Treaty Rights and Frontline Resistance
Center for Great Plains Studies
Author
04/20/2022
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27
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Description
Keshia Talking Waters De Freece Lawrence (Ramapough Lenape International Law scholar) and Isabella Knife (Indigenous Activist from the Ihanktonwan Dakota Nation, of the Feather Necklace Tiospaye)
This presentation will discuss, and layout the treaty history of the so-called United States with Indigenous nations, and examine this history in relation to international law, self-determination, ecocide, environmental sovereignty and indigenous autonomy. Presenters will also discuss the current stance of 'Blockadia,' the international environmental justice movement happening across Turtle Island. In addition, this presentation will critique climate change education systems, and the lack of transparency presented towards Indigenous nations with regards to land and water uses, and STEM research. (Moderator: Chris Steinke)
Part of the Reckoning & Reconciliation on the Great Plains summit
Searchable Transcript
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- [00:00:00.236](melodious music)
- [00:00:05.040]Well, welcome everyone to this morning panel
- [00:00:10.240]in the 2022 Great Plain Summit,
- [00:00:13.550]Reckoning and Reconciliation on the Great Plains.
- [00:00:17.520]My name is Chris Steinke,
- [00:00:19.700]I teach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney,
- [00:00:23.100]in the History Department.
- [00:00:25.100]It's my pleasure to be a moderator for this panel
- [00:00:30.060]focused on Treaty Rights and Frontline Resistance.
- [00:00:34.700]And today, we'll be hearing from
- [00:00:37.400]Keisha Talking Waters De Freece Lawrence
- [00:00:41.180]who is a Ramapough Lenape International Law Scholar
- [00:00:45.020]and Climate Change Activist based in Connecticut
- [00:00:48.450]on Pequot Territory.
- [00:00:51.010]She has studied in the field of climate change
- [00:00:53.130]and international conflict negotiations
- [00:00:55.470]across Turtle Island, Italy, Australia
- [00:00:58.720]and Costa Rica.
- [00:01:00.480]And it looks like Isabella Knife
- [00:01:03.970]will be unable to join the session this morning,
- [00:01:10.040]but at this point, I'll turn it over to Keisha
- [00:01:14.240]for her presentation on Treaty Rights
- [00:01:17.010]and Frontline Resistance.
- [00:01:21.410]Thank you so much, kataputush.
- [00:01:23.480]Good morning, everybody.
- [00:01:25.610]So I'm really excited to be speaking today.
- [00:01:28.100]I'm also freshly coming back from
- [00:01:31.940]a different type of frontline,
- [00:01:33.270]not necessarily environmental,
- [00:01:34.740]but truly treaty rights and legal.
- [00:01:37.840]So I'm coming from Winnemucca, Nevada,
- [00:01:39.840]and I will talk a little bit about that towards the end.
- [00:01:43.910]So I'm gonna share my screen.
- [00:01:47.050]So for those of you,
- [00:01:49.460]I mean, you heard my introduction,
- [00:01:50.880]I'm based out of Connecticut,
- [00:01:52.770]my nation, however, Ramapough, Lenape,
- [00:01:54.700]we are sitting in Northern New Jersey
- [00:01:57.010]and slightly over the line
- [00:01:58.700]into Suffern portion of New York.
- [00:02:01.760]And for some of you who might know, who are in the Plains,
- [00:02:04.520]there are Lenape in Wyoming, Kansas, Wisconsin.
- [00:02:08.620]We range much of the East Coast,
- [00:02:10.800]but then we've moved often.
- [00:02:13.840]So part of that forceful
- [00:02:15.730]and part of that is a part of trade routes
- [00:02:17.550]and nation to nation building,
- [00:02:19.230]which I'll talk about today
- [00:02:20.430]in the form of frontline resistance
- [00:02:22.960]and what nation to nation building looks like
- [00:02:25.640]in the face of ecocide
- [00:02:27.020]and the treaties that are established
- [00:02:28.760]when making new ones.
- [00:02:33.500]So a brief agenda, if you will.
- [00:02:36.420]I would say, more or less, section 1, the first few slides,
- [00:02:39.060]we're gonna run through what Turtle Island is as a term,
- [00:02:42.610]but also, the terra space itself, how that's been formed,
- [00:02:45.570]but also, what that means in terms of the people
- [00:02:49.180]that were physically there first
- [00:02:50.600]and then who's there now.
- [00:02:52.260]The indigenous treaties that exists,
- [00:02:54.960]so with each other,
- [00:02:55.870]but then also, the colonial impact of treaties.
- [00:02:58.530]So having treaties
- [00:03:00.170]that are an attempt at transcending culture
- [00:03:02.470]in terms of politics and legality.
- [00:03:04.880]And then what is the international stance here?
- [00:03:07.870]Do international politics and treaties actually play a role
- [00:03:11.610]for Indian Country or what the United States
- [00:03:14.580]and Canadian First Nation system is?
- [00:03:17.870]And then, gonna talk a little bit more
- [00:03:19.350]about the United Nations,
- [00:03:20.440]but in terms of their environmental platform
- [00:03:24.120]and where indigenous realities overlap or don't.
- [00:03:27.650]Land as priority, what it means for realist politics
- [00:03:31.130]and realist values,
- [00:03:32.170]in terms of the land and now the water space.
- [00:03:35.300]Ecocide and genocide, how they may differ,
- [00:03:37.490]but also how they're actually the exact same thing
- [00:03:39.550]for indigenous people.
- [00:03:41.060]And then a few key words
- [00:03:42.920]before I talk a little bit about
- [00:03:44.600]what the current stance of blockadia
- [00:03:46.640]and indigenous front lines are,
- [00:03:49.070]and dependent on time, a little ability for Q&A,
- [00:03:52.420]should anyone have any questions along the way.
- [00:03:57.640]So when we talk about Turtle Island,
- [00:04:00.500]as you can see, to the right,
- [00:04:01.990]there's an image of the United States,
- [00:04:04.540]although Mexico is cut out,
- [00:04:05.930]Mexico is very much a part of Turtle Island
- [00:04:08.370]as well as the Land Bridge,
- [00:04:10.450]into Northern Canada and then our new, if you will,
- [00:04:15.350]land masses as the United States of Hawaii and Alaska.
- [00:04:18.810]So Turtle Island as a term
- [00:04:20.880]actually comes from an Eastern creation story,
- [00:04:23.110]and that's the creation story of Sky Woman,
- [00:04:25.630]prominently associated with the Haudenosaunee,
- [00:04:28.210]which Mayan people are part of via treaty relations,
- [00:04:32.120]and I'll talk about that.
- [00:04:34.090]But Turtle Island as a term
- [00:04:36.760]and in relation to Sky Woman,
- [00:04:38.730]is the reality and, I guess, world view
- [00:04:43.420]for indigenous people that we came from the Sky World
- [00:04:45.910]for those of us on the East Coast.
- [00:04:47.970]And it's important to note that
- [00:04:49.900]for some nations that utilize this story,
- [00:04:52.370]they were once East Coast nations
- [00:04:54.100]that have now been moved to the Plains.
- [00:04:56.070]When we think about the Anishinaabe,
- [00:04:58.750]these are Eastern people,
- [00:05:00.040]their language, although Ojibwe has roots in Algonquin,
- [00:05:03.670]which is a predominant East language.
- [00:05:05.840]So we see cultural ties in terms of the topography,
- [00:05:09.110]but also the cultures and the people that are expressed
- [00:05:11.470]throughout that movement of the land.
