As community media outlets nationwide struggle to survive, a San Diego–based publication serving 18 Native American tribal nations is doubling down on community reporting and convening media leaders this month to strengthen cross-ethnic coalitions.
Rose Davis, a journalist and political activist of South Asian-Black and Seminole heritage, founded Indian Voices over 25 years ago to address a persistent gap in local journalism: the near-absence of sustained reporting on Native American and Indigenous communities.
Davis recently spoke with ACoM Co-Director Julian Do about the outlet’s origins, its role in San Diego County’s tribal landscape and why Indigenous-led media remains essential amid widening “news deserts.”
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
JD: Tell us about your background and what led you to create Indian Voices.
RD: News deserts for Native Americans and Indigenous populations are not new; they date back to the founding of America. My interest in this work grew out of the civil rights movement and my own background, which spans South Asian, Black, and Seminole histories.
My paternal grandfather, originally from India, married a Black woman from St. Kitts Island in the Caribbean. They moved to Boston and changed their last names to Davis to better navigate the social context of the time. My father, a Boston-born doctor, met and married my mother, who is Seminole, while he was completing his medical residency in North Carolina, where I was born.
With this varied personal history, I came to realize that no single perspective can fully capture what’s happening in any given moment. What connects people across those differences is a shared desire for human rights and a life lived with dignity.
After moving to San Diego three decades ago, I saw there was no sustained news outlet serving the region’s Native American and Indigenous communities. I started Indian Voices as a newsletter to address that gap. It has since grown into a monthly publication focused on bringing marginalized perspectives into broader public policy conversations, while fostering cross-cultural understanding.
JD: Who is Indian Voices’ audience and what challenges do you face?
RD: San Diego County is home to the country’s highest concentration of federally recognized tribal nations—18 in all. In fact, several reservations were split by the U.S.-Mexico border, separating Indigenous families who lived on this land long before either nation existed. These communities are our primary audience.
Our secondary audience includes policymakers, academic institutions and non-Indigenous allies. We believe mainstream readers need a clearer understanding of Indigenous history and present-day realities if public policy is to change.
Editorially, Indian Voices does not separate Black and Indigenous experiences. There is a long Afro-Indigenous history of shared struggle around civil and human rights, and we reflect that intersection in our reporting.
With a core staff of two—including myself—and a limited number of contributors, our capacity is modest. Even so, we cover issues ranging from tribal sovereignty and environmental justice to housing, health and education disparities, policing, and intergenerational trauma—issues rooted in historical abuses that continue to limit our opportunities.
JD: What are Indian Voices’ biggest milestones and accomplishments?
RD: In this era of media distrust, Indian Voices is considered a trusted news source supported by our “editorial independence” as a community watchdog, reporting on issues like police corruption, government neglect and environmental justice.
We also actively document and preserve local tribal history, countering the erasure often found in standard history books through projects like “The Spirit of San Diego” and our reporting on the histories of the Kumeyaay and Luiseño peoples.
We’ve also built coalitions between Native American nations and other grassroots groups, including labor unions and environmental organizations.
Our print edition remains one of the few consistent news sources distributed directly to reservations, tribal halls and health clinics, informing communities with limited digital access and unifying San Diego County’s 18 sovereign nations. Our paper also serves as a neutral forum where tribes—like the Kumeyaay, Luiseño/Payómkawichum and Cahuilla—can share their news, events and political concerns.
JD: Tell us about your upcoming event, “Indigenous Wisdom Through Media.”
RD: We’re hosting “Indigenous Wisdom Through Media” on January 27, at the Pala Indian Reservation in San Diego’s North County. We want to unify Indigenous and independent media creators, building a more cohesive collective voice.
Because our audience is both Indigenous and mainstream, this event is open to all interested journalists, editors, activists and business and nonprofit leaders across sectors.
Unlike standard networking mixers held in conference rooms, this gathering offers a rare opportunity for spiritual grounding and strategic coalition-building on sovereign land. Our media partner is Rez Radio (Pala 91.3 FM), one of the most important tribal broadcast stations in the country.
The Pala Reservation, home to Rez Radio, sits at the intersection of many challenges—labor, housing and border-related issues—that affect both Indigenous and other underserved communities. Working with tribal broadcasters who understand that terrain is essential.
We’ve also observed that ethnic media reporters often experience a unique kind of burnout because they regularly cover hate crimes and trauma affecting their own communities. This event offers a restorative approach, treating journalism as a healing practice rather than just a nonstop production cycle. This is a culturally competent form of professional development that mainstream press organizations simply don’t provide.
A unified voice for our community matters because a coalition that includes Indigenous, Black, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern and LGBTQ voices is significantly harder for funders, government agencies and policymakers to ignore than one single small paper.
