#indigenous activism

[hope-for-the-planet]

Black Hills drilling project canceled after backlash from tribes

A South Dakota mining company has canceled a drilling project in the Black Hills after opposition from Native American tribes and local grou

Protests and lawsuits from Native American tribes and other local groups stopped a graphite mining operation in South Dakota that was going forward without appropriate environment review.

The mining project has now been cancelled with the company stating it "doesn't intend to file another plan for this project.".

[reasonsforhope]

Before and After Photos of World's Largest Dam Removal in Calif. Will Have You Cheering for Team Salmon (LOOK)

The last two dams, Ion Gate and Copco 1, that were built to divert water for the construction of larger dams, were just removed.

"For years, California was slated to undertake the world’s largest dam removal project in order to free the Klamath River to flow as it had done for thousands of years.

Now, as the project nears completion, imagery is percolating out of Klamath showing the waterway’s dramatic transformation, and they are breathtaking to behold.

Pictured: Klamath River flows freely, after Copco-2 dam was removed in California.

Incredibly, the project has been nearly completed on schedule and under budget, and recently concluded with the removal of two dams, Iron Gate and Copco 1. Small “cofferdams” which helped divert water for the main dams’ construction, still need to be removed.

The river, along which salmon and trout had migrated and bred for centuries, can flow freely between Lake Ewauna in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to the Pacific Ocean for the first time since the dams were constructed between 1903 and 1962.

“This is a monumental achievement—not just for the Klamath River but for our entire state, nation, and planet,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “By taking down these outdated dams, we are giving salmon and other species a chance to thrive once again, while also restoring an essential lifeline for tribal communities who have long depended on the health of the river.”

“We had a really incredible moment to share with tribes as we watched the final cofferdams be broken,” Ren Brownell, Klamath River Renewal Corp. public information officer, told SFGATE. “So we’ve officially returned the river to its historic channel at all the dam sites. But the work continues.”

Pictured: Iron Gate Dam, before and after.

“The dams that have divided the basin are now gone and the river is free,” Frankie Myers, vice chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said in a tribal news release from late August. “Our sacred duty to our children, our ancestors, and for ourselves, is to take care of the river, and today’s events represent a fulfillment of that obligation.”

The Yurok Tribe has lived along the Klamath River forever, and it was they who led the decades-long campaign to dismantle the dams.

At first the water was turbid, brown, murky, and filled with dead algae—discharges from riverside sediment deposits and reservoir drainage. However, Brownell said the water quality will improve over a short time span as the river normalizes.

“I think in September, we may have some Chinook salmon and steelhead moseying upstream and checking things out for the first time in over 60 years,” said Bob Pagliuco, a marine habitat resource specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in July.

Pictured: JC Boyle Dam, before and after.

“Based on what I’ve seen and what I know these fish can do, I think they will start occupying these habitats immediately. There won’t be any great numbers at first, but within several generations—10 to 15 years—new populations will be established.”

Ironically, a news release from the NOAA states that the simplification of the Klamath River by way of the dams actually made it harder for salmon and steelhead to survive and adapt to climate change.

“When you simplify the habitat as we did with the dams, salmon can’t express the full range of their life-history diversity,” said NOAA Research Fisheries Biologist Tommy Williams.

“The Klamath watershed is very prone to disturbance. The environment throughout the historical range of Pacific salmon and steelhead is very dynamic. We have fires, floods, earthquakes, you name it. These fish not only deal with it well, it’s required for their survival by allowing the expression of the full range of their diversity. It challenges them. Through this, they develop this capacity to deal with environmental changes.”

-via Good News Network, October 9, 2024

[1965cannibalium]

Almost a year has passed since Julia del Carmen Chuñil Catricura, a 72-year-old Mapuche elder and community leader, disappeared in Máfil, southern Chile.

She was last seen on November 8, 2024, walking with her dog Cholito to check on livestock and care for her land. She never returned. Now, we have confirmation that she has been murdered.

Julia was more than a victim of disappearance, she was a dedicated defender of Indigenous Mapuche lands and culture. As president of the Putreguel Indigenous Community, she led the protection of approximately 2220 acres of native forest, an area known as “Reserva Cora Número Uno-A.” She worked tirelessly to preserve biodiversity, raise livestock sustainably, and safeguard the rights and heritage of her people. Julia was also a mother of five and a grandmother of ten, an elder deeply respected in her community.