- [00:05:14.770]And moving forward,
- [00:05:16.260]I also wanna point out that
- [00:05:18.830]the terraforming of Turtle Island
- [00:05:21.170]is a negative impact in terms of future treaty rights,
- [00:05:24.850]because many of the treaties that exist
- [00:05:27.610]specify specific land masses
- [00:05:30.430]and how nations can utilize them.
- [00:05:32.680]The land is used more or less as a boundary
- [00:05:35.720]in terms of the explanation of people's movements.
- [00:05:39.030]And we can see that in terms of the mapping of land,
- [00:05:41.920]there's a lot of boundaries,
- [00:05:43.140]many of which are straight lines,
- [00:05:45.120]and any scientist will tell you,
- [00:05:47.580]there is no straight perfection
- [00:05:50.090]when it comes to the natural world.
- [00:05:52.110]So moving forward,
- [00:05:54.020]keep this in mind as the base
- [00:05:55.770]of what it means to have a treaty in relation to land
- [00:05:59.057]and in relation to people,
- [00:06:01.040]but trying to separate each other from all of those steps.
- [00:06:08.410]So when we talk about terraforming,
- [00:06:10.610]terraforming is typically viewed as the process
- [00:06:13.970]of transforming or sculpting or transitioning
- [00:06:18.290]a planet from inhabitable to habitable.
- [00:06:22.350]I would argue that for earth in total,
- [00:06:25.410]that is all this planet has ever known,
- [00:06:27.550]is constant attempts at terraforming.
- [00:06:30.150]Although we have always been here,
- [00:06:32.130]gravity works for everybody that is on this planet,
- [00:06:35.170]thus what was inhabitable really,
- [00:06:38.200]if we're constant changing the natural realm?
- [00:06:42.640]I think typically terraforming is brought up in response to
- [00:06:46.050]the current outer space colonization that's happening too,
- [00:06:49.380]considering it's for a habitable space.
- [00:06:51.850]When we think about the endeavors in Mars, right?
- [00:06:54.820]We're talking about terraforming the outer space,
- [00:06:57.240]because we've realized
- [00:06:58.820]that where we current currently are
- [00:07:00.010]might not always sustain us,
- [00:07:01.510]might not continue to sustain the population,
- [00:07:04.160]the ways of life, whatever it may be,
- [00:07:06.530]the ongoing political stances.
- [00:07:09.470]But when we think about the types of terraforming
- [00:07:11.900]that are exhibited,
- [00:07:13.410]we're looking at purchasing or conquering of land
- [00:07:15.910]in the sense of Alaska, the Kingdom of Hawaii,
- [00:07:19.060]Puerto Rico or Wakin, the Taino Territory.
- [00:07:24.470]The physical changing due to natural causes,
- [00:07:26.810]so erosion, flooding, plate tectonics,
- [00:07:30.260]at one point the grand canyon did have water,
- [00:07:32.850]at one point the Plains did have an aquifer and still does,
- [00:07:36.760]but we haven't figured out how to replenish these things.
- [00:07:39.620]So what does it mean in terms of, you know,
- [00:07:42.420]the purchasing and the modernized politics of land
- [00:07:46.270]in relation to what the land is naturally doing itself.
- [00:07:50.010]But then we have the colonial
- [00:07:51.210]manmade changes on top of that.
- [00:07:53.740]Dams, the physical movement of water bodies
- [00:07:57.790]to sustain certain communities,
- [00:08:00.640]when we talk about dynamite use
- [00:08:02.510]for the mountains and the railroads
- [00:08:04.400]and Western expansion in total,
- [00:08:07.640]we are literally talking about
- [00:08:10.470]physically altering of a complete Plains region,
- [00:08:15.960]but in total, the whole country.
- [00:08:18.840]And finally, I wanna point out
- [00:08:20.560]that the physical of subsistence living communities
- [00:08:24.200]has also taken part of the terraforming that we know today,
- [00:08:28.320]in terms of indigenous food sovereignty
- [00:08:31.050]and the changes that occur over time,
- [00:08:33.250]the horticulture that goes into
- [00:08:34.990]making sustainable agricultural areas
- [00:08:37.880]is no longer in the same stance that it has been.
- [00:08:41.850]And micro doses,
- [00:08:43.180]we do see communities bringing these aspects back.
- [00:08:46.240]We see this, especially in the Plains region right now,
- [00:08:49.550]the push to bring bison home,
- [00:08:51.450]and how in many positive ways that could help
- [00:08:54.280]reterraform and bring back many agricultural realities.
- [00:08:59.280]However, we are also seeing and experiencing
- [00:09:02.940]that there is a huge shift to what was normal for them
- [00:09:05.900]versus is normal now,
- [00:09:07.670]and the tolerance or lack thereof
- [00:09:10.410]for these species to come home.
- [00:09:16.190]So in terms of nation to nation treaties,
- [00:09:19.600]I think I see a few different sections here
- [00:09:21.880]that I kind of wanna explain
- [00:09:24.090]from an Eastern perspective and then
- [00:09:26.890]how that can be applied to a future resistance
- [00:09:31.180]or the resistance that's building all across Turtle Island,
- [00:09:35.230]but Plains kind of being and ground zero.
- [00:09:38.090]So for Indigenous Nation to Nation treaties,
- [00:09:40.620]what I mean by that in particular,
- [00:09:43.820]like I said, being someone from the Eastern door,
- [00:09:46.020]is we have what's known as Wampum treaties.
- [00:09:48.500]So the utilization of shells coming from the environment
- [00:09:51.980]and substances that are naturally around us
- [00:09:55.210]to mold what is essentially art,
- [00:09:59.940]but something that tells a story,
- [00:10:01.640]to literally utilize the environment to tell a story
- [00:10:04.590]of all the parties and all of the people involved
- [00:10:07.480]in creating a relationship.
- [00:10:10.390]For Eastern people,
- [00:10:11.620]that is how we have gone about
- [00:10:13.300]showing solidarity and building true alliances.
- [00:10:17.230]I would say the most prominent Wampum Treaty
- [00:10:18.960]is the Two Row or the Hiawatha Belt,
- [00:10:21.860]both of those are different treaties
- [00:10:23.330]and both of those tell different stories.
- [00:10:26.620]When we think about
- [00:10:28.710]what treaties have looked like for Western nations,
- [00:10:31.360]a lot of them have revolved around trade agreements,
- [00:10:34.870]shared land spaces,
- [00:10:37.080]and when we think about the colonial impact of those things,
- [00:10:40.390]when we think about terraforming for those things,
- [00:10:42.990]there is thus a huge loss
- [00:10:45.010]of shared culture and shared realities
- [00:10:47.450]because there has then been in implied
- [00:10:51.000]physical documents that culturally don't make sense.
- [00:10:53.920]A lot of the treaties that exist for Indian country
- [00:10:59.460]pre the 1780s, if you will,
- [00:11:02.530]are one, not necessarily
- [00:11:04.300]with the United States government, obviously,
- [00:11:06.970]but on top of that,
- [00:11:07.990]we're talking about language differences
- [00:11:11.420]for each physical nation,
- [00:11:13.310]we're also talking about hierarchical differences.
- [00:11:16.340]The assumption that one leader is involved
- [00:11:18.670]is not true for every nation.
- [00:11:21.910]And the issues that then come out of that
- [00:11:25.370]and how we think about space and community,
- [00:11:28.180]we see impacted now with one another.
