Apropos of non-Native Masto users making fun of an #Indigenous user (not me) for being light-skinned, let's talk about the colonial thought structure called BLOOD QUANTUM.
You might have wondered things like: Why do some Natives look so white? Are they reeeeally Native? Aren’t they just white people with one distant Native ancestor? Etc. Etc.
This article, a very good AP piece about #Klamath dam removal, does many things right: they quoted someone from an impacted tribe (this is a low bar, but you’d be astonished at how many articles don’t even bother to do this); they provided robust context for past and future challenges surrounding dam removal; they even gave Indigenous people the last word.
"the United States is committed to serving as a model in the international community in promoting and protecting the collective rights of #indigenous peoples as well as the human rights of all individuals."
Once again #Norway has erupted in #Indigenous and #environmentalist protest- but also something more:
Norway's legal system, the safety of all citizens, is at stake.
The Government has now for two years ignored the Supreme Court's decision in the #Fosen case.
Yesterday a protest camp was put up outside parlament and #Sámi activists entered the building for peaceful protest. They were carried out by police in the night.
In the 1960s and '70s, cops were brutalizing #Indigenous people in the #PNW ...for fishing.
But fishing is a treaty-protected right. People stood up for it. Elders call this era the Fish Wars.
In 1974 the issue went to the Supreme Court. After 3 years of discovery and pretrial, Judge George Boldt heard the case and ruled that the state of #Washington must respect the Indigenous right to fish.
The Boldt decision changed the landscape. It turns 50 next month.
Beneath all the complicated #ColoradoRiver issues is a big, simple question that media hasn't adequately covered or even really approached: why don't #Indigenous communities have water? Literally just WHY. Without crazy loopy wonky theatrics. Ag has water. #Arizona Suburbs have water. Why don't tribes?
Finally, @ProPublica and HCN are addressing that question. It's a major investigative series. They've published the first of their findings:
Today is Indigenous People’s Day in the U.S. I highly recommend the series Reservation Dogs.
It’s the first series to feature all indigenous writers and directors, along with an almost entirely indigenous North American cast and production team.
Everything about it is outstanding. The writing, the characters, the acting…everything.
"If #Biden continues his current course, extraction of the lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and manganese vital for a green-energy transition will come at the cost of Indigenous lands and trust... it could also cost Biden the election."
A while back an elder told me a story from his #Indigenous Nimíipuu heritage, about Coyote killing a monster and flinging the monster's body parts in many directions.
Wherever the parts landed, people sprouted up, and became the various plateau tribes. The site of the killing, where Coyote stood with the monster’s heart, became the birthplace of the Nimíipuu people.
The world's 3rd largest copper deposit is in #Arizona. It's essential to #RenewableEnergy projects. Resolution Copper wants to extract it. But the copper is beneath Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, AKA Oak Flat.
“Oak Flat is like Mount Sinai to us,” says Wendsler Nosie (San Carlos Apache) of Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit fighting to protect the area.
"Classical music" (the low-key white supremacist term for EUROPEAN classical music) is uptight, garish with pomp, oppressively technical, often aggressive and exhausting to listen to (sound like anyone you know? 😉)
Both flexghost and Enoch have been reported by many people, and have already been blocked by some anti-racist Instances. mastodon.social and universeodon are not well-moderated Instances, so it's up to users to block these two users.
It is vital that Mastodon admins and users make it a priority to take a firm stand against the anti-Indigenous behaviour in this place. I'm seeing an increase in racism, paternalism, gaslighting, and race-based micro-aggression targeted at Indigenous people.
I know too many Indigenous people have left Mastodon as the anti-Indigenous behaviour is not properly being addressed here. And when antiracist Instances, such as the one I'm a mod for, do take action, it is common for non-Indigenous people to rally around the offender - not Indigenous people who were impacted by their racism.
If you stay silent, if you do not disassociate with racists, then you are saying you're fine with anti-Indigenous hate and racism.
Good news, everyone! The Yurok Tribe will now co-manage 125 acres of Redwood forest, a gateway to the state/national park, along with the National Park Service.
The tribal nation signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday with Redwood national and state parks and the non-profit Save the Redwoods League.
“The American Indian Native studies course that we’ve developed is heavily focused on modern #indigenous people, both in #Texas and beyond because we do still exist.”
#LeonardPeltier has spent over 40 years in prison for a wrongful conviction.
"In 1973, several American Indians joined together as part of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, at the historic village of Wounded Knee, SD. They occupied Wounded Knee for over 70 days to protest injustices against their tribes, violations of treaties, and ongoing abuses against their people. The FBI, in coordination with other federal agencies, responded with a military-backed assault, firing hundreds-of-thousands of rounds of ammunition against men, women and children in the village, and killing two Native Americans...."
Ruth Łchav’aya K’isen Miller (Dena’ina Athabaskan and a member of the Curyung Tribe) and Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon (Deg Hit’an Dene and Sugpiaq) have a radical vision: To reinvigorate ancient #Indigenous trade practices as a means to redistribute wealth, return land and water in #Alaska to Indigenous stewardship, and show that a healthy economy and clean environment can coexist.
America built its first "concentration camp school," or Indian boarding school, on the Yakama reservation in 1860.
Now, the state of #Washington has appointed five #Indigenous leaders to a Truth and Reconciliation Tribal Advisory Committee, which will investigate the state’s history of Native boarding schools.