As it usually happens with indigenous women, her work was not without risk. Since 2015, she and her family report threats and intimidation linked to attempts to seize or exploit her land.

At the moment of her and her 3-month-old sheepdog Cholito's disappearance, tire marks from an unknown pickup truck were reportedly found near her property, which made her family suspect foul play was involved.

Recently, lawyers representing Julia’s family revealed that in a court-approved phone interception, suspect Juan Carlos Morstadt (owner of an agricultural, livestock, and forestry company, descendant of German settlers who came to Valdivia, south of Chile, and started exploiting indigenous land for economic profit) was allegedly recorded saying “they burned her” in at least two conversations. The lawyers say they located a prosecutor’s memo referencing these intercepted calls, but after requesting more information, they were reportedly blocked from accessing the Prosecutor’s Office online case portal.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has called on Chile to intensify search and investigative efforts, and the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) is monitoring the case. Yet, nearly a year later, Julia’s family and community still have no answers.

Julia Chuñil’s disappearance is not just a tragedy, and it's not the first time an indigenous person has been murdered in Chile. Camilo Catrillanca was killed by the Chilean police. Matías Catrileo was killed by the police too. Jaime Mendoza Collío was murdered too by the police. The same police that dismissed Julia's family's concerns about her disappearance. The same police that historically has NEVER protected mapuches.

She was murdered. She deserves justice. Her family deserves the truth. The Mapuche people and all Indigenous communities deserve safety and recognition of their rights. WALLMAPU LIBRE. MARICHI WEU.

Say her name, JULIA CHUÑIL CATRICURA.

DON'T STAY SILENT ABOUT INDIGENOUS WOMEN.

JUSTICIA PARA JULIA CHUÑIL.

[our-queer-experience]

i am once again asking you to support and donate to freedom oaklahoma, a native-based organization for trans and gay rights in the same state nex benedict was murdered.

[xmo-rmon]

Since yet another piece of media depicting the mountain meadows massacre as the most fucked up thing the mormon church has ever done just came out, I'd like to take another opportunity to direct everyone to the Timpanogos tribe website and encourage you to read about the black hawk war and the events surrounding and following it

brigham young literally ordered the mormon militia to "exterminate" the Timpanogos people - murdering the men and selling the women and children into slavery. The remains of Black Hawk were robbed from his grave and put on display in temple square until 1996

The full truth needs to be heard. It can't be minimized into something titillating but consumable. The Timpanogos people did not endure the grief and suffering brought by the mormon militia so people could both leave them out of the discussion and make money off a story they were erased from.

Again, please read for yourself on the Timpanogos website, spread the word, and donate if you can (there is a button for it on the site).

[thenuclearmallard]

[pingintech]

there is a lot of exclusionary and divisive trans discourse on this website these days in the midst of it all it can be hard for some people to remember we are all one community and as a result we neglect important conversations we should likely rather be having so today i want to talk about 2S identities both for education and positivity and to talk for a bit about how colonialism has changed the way we talk about gender

✨two spirit appreciation post ✨

first lets talk about what 2 spirit and why the term is important

a lot of people here on turtle island tend to have very black and white perspectives on sex and gender and gendered roles in american society but when people say gender is a social construct thats not just a catchy slogan it is something purposefully constructed that changes over time with societal values and it is a fairly new social construct especially within the context of turtle island

before colonization the social values held around gender sex and gender roles held by the people indigenous to this land were incredibly varied and complex and specific to each groups cultural and spiritual beliefs and values but they were overwhelmingly beliefs that not only viewed sex and gender as complex and fluid but celebrated those born with complex relationships with sex and gender and saw them as important spiritual members of their communities

after colonization indigenous people were killed en masse and separated children from their families in order to force their children into boarding schools because only through force and violence could colonizers make it seem as if their own cultural and societal values were not only normal and rational but righteous and moral

if sex and gender were truly binary and men belonged at the top of our societal hierarchy naturally and women were made to be subservient to men if these were truly normal civilized and natural ways of viewing the world it would not require genocide in order to enforce it

2 spirit describes an anti colonial movement within indigenous communities in attempt to form community around indigenous spiritual and cultural beliefs around sex and gender based on their own cultural and religious histories