- [00:11:31.380]So in terms of my world view and my point of view,
- [00:11:35.030]indigenous nation to nation treaties
- [00:11:37.260]is one form of our resistance,
- [00:11:39.840]being able to communicate with one another again
- [00:11:43.150]and establish what we want as autonomy
- [00:11:46.650]in relation to our new identified spaces
- [00:11:50.352]is a form of treaty making in a form,
- [00:11:52.450]I would say of diplomatic resistance that
- [00:11:54.910]as indigenous people of this continent in total,
- [00:11:58.340]we're just beginning to bring back.
- [00:12:01.890]But from the initial indigenous nation to nation treaties,
- [00:12:06.350]I would say the colonial indigenous
- [00:12:08.600]nation to nation treaties that exist like Fort Laramie,
- [00:12:12.480]these are treaties that had to be done by the colonizer
- [00:12:17.780]to move westward.
- [00:12:20.630]I think research over time
- [00:12:22.190]has shown in various documents from military personnel,
- [00:12:26.110]the diaries that were kept,
- [00:12:27.660]which were always very intense and really,
- [00:12:32.050]without them, huge holes in history would still be left.
- [00:12:35.730]But I think the documentation of the research
- [00:12:37.800]of how indigenous people spoke with one another,
- [00:12:40.510]how hunting grounds were shared,
- [00:12:42.800]you can see that level of intensity and acknowledgement
- [00:12:48.220]into the way treaties were used against us.
- [00:12:51.550]I think the colonial setup
- [00:12:53.120]of where hunting grounds could be,
- [00:12:55.870]where people physically could roam and move from,
- [00:13:00.160]was one form of separating us from the environment.
- [00:13:03.160]So when we say honor the treaties,
- [00:13:05.520]do we really want to honor the treaties
- [00:13:07.560]that currently exist or do we want new ones?
- [00:13:11.310]Do we want to change
- [00:13:13.470]what our ancestors might not have fully seen at the time?
- [00:13:16.300]Hindsight is only 2020,
- [00:13:18.880]but I think we live in a world now
- [00:13:21.270]where if we want to attempt to bring back democracy
- [00:13:25.670]and keep it in full,
- [00:13:27.500]then we have an opportunity
- [00:13:29.380]with the environmental degradation that's happening now
- [00:13:32.480]to patch what we've lost,
- [00:13:34.350]and that is a deep relationship with the environment
- [00:13:36.940]because it's changed so much.
- [00:13:38.750]How do we politicize the environment in a way
- [00:13:41.920]that we're actually reconciling ourselves?
- [00:13:46.500]And this is where I would like to think the United Nations
- [00:13:49.270]and its predecessor, ultimately the League of Nations,
- [00:13:54.840]sees their future going.
- [00:13:57.210]However, I don't think that's true.
- [00:14:00.690]So United Nations is not necessarily an indigenous ally,
- [00:14:07.960]and I argue that because
- [00:14:09.780]much of the tangible legal implications
- [00:14:13.630]of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
- [00:14:16.670]all parts of the commentary
- [00:14:18.370]for the Geneva Conventions on War,
- [00:14:20.750]the United Declarations on Human Rights,
- [00:14:22.820]even most recently, UNDRIP,
- [00:14:24.490]the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,
- [00:14:27.670]all of these unfortunately
- [00:14:30.220]are not applied to Indian Country
- [00:14:32.560]or necessarily First Nations people in Canada
- [00:14:35.790]for a multitude of reasons.
- [00:14:37.890]There's considered to be an issue of time here
- [00:14:40.980]for indigenous people.
- [00:14:42.820]The international realm considers our treaties too old
- [00:14:46.150]for them to stand in on our behalf.
- [00:14:49.740]So because indigenous treaties with now official governments
- [00:14:54.910]are older than a 1969 document
- [00:14:58.220]or documents from World War I,
- [00:15:01.290]there is no one to speak on
- [00:15:02.910]their legitimate legal behalf apparently
- [00:15:05.540]at the international level.
- [00:15:07.550]That's a huge flaw.
- [00:15:09.620]And that's a flaw that takes,
- [00:15:11.270]I think a lot of guts ultimately
- [00:15:13.860]for any political body to fix,
- [00:15:17.510]but I also think it's faulty to expect colonial governments
- [00:15:20.470]to write their own wrongs.
- [00:15:22.280]At the end of the day,
- [00:15:23.113]the United States is one of the founding
- [00:15:25.500]of the League of Nations and the founding entity for the UN
- [00:15:31.420]via president Woodrow Wilson.
- [00:15:34.670]Regardless, our treaties are not
- [00:15:37.450]something that we can really go to the United Nations
- [00:15:39.740]for help on or support of.
- [00:15:42.060]Everything comes in the sense of
- [00:15:43.740]consultation or suggestion or advice.
- [00:15:46.580]There's also the issue of compliance and consent
- [00:15:48.990]when it comes to international bodies in courts.
- [00:15:53.258]And UNDRIP in terms of indigenous rights
- [00:15:56.700]was a huge document, I mean, 2010 was a big year.
- [00:15:59.810]However, it's not a legally binding declaration,
- [00:16:03.110]declaration implies that it's not legally binding.
- [00:16:06.040]But more importantly,
- [00:16:07.830]it wasn't ratified by every state at first.
- [00:16:10.800]So Canada, the United States, Australia,
- [00:16:13.210]very hesitant to be a part of UNDRIP at first.
- [00:16:16.870]Even many African states were hesitant
- [00:16:18.660]because of the potential for tribal nations
- [00:16:20.810]to argue that land change, those borders change.
- [00:16:25.320]So when we think about UNDRIP, I would argue,
- [00:16:27.700]it's a great step for common law,
- [00:16:29.930]it's a great step for things to be cited
- [00:16:31.920]in cases moving forward
- [00:16:33.017]and for indigenous people to argue
- [00:16:35.183]that we are utilizing UNDRIP
- [00:16:38.010]in implying our sovereignty every day through X, Y, and Z.
- [00:16:42.630]Those are steps that the more things become president,
- [00:16:45.270]I think the more power they have.
- [00:16:48.410]However, we still live in a world at the international level
- [00:16:51.520]where we're not seeing the connect.
- [00:16:54.470]And we're seeing a real, I think, for lack of better words,
- [00:16:59.960]the ability to be ignorant towards history of certain people
- [00:17:04.630]and then apply it towards other stances.
- [00:17:09.472]And I'm saying this to somebody
- [00:17:10.550]who went to the United Nations University of Peace
- [00:17:12.490]for my masters.
- [00:17:14.650]Which brings me to the Sustainable Development Goals,
- [00:17:17.220]which prior to that was the Millennium Development Goals.
- [00:17:21.110]And I think in terms of the United Nations
- [00:17:23.710]trying to socially appear as an ally,
- [00:17:31.020]a lot of that has come through
- [00:17:33.250]the environmental struggle right now.
- [00:17:36.340]All of these goals, significant,
- [00:17:39.860]related to the environment and sustainability
- [00:17:42.200]in some way, shape or form,
- [00:17:44.300]related to ecocide in some way, shape or form,
- [00:17:47.640]however, does not specifically go after
- [00:17:51.510]any level of reconciliation effects.
- [00:17:56.600]Land Back is not an option here.
- [00:17:59.610]We do see for number 10 reduced inequalities.
- [00:18:04.540]We do see gender equality,
- [00:18:07.580]there's life on land,
- [00:18:08.770]although it doesn't specify for people,
- [00:18:11.010]and then we have no poverty.
