Category: Indigenous rights

An Epistle to Friends Regarding Community, Mutual Aid and LANDBACK

To protect all living-beings and sacred sites is a feminine act and in complete defiance to Christopher Columbus’ worldview, which is the narrative that we counter every time we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day. –Sikowis Nobiss

It has become clear to some of us who are called Friends that the colonial capitalist economic system and white supremacy are contrary to the Spirit and we must find a better way. We conscientiously object to and resist capitalism and white supremacy.

Jeff Kisling

I am sometimes discouraged that so much work by Indigenous Peoples, so much that I have tried to do, rarely results in any progress toward justice. For White people, we must begin by de-colonizing ourselves.

Dear Friends

The measure of a community is how the needs of its people are met. No one should go hungry, or without shelter or healthcare. Yet in this country known as the United States millions struggle to survive. The capitalist economic system creates hunger, houselessness, illness that is preventable, and despair. A system that requires money for goods and services denies basic needs to anyone who does not have money. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) are disproportionately affected. Systemic racism. The capitalist system that supports the white materialistic lifestyle is built on stolen land and genocide of Indigenous peoples, and the labor of those who were enslaved in the past or are forced to live on poverty wages today.

Capitalism is revealed as an unjust, untenable system, when there is plenty of food in the grocery stores, but men, women and children are going hungry, living on the streets outside. White supremacy violently enforces the will of wealthy white people on the rest of us.

It has become clear to some of us who are called Friends that the colonial capitalist economic system and white supremacy are contrary to the Spirit and we must find a better way. We conscientiously object to and resist capitalism and white supremacy.

capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.

in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices. 
Des Moines Black Liberation Movement

Mutual Aid

How do we resist? We rebuild our communities in ways not based on money. Such communities thrive all over the world. Indigenous peoples have always lived this way. Generations of white people once did so in this country. Mutual Aid is a framework that can help us do this today.

The concept of Mutual Aid is simple to explain but can result in transformative change. Mutual Aid involves everyone coming together to find a solution for problems we all face. This is a radical departure from “us” helping “them”. Instead, we all work together to find and implement solutions.  To work together means we must be physically present with each other. Mutual Aid cannot be done by committee or donations. We build Beloved communities as we get to know each other. Build solidarity. An important part of Mutual Aid is creating these networks of people who know and trust each other. When new challenges arise, these networks are in place, ready to meet them.

Another important part of Mutual Aid is the transformation of those involved. This means both those who are providing help and those receiving it.

With Mutual Aid, people learn to live in a community where there is no vertical hierarchy. A community where everyone has a voice. A model that results in enthusiastic participation. A model that makes the vertical hierarchy required for white supremacy impossible.

Commonly there are several Mutual Aid projects in a community. The initial projects usually relate to survival needs. One might be a food giveaway. Another helping those who need shelter. Many Mutual Aid groups often have a bail fund, to support those arrested for agitating for change. And accompany those arrested when they go to court.

LANDBACK

The other component necessary to move away from colonial capitalism and white supremacy is LANDBACK or ReMatriate.

But the idea of “landback” — returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples — has existed in different forms since colonial governments seized it in the first place. “Any time an Indigenous person or nation has pushed back against the oppressive state, they are exercising some form of landback,” says Nickita Longman, a community organizer from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The movement goes beyond the transfer of deeds to include respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water. Above all, it is a rallying cry for dismantling white supremacy and the harms of capitalism.

Returning the Land. Four Indigenous leaders share insights about the growing landback movement and what it means for the planet, by Claire Elise Thompson, Grist, February 25, 2020

ReMatriate

“For Indigenous Peoples Day, I would like for folks to better understand and appreciate this movement which has been working its way into the dominant public narrative over the past few years. As a hashtag or sign at a protest, the term Land Back is straightforward. It is a demand that stolen land, sacred sites and sovereign stewardship be returned to whom it was stolen from: Indigenous peoples. It has become popular movement slang used in our ongoing efforts to fend off relentless theft and racial injustice, and a call for reparations.