2 spirit typically describes someone who holds both feminine and masculine spirits simultaneously but it has a wide range of meanings related to individual cultural beliefs

2 spirit is a term for indigenous people based on the history of indigenous peoples and only indigenous people can claim this identity

while the vast array of experiences 2 spirit can describe have existed long before colonization and have deep roots in each respective culture the term 2 spirit itself was coined by Anishinaabe elder Myra Laramee in 1990 During the Third Annual Intertribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference the term 2 spirit comes from the Anishnaabemowin term niizh manidoowag which literally translates to two-spirits

not all 2 spirit people consider themselves trans or even queer and as these spiritual and cultural beliefs long outdate the modern trans or queer communities its frankly completely understandable as these identities are a natural part of their own culture

the issues 2 spirit indigenous people face and their issues are absolutely issues important to and similar to the struggles of trans people as a whole not only are 2 spirit identities counter to american beliefs about sex and gender and as a result gender expression in 2 spirit indigenous people specifically is often punished but gender expression within indigenous communities even outside of 2 spirit peoples is often punished by american patriarchy as american views around sex and gender are structurally imperialist euro centric and white supremacist and has no allowance for cultural diversity in terms of sex and gender

the laws and policies around sex and gender that disadvantage women at the expense of men that punish diversity in gender expression and identity are antithetical to many indigenous peoples core cultural and spiritual values and decolonizing our views around sex and gender is incredibly important for us to do within our own queer communities

2 spirit as a term also isnt meant to replace other terms from indigenous communities that describe cultural spiritual and historical beliefs around sex gender and gender expectations and there are many terms that are used to describe fluidity in gender and gender roles in their respective cultures such as

agokwe agokwe-nini okitcitakwe and ogokwe in Anishinaabemowin

etuijijaqimijinui'k and l'nuk in Mi'kmaq

nàdleehé in Dine or Navajo

aayahkwew Înahpîkasoht napêhkân iskwewak napêw iskwêwisêhot and iskwêw ka napêwayat in Cree and Plains Cree

winyanktehca winkte winkta and wintike in Dakota

sipiniq arnaasiaq angutaasiaq and choupan in Inuktitut

tuučuk and čakusšƛ in Nuuh-chah-nulth

titqattek in Ktunaxa

aakíí’skassi in Siksikáí’powahsin

miáti in Hidatsa

and many many more

2 spirit people across tribes and cultures and religions you belong in our community

trans people should absolutely be fighting for the rights and issues of indigenous folks but especially for those of our 2 spirit siblings

the trans community could absolutely learn quite a few things from 2 spirit elders about sex and gender and how to deconstruct our views around them

anti colonialism and anti imperialism are trans issues

and a world where first nations and inuit peoples have sovereignty over their own lands is one that benefits us all especially as queer people

i am not indigenous myself and while i think 2 spirit identities are really important in discussions of the trans community as their beliefs around sex and gender and gender expectations and roles far predate modern concepts of the trans community or even the queer community at large as we understand it today it is not my place to define these terms and thats why im not a lot of the information used in this post is based primarily on the information found on sites like these as well as descriptions and discussions of 2 spirit identity and community weve heard from actual 2 spirit people in our own community https://w2sa.ca/two-spirit-library/understanding-the-term-two-spirit https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/the-history-of-two-spirit-folks https://waapihk.com/2025/06/07/histories-of-two-spirit-identity/

[wachinyeya]

A tribe once declared ‘extinct’ helps reintroduce salmon to the Columbia River

NELSON, British Columbia — For thousands of years, the stretch of the Columbia River that passed through Kettle Falls, Washington, was so fu

For thousands of years, Kettle Falls was a vital salmon fishing ground for the Sinixt, but early 20th-century dam construction blocked salmon migration.

Wrongfully declared extinct in Canada in 1956, the Sinixt fought for recognition and were officially acknowledged as Aboriginal Peoples of Canada in 2021.

In 2023, the U.S. government signed a $200 million agreement with a coalition of tribes, including the Sinixt, to fund an Indigenous-led salmon reintroduction program into the Columbia River system above dams in Washington.

Sinixt leaders say this project is an important effort to help right a historical wrong in the legacy that led to their “extinction” status, while many hope to one day join salmon efforts on their traditional territory in Canada.