- [00:18:13.630]In terms of identifying issues for indigenous people,
- [00:18:19.310]that's not present at the UN.
- [00:18:21.440]Everything is a vague term,
- [00:18:23.110]everything is something that could be implied.
- [00:18:25.510]The issue, however, lies that for indigenous people,
- [00:18:29.810]our issues cannot just be read between the lines,
- [00:18:33.220]there are things that are lived and that are felt,
- [00:18:35.600]and so we need direct action.
- [00:18:37.740]We need direct action
- [00:18:39.120]the same way there are attempts at direct action
- [00:18:41.630]for really hitting that 2050 ideal number
- [00:18:45.610]if we even get to 2050.
- [00:18:47.790]So I see the United Nations utilizing platforms
- [00:18:52.260]that could relate to indigeneity
- [00:18:55.340]without fully taking that step.
- [00:18:57.700]There is no international environmental court,
- [00:18:59.970]but if there were to be one,
- [00:19:01.210]it should be led by indigenous peoples from all doors,
- [00:19:04.710]not just the continent of Turtle Island,
- [00:19:06.910]but the whole world.
- [00:19:08.860]If the United nations were to want to partake
- [00:19:13.290]an indigenous reconciliation and sovereignty,
- [00:19:16.460]they could very easily create a proclamation
- [00:19:19.770]on water protectors and land defenders.
- [00:19:22.930]There could be a declaration for the rights
- [00:19:26.820]of indigenous protesting,
- [00:19:28.450]What does that look like?
- [00:19:30.090]Again, declaration might not be illegal binding word,
- [00:19:32.470]but it's one step closer towards acknowledgement,
- [00:19:35.810]it's one step closer
- [00:19:37.400]towards being able to have on paper that rights exists.
- [00:19:41.140]Because in terms of today,
- [00:19:42.680]in terms of protesting today as an indigenous person,
- [00:19:46.340]very quickly, does that become a felony,
- [00:19:48.150]very quickly, does that become an act of terrorism,
- [00:19:51.460]to say that you want trees to stay in the ground,
- [00:19:54.560]to say that you want rivers to not be polluted,
- [00:19:58.440]to stand at a location where a treaty was signed,
- [00:20:02.450]that can sometimes put you in jail for almost 50 years.
- [00:20:07.730]And that's not only true in this hemisphere.
- [00:20:10.320]We know that to be true of other places.
- [00:20:14.540]So why is it that when it come comes to identifying,
- [00:20:18.370]how do we respect treaties
- [00:20:19.790]that might have predated this one institution
- [00:20:24.320]in a world where countries are being created every day
- [00:20:27.690]and fought for every day,
- [00:20:30.680]there must be another way to identify
- [00:20:33.370]what free rights really look like then.
- [00:20:36.510]Sovereignty as a term goes to Westphalia,
- [00:20:38.920]but it definitely existed pre Westphalia.
- [00:20:45.710]So when we think about significant words,
- [00:20:49.720]I've used frontline,
- [00:20:51.310]which typically is a military term
- [00:20:55.410]being in proximity to the enemy,
- [00:20:58.040]but I would also say that
- [00:20:59.840]it is another way of being in an influential stance
- [00:21:03.390]in a debate.
- [00:21:04.840]When we think about frontlines for indigenous people,
- [00:21:08.060]we move from the physical proximity
- [00:21:10.790]of being in front of the enemy on the ground,
- [00:21:13.870]which can range from police to construction workers,
- [00:21:16.540]to just physical machinery, in many cases,
- [00:21:19.890]to the debate stance when it's time to go to court,
- [00:21:23.980]to the debate stance when it's time for tribal lawyers
- [00:21:28.140]and courts within Indian Country
- [00:21:33.780]to basically wage depending on
- [00:21:35.860]if it's their enrolled citizen or not,
- [00:21:38.400]that things be bounced into their court,
- [00:21:40.210]very quickly goes from the physical on the ground
- [00:21:44.540]type of defense to how do we also manage our frontlines
- [00:21:49.250]when they get brought once again into the colonial world,
- [00:21:52.550]something that has not transcended our culture.
- [00:21:56.650]And then we have what's known now as blockadia,
- [00:21:59.060]which I would argue has existed since 2010,
- [00:22:02.770]and now we're in a second wave.
- [00:22:05.520]Blockadia as a term,
- [00:22:07.890]particularly comes out of the novel,
- [00:22:09.867]"This Changes Everything" from Naomi Klein,
- [00:22:12.400]and she identifies it as the roving transitions
- [00:22:15.440]of a conflict zone,
- [00:22:16.830]in particular, where citizens are fighting
- [00:22:18.810]conglomerate entities
- [00:22:22.350]or corporate entities.
- [00:22:24.930]I think it's important to note
- [00:22:27.470]that unlike others types of protesting or frontlines,
- [00:22:33.090]indigenous frontline resistance and indigenous blockadia
- [00:22:36.640]has always been against extraction.
- [00:22:39.570]Extraction of one's self
- [00:22:41.100]in terms of the initial Mohegan-Pequot wars,
- [00:22:45.090]and then extraction of the environment
- [00:22:48.010]as moving westward also clearly meant
- [00:22:50.810]destroying the environment.
- [00:22:52.740]Once that message got passed around Turtle Island,
- [00:22:55.470]it became clear what that meant.
- [00:22:57.890]So it's always been a level of extraction.
- [00:23:00.100]Now, we're dealing with the pretty direct denial
- [00:23:04.580]that fossil fuels are bad type of extraction,
- [00:23:08.570]which in turn does relate to the extraction of people
- [00:23:11.620]when we think about murdered and missing indigenous people
- [00:23:14.440]in two spirits.
- [00:23:15.670]When we think about the locations of where people go missing
- [00:23:18.370]in proximity to where land goes missing.
- [00:23:24.560]And so I constantly pose the question,
- [00:23:26.490]how do you write laws and treaties
- [00:23:29.240]around an environment that you are purposefully changing?
- [00:23:32.460]How do you write treaties and laws
- [00:23:35.110]around nomadic people that are always moving,
- [00:23:37.520]especially when their environment is being forced to change,
- [00:23:42.500]let alone, how do we write documentation
- [00:23:47.120]to really reconcile those two?
- [00:23:51.020]How do you fix something where there was never a plan B
- [00:23:54.860]in to begin with?
- [00:23:57.160]How do we address or move forward
- [00:24:00.600]in terms of separating people from land
- [00:24:03.330]when the land is not repairable?
- [00:24:09.510]And that's what blockadia is looking to solve,
- [00:24:12.160]through unity across frontlines.
- [00:24:15.090]If we can't necessarily put the land back together,
- [00:24:17.520]we might be able to put the tribes back together,
- [00:24:19.940]we might be able to put the nations back together
- [00:24:22.060]by being with each other.
- [00:24:25.430]By doing ecodefense against ecocide.
- [00:24:29.800]Ecocide is the destruction of the natural environment
- [00:24:32.130]by human made cause,
- [00:24:34.430]ecodefense, however, is a newly or relatively new
- [00:24:39.110]and up and coming word,
- [00:24:41.200]and I would argue form of law.
- [00:24:43.950]And it's the strategic process
- [00:24:45.670]of defending the environment from ecocide.
- [00:24:48.810]More importantly or moreover ecocide
- [00:24:50.820]should not be limited to plants and terra,
- [00:24:53.110]but it's also humans as we're a part of the natural spaces.
