2023
October
31
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 31, 2023
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Did Buffy Sainte-Marie lie to me during an interview?

When I profiled the “first lady of Indigenous music,” I found her immensely likable. Now, a year later, a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. alleges she’s misled people about her heritage and is not Native by birth. First Nation tribes are grappling with the implications of the CBC’s investigation. So am I.

During my conversation with Ms. Sainte-Marie, she said, “I’ve had opportunities that other Indigenous people have not had.” The Oscar-winning songwriter was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. She won a Polaris Heritage Prize. In 2021, she appeared on a Canadian postage stamp. 

The icon claims she’s an Indigenous child adopted by white parents in Massachusetts. But the CBC report offers evidence that her Massachusetts parents are her biological parents. 

In a public statement, Ms. Sainte-Marie responded that her mother had told her she was adopted. “I don’t know where I’m from or who my birth parents were, and I will never know,” she said.

While these competing narratives played out, I revisited the artist’s protest song “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” It’s still powerful, a reminder of a genuine anguish at how Indigenous people have been treated. Ms. Sainte-Marie told me that her proudest achievement was seeing recipients of her scholarships go on to become presidents and founders of tribal colleges.

Now, Canada’s Indigenous communities are wrestling with the news. Kamao Cappo, a member of Pasqua First Nation, told the CBC that the singer’s success gave hope to children. “It’s like a star has fallen,” he said. “How do we replace that?”

Ira Lavallee, acting chief of Piapot First Nation – the tribe that embraced Ms. Sainte-Marie when she was an adult – is waiting to see how his people think about the revelations. But, he told the CBC, “Buffy will always be part of our community. ... We’re not going to turn our back on her.”


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

President Donald Trump has dubbed the new speaker “MAGA Mike.” But the narrative around Mike Johnson may not be so simple. He reflects trends within the Republican Party that preceded Mr. Trump’s rise.

Abed Khaled/AP
Palestinians evacuate two wounded boys following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Oct. 25, 2023.

Amid a war that is confronting the Palestinian residents of Gaza with so much loss, the conflict’s heroes are those serving the community at great risk to themselves, saving lives at hospitals, ferrying refugees, and sharing Gaza’s story with the world.

A recent collision in San Francisco was initiated by humans but also brought safety hurdles for driverless cars into sharp relief. It highlights the role regulators will play in the issue of new technology and public trust.

SARA LANG/THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Frazine Taylor poses in the Alabama State University library in Montgomery, Alabama, May 4, 2023.

Black families hoping to trace their history face a wide range of obstacles. Frazine Taylor has dedicated her life to unlocking the past.

COURTESY OF NOOR ANAND CHAWLA
The writer, with her husband Jassa Chawla, observes the Hindu fast of Karwa Chauth, even though they are practicing Sikhs.

Honoring traditions can offer meaningful connections to our past. In a time of social upheaval, our writer finds deep grounding in celebrating an ancient Hindu festival of love. 


The Monitor's View

In China, where accurate polling is rare, a peephole just opened into what qualities Chinese citizens most admire in a leader, hinting at a China ruled differently someday.

In both public displays of mourning and on social media, people have been paying tribute to a former premier, Li Keqiang, who died Friday just a year after being sidelined by Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

Mr. Li’s popularity can be measured by the fact that a hashtag about him on Weibo, China’s second-largest social media platform, garnered more than 1 billion views in just a few hours after his passing. In contrast, China’s official media had his death as a distant item, even though he was once second in power. Security has also been tight to prevent mass gatherings, while censors worked hard to prevent “overly effusive” comments about Mr. Li and indirect criticism of Mr. Xi’s autocratic rule.

As head of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, for a decade, Mr. Li was widely seen as honest about China’s problems, compassionate toward people in crisis, and open to the innovations of private entrepreneurs. “He stood for allowing more space for societal and market forces,” Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub, told the Financial Times.

Among the online tributes, many cited his comments after becoming premier in 2013: “We will be loyal to the constitution, faithful to the people, and take the people’s wishes as the direction of our governance.” He also said, “Reforming is about curbing government power.”

Videos have been posted of Mr. Li’s visits to the scenes of disasters, even one showing him standing in deep mud to console people. His candor was remembered in comments he made in 2020 when he said China may be the world’s second-largest economy but some 600 million of its people still live on a monthly income of $150.

He also bemoaned dishonesty in China’s official statistics, even telling an American diplomat an alternative way to measure the Chinese economy (railway cargo volume, electricity consumption, and bank loans). That index is still widely used.

Born of humble origins but with degrees in law and economics from a prestigious university, he was an admired technocrat. Yet the tributes to him paint him as “the people’s premier.” Securing the party’s hold on power was not his top priority. In fact, he saw economic growth not in numerical terms but as bringing opportunities for people to “pursue excellence and moral integrity,” as he once said.

“Life is invaluable,” meaning immeasurable, according to Mr. Li. And by the praise now being given to him, his life could be a model for a future China.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

We have the right to dispute the legitimacy of any frightening condition we encounter and experience our God-given health and peace.


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Robert F. Bukaty/AP
Adrienne Dyment gets a hug before her daughter Paizley boards the school bus as classes resume in the wake of last week's mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, Oct. 31, 2023.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thank you for spending time with us today. Tomorrow we’ll have a story on what happens when U.S. states try to do their own climate diplomacy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is just back from a trip to China. Can such efforts make a difference?  

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2023
October
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Tuesday
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