indigenous rising

[indigenous-rising]

our apologies everyone, 

our head mod Rose has suffered a loss, her father has passed away and during this mourning time we have not accessed this site as much as we have before. in the mean time, Rose still dances at powwows and is continuing advocacy in her community. we have heard we shall be returning soon with original works soon. 

best wishes, safety and peace 

[tsabe]

[tpfnewsdesk-deactivated20181216]

We love you, Tamir. We will fight until you receive justice. #TamirRice #BlackLivesMatter

[fuckcisplaining]

You can't teach survivors that their body is their own while defining what recovery is for them.

That means:

-you don’t decide that recovery includes having sex again

-you don’t decide recovery means therapy

-you don’t decide whether recovery means letting people touch them again

-you don’t decide recovery means being able to cope with triggers instead of avoiding them

-you don’t decide that recovery includes stopping or starting ANY behaviours unless THEY say so

Or you are NOT giving them autonomy.

[indigenous-rising]

fair warning:

any and all persons who attempt or succeed in contacting any minors related to any of the mods on this blog will not get away with it. we have and will call the police. 

[nativenews]

The face of climate change: How Inuit youth lead the fight to save the Arctic

Maatalii Okalik is taking the young voice of the Canadian Arctic to the global climate change talks in Paris: ‘We’re the ones really affected by it’

Maatalii Okalik is tired of seeing polar bears as the face of climate change. “Make it an Inuit face. We’re the ones that are really affected by it,” she told the Guardian in a phone interview from Paris.

At the Paris climate conference, the bear is a trope on banners and posters. Politicians and activists are taking note of the Arctic’s plight, invoking sprawling vistas and vulnerable wildlife as a cautionary tale. “This summer, I saw the effects of climate change first-hand in our northernmost state, Alaska,” Barack Obama said in his opening remarks at the conference. “Where the sea is already swallowing villages and eroding shorelines; where permafrost thaws and the tundra burns; where glaciers are melting at a pace unprecedented in modern times.”

But Okalik, President of Canada’s National Inuit Youth Council, says the soaring rhetoric of saving the Arctic is not enough. “Inuit continue to be the human barometer of climate change,” she said. “They have been saying to the international community for years that climate change is happening at a rapid pace.” If action if going to be taken on preserving life in the Arctic, she argued, traditional Inuit knowledge and experience needs to be included.

[IMAGE: Iqaluit, the capital of the Canadian Arctic, is the centre of a quickly changing landscape.]

Bound by tundra, rock and frigid waters, Iqaluit is more than 2,700 miles from Paris.

Far removed from the world’s climate deliberations, it’s the centre of a quickly changing landscape. It’s also the Canadian Arctic’s capital and the consummate frontier city, with a rapidly growing population. The median age of the territory is below 25, and one-third of the residents are under the age of 15. The Arctic is young.

For the Arctic’s new generation, the last decade has been one of hollow promises in the face of ongoing crises. The territory is powered on costly diesel fuel, it lacks sufficient housing, and the cost of living is too high for many Inuit residents. Annual pilgrimages of political leaders to the north have been, for the most part, political theatre, accompanied by photo ops and platitudes to the residents asking for more money to alleviate the glut of problems in the region.

One youth leader has grown increasingly frustrated with inaction on both environmental and social issues affecting youth. Two months ago, Okalik used her role as head of the National Inuit Youth Council to question federal candidates before the Canadian election. 

“If elected and as our voice in Ottawa, do you commit to implementing the 94 calls to action put forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and what specific measures will you take?” she asked to heavy applause from the crowd. As the moderator pointed out, she was one of the few young people in the crowd.

Two months later, she traveled to Paris for the COP21 conference as an Arctic delegate, representing the Nunavut territory to monitor the talks and to lobby for the inclusion of Indigenous voices in the agreement. With many elders lacking the tools to engage the international community, Okalik sees a clear role in discussions for her generation.

Keep reading

[indigenous-rising]

“ A press release from Dianne Feinstein's office indicates she may have an updated drought "relief" bill ready by next week. If you haven't yet, please tweet, call and/or Facebook message California Senators Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and tell them you support Winnemem Wintu indigenous rights, healthy rivers and strong salmon runs. Tell them NO to the Shasta Dam raise and YES to justice for the W...See More “

[nangavision-blog]

Warrior Princess #nangaphotographyoriginal

[bonitaapplebelle-deactivated201]

Mainstream feminist are more eager to allow men into the movement than they are about allowing trans women and WOC

[cburgoin]

Mexican Revolution of 1910.