- [00:24:56.640]But eco defense is happening from humans
- [00:25:00.150]on behalf of a total environment or landscape or waterscape.
- [00:25:05.770]So there are some aspects of ecodefense
- [00:25:07.910]that are really controversial nowadays,
- [00:25:11.830]and the rival term would be ecoterrorism.
- [00:25:17.270]And I think in terms again,
- [00:25:19.320]of the United Nations and of legality,
- [00:25:23.530]how does one determine what is really too far
- [00:25:28.000]when this is the only home we have.
- [00:25:32.050]For indigenous people,
- [00:25:33.740]too far isn't something that we've ever
- [00:25:36.900]mentally determined for ourselves anyway,
- [00:25:39.180]because we're thinking in seven cycles, seven generations,
- [00:25:43.470]we're not thinking on a linear,
- [00:25:45.340]because there are no linear solutions for our round planet,
- [00:25:48.490]that doesn't work.
- [00:25:51.830]In terms of frontlines across blockadia
- [00:25:56.320]for this hemisphere,
- [00:25:58.660]the ecocide that we are facing
- [00:26:01.450]is directly connected for the mere fact
- [00:26:04.130]in terms of pipelines, for example,
- [00:26:06.360]they literally are going through the whole continent,
- [00:26:09.160]which thus inevitably makes us all attached and related,
- [00:26:13.130]unfortunately, for a negative cause.
- [00:26:15.260]Because if it's not going to be the short term issues
- [00:26:19.440]of maybe physically being in the way of a truck or arrested,
- [00:26:23.320]then it will be the long term issues
- [00:26:25.970]of health or bureaucratic inefficiencies.
- [00:26:30.330]Those are all other aspects of genocide
- [00:26:32.660]that have been modernized
- [00:26:33.960]that I don't think are necessarily viewed
- [00:26:36.520]as being significant when we talk about human rights.
- [00:26:39.700]But bureaucratic colonization is real
- [00:26:42.290]and bureaucratic genocide is also real.
- [00:26:45.100]For some people who were arrested during Standing Rock,
- [00:26:47.130]they are just entering or exiting probation.
- [00:26:51.680]So we're talking about for some people
- [00:26:53.240]six to almost 20 years,
- [00:26:55.110]depending on where their stance is.
- [00:26:59.510]These realities are not anything
- [00:27:02.670]that I think when we think of progressive reconciliation,
- [00:27:07.080]when we think of progressive rematriation,
- [00:27:11.130]as an international world, let alone the United States,
- [00:27:14.480]I don't think we're coupled to actually handle that.
- [00:27:17.530]Because if law is your only option,
- [00:27:19.780]we definitely have issues,
- [00:27:21.330]because there are other ways to do these things.
- [00:27:23.170]Social work does happen and matter,
- [00:27:26.140]that community engagement does happen and matter.
- [00:27:30.300]And in places where people are hurt
- [00:27:32.610]and removed from their natural environment,
- [00:27:34.920]sometimes those solutions are more impactful
- [00:27:37.870]than anything that is written down on paper.
- [00:27:42.200]So we've seen for indigenous people,
- [00:27:44.630]us having and being to accommodate and compromise
- [00:27:50.550]and look past our own culture into others,
- [00:27:53.350]but there's not fully that going the other way.
- [00:27:58.030]Not often do congressmen come to a pow wow,
- [00:28:03.360]not often do Congress people,
- [00:28:06.030]especially I think this hemisphere
- [00:28:09.800]engage in meaningful dialogue or hearing testimony.
- [00:28:16.830]And in terms of indigenous frontlines,
- [00:28:20.030]that is, I think the smallest
- [00:28:23.790]and least action that could happen,
- [00:28:26.370]the same as land acknowledgements.
- [00:28:28.280]They matter, don't get me wrong,
- [00:28:30.090]but to be able to hear the other side
- [00:28:31.960]and acknowledge something,
- [00:28:35.560]that is the starting point if that,
- [00:28:38.320]for really moving forward and addressing
- [00:28:40.750]what indigenous resistance needs and looks like.
- [00:28:44.690]Because we are past the treaty rights that were established
- [00:28:47.960]a few hundred years ago.
- [00:28:49.360]And in fact, we are now demanding more rights
- [00:28:51.630]on top of what we thought our rights were.
- [00:28:57.600]So I kind of wanna open this opportunity
- [00:29:01.830]to discuss a little bit,
- [00:29:04.330]in particular because my co-presenter is not here,
- [00:29:08.460]but I would like to speak on this past year's
- [00:29:12.650]stance of blockadia,
- [00:29:13.880]should anyone have questions or interests.
- [00:29:16.680]And what I mean by that is
- [00:29:18.460]I was on Anishinaabe Territory for Line 3 this past summer,
- [00:29:22.070]and most recently was in Winnemucca, Nevada,
- [00:29:25.210]two drastically different types of frontlines.
- [00:29:28.120]One of which is focusing on the environmental,
- [00:29:31.610]but the other one more legal.
- [00:29:33.620]Winnemucca is a stance in which
- [00:29:35.160]it's an Indian colony that is federally recognized,
- [00:29:39.240]but fighting actively right now
- [00:29:41.330]to keep territory and sovereignty
- [00:29:43.730]out of the hands of really controversial tribal politics
- [00:29:47.420]and how that impacts federal decision making.
- [00:29:51.400]So no frontline is the same
- [00:29:53.780]and no indigenous issue is the same,
- [00:29:55.690]which is why the blanket thought
- [00:29:58.500]that treaties will solve every and anything is so dangerous,
- [00:30:03.160]'cause not all nations actually have treaties
- [00:30:05.010]with the United States government,
- [00:30:07.000]not all of us are federally recognized,
- [00:30:09.450]not all of us reside on our homegrown territory.
- [00:30:13.120]Some of us are on treaty territory.
- [00:30:16.000]So if that territory is taken,
- [00:30:18.390]whose is it anymore,
- [00:30:20.060]whose was it ever?
- [00:30:22.880]There are states like Vermont
- [00:30:25.030]where there are no native people,
- [00:30:26.850]there's no official reservation.
- [00:30:29.170]What does that mean in the face of Land Back?
- [00:30:33.170]Is that the one state we can't have.
- [00:30:36.030]Those are questions, I think when we move forward,
- [00:30:38.440]that become really daunting
- [00:30:40.980]depending on the rabbit hole that you want to go down,
- [00:30:42.910]but for native people, we need to talk about,
- [00:30:45.260]we need to be honest with ourselves about,
- [00:30:47.610]'cause it's more than just reservations and national parks,
- [00:30:51.120]although in terms of conglomerate and extractive activities,
- [00:30:54.650]that's all they have left.
- [00:30:57.450]So thank you, kataputush, anushi, miigwech.
- [00:31:04.040]Thank you so much, Keisha.
- [00:31:07.190]So as Keisha mentioned,
- [00:31:09.860]we'd welcome any questions.
- [00:31:11.360]If you could use Zoom to raise your hand there
- [00:31:14.520]or use the Zoom Chat to type a questionnaire as well.
- [00:31:26.320]Yeah, so I do see one question.
- [00:31:28.616]Could you please explain more
- [00:31:29.643]what is going on in Winnemucca?
- [00:31:31.682]Yeah, so Winnemucca is a big one and I would argue
- [00:31:38.500]more legal and treaty in relation to the landmass itself
- [00:31:43.450]and less with regards unfortunately to the people.
