Mark Anthony Rolo, 1962-2000.

On May 30, we lost our dear friend Mark Anthony Rolo, after a long illness. An enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Mark was a contributor to The Progressive for more than two decades, including, in recent years, the web column "Going Native." He was fifty-seven.

Mark was a gifted and resourceful writer (lacking a computer, he once wrote a 2,500-word article for us on his cell phone, prompting us to buy him a laptop) with a wry sense of humor and a kind disposition. He remained optimistic and decent even as he cast an unflinching gaze on the bigotry and unfairness he saw all around him.

"The more pushback Indians face, the stronger our resolve to move toward meaningful change," he wrote in a pre-Thanksgiving column in November 2018, noting the recent election of the first two Native American women to Congress and the resurgence of Native culture. "It's a new future."

Mark wrote for The Circle newspaper at the Minneapolis...