[black-culture]

[nevaehtyler]

It’s been a year since the grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo who choked Eric Garner to death. #JusticeForEricGarner

[micdotcom]

Watch: George Takei has a vital message for those misusing and misremembering Japanese internment.

[sunlight-chaser]

photo of Caleen Sisk with her quote: “We indigenous peoples around the world are standing up for water and the land so that we can all continue to exist.” 

Chief Caleen Sisk is the leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe is an advocate for the waterways. She is also the 2015 recipient of the Wisdom Fellowship Award.

[itzelaalejandra]

Ernestina Lopez, painting the roses in the mural 1970

South Central

[eearth-deactivated20180601]

Descendants of black slaves owned by Native Americans are being denied their rights...

“It’s about color, and when it comes down to it, they don’t want the black people to have anything” - Opal Jackson, Freedmen descendant

A little discussed past

Every summer at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the Cherokee Indians sponsor their Trail of Tears pageant. The story of how the US government robbed the five tribes of their homelands in the south and moved them by force to Oklaholma. They don’t tell of the thousands of black slaves the tribes brought with them.

A history of slave ownership and African-Natives

Most of the ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ were slave holding nations.

Slavery was introduced by white slave owners into the upper echelons of Native nations. Most full-blooded Natives weren’t slave owners, rather the ‘mixed-bloods’, the people who lived like white planters, were. Masters frequently raped their female slaves. Those slaves had children who would go on to be known as the Freedmen.

After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, a treaty was signed with the federal government in 1866. In this agreement, four of five tribes guaranteed full tribal citizenship for former slaves.

The treaty clearly says that former slaves ‘shall have all the rights of Natives’.

Despite this, the Freedmen are still fighting for their rights to this day.

Current struggles of the Freedmen

“We are still being treated the way that they was treating us back then. This is something that needs to come to an end” - Sylvia Davis, Seminole Freedmen.

Sylvia is proud of her Native heritage and sits on the Seminole tribal council. Despite this, she has encountered constant racism and hostility.

In tribal meeting, Sylvia says “I had a tribal member sit across from me using the word ‘nigger’ and then the Chief of the Seminole Nation, standing at the podium, with a smile on his face. I do have a name. My momma didn’t name me no ‘nigger’. My name is Sylvia and you can address me by that name”.

Theola Jones is a “proud member of the Seminole Nation”. Her two sons were recruited and accepted by the Haskell Indian Nations University because of their talents in football and basketball and their Seminole heritage but were denied access to the library and infirmary because they have black ancestry.

Despite being awarded “all the rights of Natives” in 1866, Freedmen continue to struggle for their rights and recognition.

Many are now being denied tribal citizenship, especially by the Cherokee Nation, and are purposefully excluded from any of the benefits, opportunities and revenue that are extended to all other recognised tribal citizens.

There are roughly 30,000 Cherokee Freedmen descendants today.

“When you know what you really are and you haven’t been embraced or acknowledged, it’s horrible’ - Kenneth Payton, Freedmen descendent

The removal of rights after 117 years of citizenship

From 1866 Freedmen were generally considered to be full tribal citizens. In the late 1970s federal services and benefits such as free health care were awarded to federally recognized tribes.

As members of the Cherokee Nation, federal benefits and services were also provided to the Cherokee Freedmen.

Efforts to block the Freedmen descendants from the tribe began in 1983, after over a century of recognition. The Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation issued an executive order stating that all Cherokee Nation citizens must have a “Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood” card in order to vote and be recognised.

The One-Drop Rule

The CDIB cards were made to be based on a specific federal census taken between 1902 and 1906. The problem is, this census was conducted under the ‘one drop’ rule.

They would simply look at the people being registered, and if they seemed like they had any black blood whatsoever they were classified as being strictly of African descent, even though they were socially, culturally and genetically Native.

Everyone else was put on a ‘blood roll’ where their quantum, or amount of native blood compared to white blood, was recorded.

It should be noted that like many people, the Cherokee Chief at the time was one-eight native and seven-eights white, yet on this treaty he would be regarded as a full Native with all the rights that the status brings with it.

This meant that no Freedman could possibly be allowed citizenship, even if they could document their heritage, and led to the completed the disfranchisement of the Cherokee Freedmen descendants, which was the intention.

Despite numerous court cases and appeals, this remains the case to this day.

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