- [00:31:47.200]So Winnemucca as a location,
- [00:31:49.810]1916, '17 and 1928, I believe,
- [00:31:55.420]all were documentations
- [00:31:57.530]of the establishment of the territory
- [00:31:59.700]by originally, President Woodrow Wilson during World War I,
- [00:32:04.080]for homeless Western Basin Paiute and Shoshone natives
- [00:32:08.070]to live on.
- [00:32:09.390]The territory began as a 20 acre plot
- [00:32:14.060]and instead rapidly turned into about 360 acres,
- [00:32:19.240]give or take, dependent now on city lines
- [00:32:22.080]for streets and powers and sewer.
- [00:32:26.140]Presently today, there is a colony,
- [00:32:28.590]it's called Winnemucca Indian Colony,
- [00:32:31.300]and it's a residential location of 20 acres,
- [00:32:34.020]that originally about 60 to 70 residents were on,
- [00:32:38.900]now is more like 30,
- [00:32:42.040]all of which are, I come from a clan system,
- [00:32:44.460]so I would argue their family names,
- [00:32:46.690]genealogy wise make them clans.
- [00:32:50.250]But it's a sensitive issue because tribal politics wise,
- [00:32:54.300]there have been murders on the Colony of Shaman
- [00:32:57.540]of a Shaman, which has resulted
- [00:33:00.590]in a BIA appointed colony council,
- [00:33:04.690]which the residents, all of whom are elderly
- [00:33:07.710]except for a few individual youth,
- [00:33:10.760]put them in a position of basically having less power
- [00:33:14.390]and feeling as though a new election won't happen.
- [00:33:17.570]Now, to move forward from, that was,
- [00:33:20.100]I would say early 2000s, the murder,
- [00:33:22.130]to move forward to about 2015,
- [00:33:24.500]there has been threats of bulldozing of people's homes.
- [00:33:28.500]And there are various statutes for elder protections within
- [00:33:32.870]the Indian convention system
- [00:33:35.410]as well as with new federal finances
- [00:33:38.790]in terms of homes for people,
- [00:33:41.090]but the current stance in Winnemucca
- [00:33:43.030]is that residents are disagreeing with their tribal council.
- [00:33:46.810]And because of that disagreement,
- [00:33:49.230]BIA officers have been called in
- [00:33:51.470]and residents have been charged with trespassing,
- [00:33:53.470]thus can't enter their territory or their homes.
- [00:33:57.501]So Winnemucca as a frontline right now
- [00:33:59.880]is indigenous elderly residents
- [00:34:02.140]and their supporters versus BIA officers.
- [00:34:05.890]The Winnemucca state police and sheriffs
- [00:34:08.350]have made it very visible
- [00:34:10.230]that this isn't their jurisdiction,
- [00:34:12.250]and as long as people are respectfully on public land,
- [00:34:15.730]they have no other reason to be there.
- [00:34:18.790]So unlike other frontlines we're reviewing, you know,
- [00:34:22.430]the individual citizens on the ground,
- [00:34:25.170]the tribal politics, almost always as being aligned
- [00:34:28.410]and versus the colonial entities.
- [00:34:30.990]In this instance, we're seeing indigenous people
- [00:34:34.080]versus their own council
- [00:34:36.290]versus the section of the federal government
- [00:34:38.490]that is designed or posed to be for us,
- [00:34:43.850]meaning in the name of indigenous people.
- [00:34:46.990]But I think most indigenous people will tell you that
- [00:34:50.570]the Bureau of Indian Affairs
- [00:34:52.610]in reality is the Bureau of Indian Abuse.
- [00:35:06.710]Thank you.
- [00:35:09.980]My work directly, I think to support me,
- [00:35:13.790]I, on a side note,
- [00:35:16.906]am working on my own think tank called Sovereign Science,
- [00:35:19.570]and the goal is to create
- [00:35:20.960]indigenous environmental impact statements
- [00:35:23.790]led by indigenous citizens
- [00:35:25.180]and those people that are on the frontlines themselves
- [00:35:27.540]to bring eco science in education
- [00:35:30.130]and environmental law to the people.
- [00:35:33.840]However, in terms of frontlines in total
- [00:35:36.010]and support in total,
- [00:35:37.470]I think one way to directly be involved
- [00:35:39.520]is to follow indigenous resources and news.
- [00:35:43.560]Much of Line 3 wasn't on the news until the very end,
- [00:35:47.090]and I think Winnemucca will never be on the news for sure.
- [00:35:51.020]It's not even on Indian Country Today.
- [00:35:54.060]So being able to find those sources is difficult.
- [00:35:58.090]I think one way or a good way of being able to start
- [00:36:00.640]is Indian Country Today.
- [00:36:02.800]First Nations Development Fund,
- [00:36:04.830]they have email subscriptions that are free
- [00:36:08.718]and they will send everything to you.
- [00:36:11.520]I think reaching out to those
- [00:36:13.380]murdered and missing indigenous people's
- [00:36:15.450]in two-spirit networks,
- [00:36:17.320]because many times they also assist with fundraising
- [00:36:20.370]for these locations that are in these rural areas
- [00:36:22.960]and go unnoticed.
- [00:36:25.940]I think also, even if you don't know
- [00:36:28.470]how to follow the indigenous realities,
- [00:36:30.510]if you follow the companies,
- [00:36:32.190]you will be able to follow a trend
- [00:36:34.630]in terms of where they are located
- [00:36:37.340]and you can backtrack in terms of,
- [00:36:39.430]so what nations are in this area?
- [00:36:41.720]Maybe if I go to a tribal website,
- [00:36:43.700]they'll have some information about what's going on,
- [00:36:45.800]I think, most tribes try to be transparent
- [00:36:48.800]because transparency isn't shared with us.
- [00:36:57.440]Yeah, I think it's not,
- [00:36:58.710]I shouldn't say that the UN
- [00:37:00.650]doesn't acknowledge indigenous issues,
- [00:37:02.710]they don't acknowledge them in specific instances.
- [00:37:06.840]So even right now, in terms of Russia and the Ukraine,
- [00:37:09.740]the United nations hasn't spoken on
- [00:37:12.880]Russian indigenous groups much,
- [00:37:15.290]and I think most people of Arctic nations
- [00:37:17.860]and the Arctic Council
- [00:37:19.960]is very blunt and bold in saying that
- [00:37:22.990]Russia doesn't share that type of information ever
- [00:37:25.560]and it's worrisome.
- [00:37:27.600]So when I think about the UN
- [00:37:29.240]not being particular on indigenous issues,
- [00:37:32.570]I mean in those specific senses.
- [00:37:36.070]And that goes back to kind of viewing everyone as a monolith
- [00:37:39.610]and the dangers behind that
- [00:37:40.820]when we talk about human rights and political realities.
- [00:37:44.070]You do have to separate.
- [00:37:45.200]Some things are similar,
- [00:37:46.750]but where they're different is where it's critical.
- [00:37:50.240]Amnesty International,
- [00:37:52.330]I think does do more on an indigenous front
- [00:37:56.680]in terms of trying to be specific,
- [00:37:59.600]but I do still,
- [00:38:00.750]I think where Amnesty International has been successful
- [00:38:04.190]for indigenous issues has been Middle Eastern realities.
- [00:38:08.900]They've done a lot of work for Kurdistan and Bedouin people,
- [00:38:13.010]and I think also in terms of Asian
- [00:38:16.190]realities with the (indistinct)
- [00:38:17.680]and the way Tibet has been treated.
