On my last day at Standing Rock, one of the students asked me, “What do you think you’ll remember most about this place when you leave?” And after a minute, I said, “I think I’ll remember how warmly you all welcomed me from the first minute I walked in the door.” I was Mr. John for the week as I visited classrooms and set up … Continue reading Standing Rock
“So I carry all these things for my family. And now I’m the top of my family. I have my mother on her side, but on my father’s side, that’s it. My grandpa’s gone, my father’s gone. There’s nobody else. So I gotta carry it all for my sons. Gotta be strong, you know.” Continue reading Harvey Goodsky, Jr.
Nora McDowell is a member of the Fort Mojave Tribe in Mojave Valley, Arizona and was the chairperson of the tribe for more than 25 years. She’s a part of the leadership team for the Water and Tribes Initiative and is passionate about protecting all natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River. “The water, especially…We have to care for it. We have to speak … Continue reading Nora McDowell
Bazile Panek is majoring in Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University. He is an enrolled tribal member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Red Cliff, Wisconsin. “There’s all sorts of barriers to existing as a native person. Ever since colonization in 1492, things have been hard for native people. It’s hard just to even exist sometimes. So the power and … Continue reading Bazile Panek
Tania Aubid is an Anishinaabe woman involved in the Water Protector movement resisting the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. “You know, they wanted their pristine lands, and then they pushed us all into the swamps. And now that the swamps have resources for them to exploit, they want to push us out over here too. Through the logging companies, through the pipelines, through the … Continue reading Tania Aubid
Joe Hill is from the Seneca Nation. He traveled to northern Minnesota to a Water Protectors camp north of Palisade, to protest an oil pipeline that will cross the Mississippi River and many others. He spent the winter there living in a yurt and said he had come to support an Indigenous women-led movement, to live simply, and to exercise his obligations under the Great … Continue reading Joe Hill
Eugene Joe is a Navajo sand artist who lives near Shiprock, New Mexico. At an early age, Eugene’s grandfather helped him discover his gift of art. His grandfather would send the boy to meditate on a nearby hill and say, “You have a gift that’s inside of you. Go there and find it.” “Your creator gave you a special tool in your life. To find that is to learn … Continue reading Eugene Joe
Sheila Goldtooth teaches Navajo culture and philosophy at Dine College in Chinle, Arizona. She also works as a traditional healer for the Navajo Nation. Her interest in healing began at a very young age when she saw her uncle do the work. She apprenticed with him and now performs ceremonies and blessings for people to help bring them back into balance and harmony, particularly for … Continue reading Sheila Goldtooth
When I met Myron Pourier at his home on the Pine Ridge Reservation last summer, he was working to change the name of Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak. Myron is the great great grandson of Black Elk, and saw this effort as a symbolic step toward reconciliation. Just an hour ago, as I was doing final revisions on the book that Myron’s story is … Continue reading Black Elk Peak
