US needs to be in control to prevent a war
BESSENT: Denmark has a terrible history w/ Greenlanders. There were forced sterilizations until the '90s. Now that the US has expressed an interest, there is this new interest. But the US needs to be in control to prevent a war
January 18, 2026 at 2:39 PM
WELKER: Why is it necessary to do something 85% of Greenlanders oppose?
BESSENT: Denmark has a terrible history w/ Greenlanders. There were forced sterilizations until the '90s. Now that the US has expressed an interest, there is this new interest. But the US needs to be in control to prevent a war
BESSENT: Denmark has a terrible history w/ Greenlanders. There were forced sterilizations until the '90s. Now that the US has expressed an interest, there is this new interest. But the US needs to be in control to prevent a war
Reposted by Laura Evans
🇬🇱 Greenlanders protest in Nuuk after Trump's annexation threats
Thousands of people protest in the capital of Greenland against President Donald Trump's plans for the US to annex the Danish autonomous territory.
Thousands of people protest in the capital of Greenland against President Donald Trump's plans for the US to annex the Danish autonomous territory.
January 18, 2026 at 4:01 PM
🇬🇱 Greenlanders protest in Nuuk after Trump's annexation threats
Thousands of people protest in the capital of Greenland against President Donald Trump's plans for the US to annex the Danish autonomous territory.
Thousands of people protest in the capital of Greenland against President Donald Trump's plans for the US to annex the Danish autonomous territory.
Reposted by Laura Evans
An Inuit message of solidarity and support for our 🇬🇱 relatives from Inuit of Alaska and Canada ❤️
You are not alone. We love you and stand for your right to self-determine the future of your nunaat ✨️
#InuitNunaat #InuitNunangat #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #KalaallitPigaat
youtu.be/MeE8PHbLgfo?...
You are not alone. We love you and stand for your right to self-determine the future of your nunaat ✨️
#InuitNunaat #InuitNunangat #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #KalaallitPigaat
youtu.be/MeE8PHbLgfo?...
180,000 Strong Inuit Standing Together
YouTube video by Ayyu
youtu.be
January 17, 2026 at 9:07 AM
An Inuit message of solidarity and support for our 🇬🇱 relatives from Inuit of Alaska and Canada ❤️
You are not alone. We love you and stand for your right to self-determine the future of your nunaat ✨️
#InuitNunaat #InuitNunangat #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #KalaallitPigaat
youtu.be/MeE8PHbLgfo?...
You are not alone. We love you and stand for your right to self-determine the future of your nunaat ✨️
#InuitNunaat #InuitNunangat #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #KalaallitPigaat
youtu.be/MeE8PHbLgfo?...
Settler colonialism is a helluva drug
Cruz: "When it comes to Greenland, I want to commend President Trump for being single-mindedly focused on America first... I believe it is overwhelmingly in America's national interest to acquire Greenland... the whole history of America has been a history of acquiring new lands and new territories"
January 18, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Settler colonialism is a helluva drug
If you’re having a tough day, here’s a baby orca to make it better.
🖤🤍 Fri, Jan 16
Intriguing when a number of orcas go unreported, but the endangered SRKWs did! Yesterday, it wasn't until late morn when Ks were seen in Possession Sound & late afternoon when likely J pod was seen exiting Admiralty.
📸 Sweet calf K47 by @whaleresearch.bsky.social on 1/3
#psws
Intriguing when a number of orcas go unreported, but the endangered SRKWs did! Yesterday, it wasn't until late morn when Ks were seen in Possession Sound & late afternoon when likely J pod was seen exiting Admiralty.
📸 Sweet calf K47 by @whaleresearch.bsky.social on 1/3
#psws
January 17, 2026 at 5:40 AM
If you’re having a tough day, here’s a baby orca to make it better.
It is hard to see this as anything but retaliation against the Oglala Sioux Tribe by Noem. They were highly critical of her and kicked off the movement to ban her from reservations in SD. See letter below.
At DHS, Noem’s rhetoric and imagery have been consistently anti-Native.
1/2
At DHS, Noem’s rhetoric and imagery have been consistently anti-Native.
1/2
January 14, 2026 at 5:22 PM
It is hard to see this as anything but retaliation against the Oglala Sioux Tribe by Noem. They were highly critical of her and kicked off the movement to ban her from reservations in SD. See letter below.
At DHS, Noem’s rhetoric and imagery have been consistently anti-Native.
1/2
At DHS, Noem’s rhetoric and imagery have been consistently anti-Native.
1/2