- [00:38:21.530]I think they have regional stances,
- [00:38:23.780]whereas the United States and Canada
- [00:38:26.260]and even parts of Mexico become very difficult
- [00:38:29.700]given where we do or don't consent to international help.
- [00:38:34.520]Even having a human rights repertoire
- [00:38:36.700]in the United States from it was James Anya
- [00:38:41.440]oh man, I think 2008 to about 2012 was his time period,
- [00:38:47.249]and that was really difficult.
- [00:38:48.840]The United States was very hesitant
- [00:38:50.680]on even allowing someone to come in
- [00:38:52.500]and basically speak about out what they saw.
- [00:38:56.870]So in terms of, I think true assistance,
- [00:39:00.180]our physical territorial location
- [00:39:02.640]in terms of the colonizing governments around us,
- [00:39:05.320]make it difficult for international entities
- [00:39:07.640]to want to help us in solid ways,
- [00:39:11.650]like outside of the social media,
- [00:39:13.550]outside of the communication marketing realm,
- [00:39:16.770]I do think the tangible help becomes difficult,
- [00:39:19.690]because we unfortunately are
- [00:39:21.780]in a country that has rendered themselves as
- [00:39:25.180]only if we allow it, only if we consent,
- [00:39:28.930]which is difficult,
- [00:39:29.770]being a nation within a nation.
- [00:39:33.580]I was wondering, I was really interested in
- [00:39:36.880]what you were discussing about terraforming,
- [00:39:38.920]and that kind of process of natural terraforming
- [00:39:44.580]and then terraforming through actions of governments.
- [00:39:50.050]Thinking about recently,
- [00:39:50.980]I saw a story about the Missouri River
- [00:39:53.096]and Missouri River flows this year being really reduced,
- [00:39:58.910]kind of made me think about,
- [00:40:00.440]you know, snowpack, the Rocky Mountains
- [00:40:03.840]and then climate change.
- [00:40:07.590]How do you see kind of climate change
- [00:40:10.650]having an effect on indigenous activism,
- [00:40:15.030]reckoning reconciliation today?
- [00:40:21.690]Yeah, that's a great point.
- [00:40:23.293]I actually was recently in Colorado for a layover
- [00:40:27.320]and I remembered overhear someone speaking about a flood
- [00:40:30.590]in nearby Denver.
- [00:40:32.810]And that for me, I was like,
- [00:40:34.017]there was a flood in nearby Denver, when?
- [00:40:37.170]But yeah, if you're at the base of a mountain,
- [00:40:39.330]I mean that's snowpack
- [00:40:41.480]as that melts over time, forget it, right?
- [00:40:44.130]Let alone the glacier realities,
- [00:40:46.000]Connecticut is a former glacial state,
- [00:40:48.170]so the water and rock formations that are left
- [00:40:51.750]are just intense and every day something new, right?
- [00:40:55.650]When I think about indigenous activism
- [00:40:58.340]and dealing with and reconciling with climate change,
- [00:41:03.960]there's a huge educational gap.
- [00:41:07.100]And I mean that not in terms of academia,
- [00:41:09.650]I mean that in terms of like lived experiences.
- [00:41:13.350]Because so many people have been moved
- [00:41:14.940]and because the territory around us has been shifted
- [00:41:17.350]and we weren't ever fully included in those shifts
- [00:41:20.480]for any nation,
- [00:41:21.870]we're dealing with an environmental literacy gap.
- [00:41:26.120]In terms of literally being able
- [00:41:27.600]to communicate with mother earth and understand
- [00:41:29.970]what she needs and what she's saying
- [00:41:31.630]and what she's experienced, her lived realities.
- [00:41:34.510]We were having our own,
- [00:41:36.150]much more personal, much more bloody lived realities
- [00:41:39.400]that has caused I think a true,
- [00:41:41.230]the ultimate miscommunication imaginable.
- [00:41:45.550]And that's knowing what the environment had and wanted
- [00:41:49.520]versus what was forced.
- [00:41:52.170]So talk about climate change,
- [00:41:54.150]I'm definitely in the mental camp of climate change being
- [00:41:58.400]somewhat earth produced
- [00:42:00.850]and then a majority of it being man-made produced.
- [00:42:05.130]So on the flip side of that,
- [00:42:07.670]for indigenous activism and climate change,
- [00:42:09.630]it means we need an interdisciplinary approach.
- [00:42:12.770]We need a culturally interdisciplinary approach.
- [00:42:15.550]How do we bring back these traditional ecosystems,
- [00:42:18.720]but also how do we utilize pervasive ones,
- [00:42:22.970]ones that once we're invasive species
- [00:42:25.350]that are now pervasive,
- [00:42:26.890]how do we utilize them to our benefit?
- [00:42:29.360]So in Maine, there's an issue with soft shell clams,
- [00:42:33.400]and ultimately there's been
- [00:42:34.820]so much provision of Asian crabs and other species
- [00:42:38.870]that even the birds have changed their diet.
- [00:42:41.560]And we see that in terms of the Plains diet,
- [00:42:44.130]in terms of the way elk, antelope and bison used to relate
- [00:42:48.650]and now where they no longer go,
- [00:42:51.080]they don't have these shared spaces.
- [00:42:53.580]How do we couple the environmental reality
- [00:42:57.410]and our cultural one,
- [00:42:58.800]I think means that we have
- [00:42:59.930]to physically get out there and do it
- [00:43:01.330]and we do have to build those gaps in terms of land.
- [00:43:04.570]And sometimes it's try just trying new things.
- [00:43:07.530]So in terms of the Plains, the Mississippi River
- [00:43:12.460]going right through half of the country,
- [00:43:15.560]in terms of the Northern portion,
- [00:43:17.220]because of Line 3,
- [00:43:18.630]there's a lot of nitrogen
- [00:43:20.840]and other compound and chemical issues,
- [00:43:24.860]just from different types of erosion
- [00:43:26.560]and the chemicals that are used
- [00:43:28.420]in the compounds to build pipelines
- [00:43:30.110]and to sustain the earth to actually be able to penetrate.
- [00:43:33.380]One way of citizen science and citizen initiatives
- [00:43:38.700]to combat those things
- [00:43:40.130]is utilizing things like manure,
- [00:43:42.290]is utilizing different plants that can tolerate
- [00:43:46.750]those shifts of organic matter.
- [00:43:49.760]And so manoomin, which is wild rice, is one of those.
- [00:43:54.260]Wild rice can tolerate certain and amounts of shifts.
- [00:43:57.850]However, it needs decent amount of water.
- [00:44:00.300]So how can we utilize
- [00:44:01.480]things that are already indigenous to the area
- [00:44:04.090]and bring them back?
- [00:44:06.550]The national park system uses
- [00:44:09.070]a procedure or a protocol called RAD
- [00:44:12.550]resist, accept,
- [00:44:15.310]I can't remember what the D is,
- [00:44:18.920]but it it's this concept of like,
- [00:44:20.890]so if we are losing all of our conifers,
- [00:44:23.470]what can we replace if we can't continue to resist it,
- [00:44:27.650]we have to accept it, what can we replace there?
- [00:44:30.320]Or in situations where there is no longer this acceptance,
- [00:44:36.410]if it's like, no, we can't accept losing this
- [00:44:38.470]because that is a top species
- [00:44:39.990]and we'll destroy everything else.
- [00:44:41.500]What can we do to resist as far as we can?
- [00:44:44.960]And I think those initiatives need indigenous voices in them
- [00:44:48.410]and indigenous ears.
- [00:44:49.790]Because a lot of it is listening,
- [00:44:51.700]a lot of it does require us to learn about the environments
- [00:44:54.340]that we haven't been included in for so long.
- [00:44:57.620]So I really see in terms of indigenous activism
- [00:45:01.380]and the goals that we have in our minds and in our hearts
- [00:45:04.210]and actually doing them and battling climate change,
- [00:45:07.300]we need ecoliteracy in between
- [00:45:09.600]and we do need that hands on on the ground science reality,
- [00:45:14.720]because we are the first scientists,
- [00:45:16.440]we are the first stewards.
- [00:45:18.380]So really going back into that.
- [00:45:22.370]Yeah, so Land Back as a movement, it's a big one.
- [00:45:30.600]And I think everyone is different,
- [00:45:32.960]that's one thing there has yet to be,
- [00:45:34.399]I would say a convention of all the nations
- [00:45:36.790]to discuss what we want.
- [00:45:38.940]However, Land Back is this generation's,
- [00:45:43.610]this seventh generation desire for physically land back,
- [00:45:48.970]but I think in other ways there are methods to Land Back.
- [00:45:52.890]No park ranger or station should not have natives, right?
- [00:45:57.910]I think when we talk about environmental internships,
- [00:46:01.600]we should reach out to nations,
- [00:46:03.030]when we talk about the EPA,
- [00:46:04.830]we need to reach out to the tribal nations,
- [00:46:07.650]when we talk about consent,
- [00:46:09.030]whether it be for recreational environmental buildings
- [00:46:11.970]or a new bridge,
- [00:46:14.140]we need full blown free prior informed consent,
- [00:46:16.890]not consultation,
- [00:46:18.250]consent and input.
- [00:46:20.770]Sometimes there are other ways.
- [00:46:23.300]I think it's quick to assume that indigenous architecture
- [00:46:27.390]might not work nowadays,
- [00:46:28.840]but I did my undergrad in Rome,
- [00:46:30.920]and I think the Italians would disagree.
- [00:46:33.220]Their traditional forms still work,
- [00:46:35.420]and I think some of ours would too.
- [00:46:37.990]So Land Back is the tangible,
- [00:46:39.770]but it's also where there are some modern versions.
- [00:46:43.160]How can we rebuild and decolonize
- [00:46:45.470]some of the structures that might exist.
- [00:46:47.730]Some can't be and just need to be torn down,
- [00:46:50.200]but some can be fixed along the way.
- [00:46:54.110]Examples of Land Back,
- [00:46:56.610]so there's a lot of different projects happening
- [00:46:58.700]from different organizations.
- [00:47:00.400]Indian Collective is one,
- [00:47:02.440]and I think depending on where everyone is,
- [00:47:04.380]you might be in locations to see some of these,
- [00:47:07.050]but they've begun putting up billboards and signs
- [00:47:09.380]in more or less abandoned locations
- [00:47:11.580]or where companies have given up,
- [00:47:15.130]and it'll have the new who land you on
- [00:47:17.750]and maybe some information and QR codes
- [00:47:21.070]to go deeper into things.
- [00:47:23.260]For Manhattan on the East Coast side,
- [00:47:25.630]there has been this bring back of Lenapehoking
- [00:47:29.570]or Manhattana, so what that traditional territory is called
- [00:47:33.910]and really working at kind of,
- [00:47:36.100]even in the urban centers, bringing out indigeneity.
- [00:47:39.320]I think other examples range too.
- [00:47:43.610]So the Duwamish in Seattle have brought out
- [00:47:47.650]this concept of pay rent.
- [00:47:49.610]Seattle is an unceded place, it was stolen from us,
- [00:47:52.740]you can pay us rent for being on our territory.
- [00:47:55.310]And a lot of people have subscribed to that
- [00:47:57.007]and because of that,
- [00:47:58.100]the Dormish have been able to rebuild community centers
- [00:48:01.080]and are working towards trying to actually
- [00:48:03.710]build homes for their elders and new buildings.
- [00:48:06.740]And that's kind of, you know,
- [00:48:08.350]on the person, on the settler to decide like,
- [00:48:11.680]do I need to do this?
- [00:48:13.330]How long has my family lived here?
- [00:48:15.410]Am I really first generation, whatever?
- [00:48:19.210]So those concepts exist,
- [00:48:21.850]and I think Land Back,
- [00:48:23.200]because of the fact that each nation
- [00:48:25.260]thinks of it differently
- [00:48:26.320]and our lived experiences are different,
- [00:48:29.830]Land Back really is a spectrum.
- [00:48:32.280]And I think in terms of settler support,
- [00:48:37.060]it depends on the individual.
- [00:48:40.610]Whether you want to go to a frontline
- [00:48:43.430]and investigate what's happening
- [00:48:45.630]and try to engage in terms of support that way.
- [00:48:48.660]Some frontlines
- [00:48:49.700]just need people to come and make meals, right?
- [00:48:52.040]Sometimes it's too much for the press team
- [00:48:54.140]to also be cooking for a whole house of elders.
- [00:48:57.910]But then there's other realities in the sense of
- [00:49:02.480]some frontline legal groups and some tribal groups
- [00:49:06.100]based on how people have been charged with different things,
- [00:49:08.920]don't actually have the lawyers to support.
- [00:49:11.270]So could you just do research and send a word doc of,
- [00:49:14.290]hey, these are lawyers in the area that work pro bono.
- [00:49:17.030]That is huge.
- [00:49:17.930]I've been spending the past two months
- [00:49:19.520]trying to do that for Winnemucca.
- [00:49:21.200]Nevada is a really hard place to find lawyers apparently.
- [00:49:24.950]So I think it's the tools.
- [00:49:28.710]Not all of us are equipped to do the same thing,
- [00:49:30.880]not all reservations have the best wifi,
- [00:49:34.200]so sometimes just being
- [00:49:37.710]that random is phenomenal.
- [00:49:40.545]I think having those settler allies that are the wild card
- [00:49:44.220]really is the best thing.
- [00:49:45.950]You never know what anyone could do for you.
- [00:49:48.850]And I think that was true during COVID too,
- [00:49:50.410]on a different note,
- [00:49:51.270]like being able to find those COVID test kits
- [00:49:53.530]and actually get those four free ones
- [00:49:55.750]that the government will mail to you,
- [00:49:57.510]I know that in certain areas,
- [00:49:59.350]I just had friends from college who were like,
- [00:50:00.930]I will just drive four hours to meet your family somewhere.
- [00:50:03.680]And I was like, oh my God, thank you.
- [00:50:05.610]But that goes a long way.
- [00:50:08.130]And for Land Back,
- [00:50:11.770]you really do need to know each nation wants
- [00:50:16.030]because not all of us want the same thing.
- [00:50:18.510]And that's another reality, right?
- [00:50:20.730]We are still nations.
- [00:50:22.400]So the same way the UK and France might disagree sometimes,
- [00:50:28.930]that is true of Plains Nations
- [00:50:31.100]and Great Basin and East Coast Nations.
- [00:50:33.380]We know we're all family, we know we're all related,
- [00:50:35.970]but we also disagree sometimes.
- [00:50:38.010]So being able to really conflict, negotiate
- [00:50:42.100]and resolve along the way is huge.
- [00:50:46.290]Well, thank you so much, Keisha for the presentation.
- [00:50:50.267](melodious music)
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