Land Back is a helpful term but I prefer to use ReMatriate, as it is more inclusive of the many issues that have arisen from land theft, and better describes the Indigenous fight to defend Mother Earth. It is a call to reestablish Indigenous landscapes, bring back Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and to give stolen power back to the feminine. In a world where unfettered patriarchal violence and greed has brought us to the precipice of a climate extinction, ReMatriation is the return of the matriarchy. This counterbalances the forces of toxic masculinity that, through Christian colonial-capitalist violence, are intent on holding all power and controlling all the life, land and resources on our Mother Earth.”

PERSPECTIVES: Why “ReMatriate” is a more inclusive term for returning land to Indigenous peoples by Sikowis Nobiss, reckon, Oct 3, 2023

What will Friends do?

It matters little what people say they believe when their actions are inconsistent with their words.  Thus, we Friends may say there should not be hunger and poverty, but as long as Friends continue to collaborate in a system that leaves many without basic necessities and violently enforces white supremacy, our example will fail to speak to mankind.

Let our lives speak for our convictions.  Let our lives show that we oppose the capitalist system and white supremacy, and the damages that result.  We can engage in efforts, such as Mutual Aid, LANDBACK, and ReMatriate to build Beloved community. To reach out to our neighbors to join us.

We must begin by changing our own lives if we hope to make a real testimony for peace and justice.

ReMatriate and Land Back

I remember the moment when I woke up in my tent for the first time in the Oceti Sakowin camp north of the Standing Rock Reservation during the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. Everywhere I looked Indigenous people were reclaiming space and power. We all felt a deep need to steward the land, because we were tired of the harm that colonizers had inflicted upon us. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt the power of the Land Back movement.

PERSPECTIVES: Why “ReMatriate” is a more inclusive term for returning land to Indigenous peoples by Sikowis Nobiss, reckon, Oct 3, 2023

Thus begins another excellent article by my friend, Sikowis Nobiss.

The subheading of that article continues: “In a world where unfettered patriarchal violence and greed has brought us to the precipice of a climate extinction, ReMatriation is a call to reestablish Indigenous landscapes and give stolen power back to the feminine.”

“For Indigenous Peoples Day, I would like for folks to better understand and appreciate this movement which has been working its way into the dominant public narrative over the past few years. As a hashtag or sign at a protest, the term Land Back is straightforward. It is a demand that stolen land, sacred sites and sovereign stewardship be returned to whom it was stolen from: Indigenous peoples. It has become popular movement slang used in our ongoing efforts to fend off relentless theft and racial injustice, and a call for reparations.

Land Back is a helpful term but I prefer to use ReMatriate, as it is more inclusive of the many issues that have arisen from land theft, and better describes the Indigenous fight to defend Mother Earth. It is a call to reestablish Indigenous landscapes, bring back Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and to give stolen power back to the feminine. In a world where unfettered patriarchal violence and greed has brought us to the precipice of a climate extinction, ReMatriation is the return of the matriarchy. This counterbalances the forces of toxic masculinity that, through Christian colonial-capitalist violence, are intent on holding all power and controlling all the life, land and resources on our Mother Earth.”

First, a definition: “Rematriation is a powerful word that Indigenous women of Turtle Island use to describe how they are restoring balance to the world…it means ‘Returning the Sacred to the Mother.”

The Indigenous concept of rematriation champions a return to our origins, to life and co-creation, and a focus on Mother Earth with the reclaiming of all kinds of things, such as ancestral remains, yes, but also spirituality, cultural practices, knowledge, resources, and seeds.

Rematriate by  Dr. Jessica R. Metcalfe, Beyond Buckskin, Nov 12, 2021

Returning the land to Indigenous peoples is exceedingly hard

Truthfully, there is just a blatant disregard for the health of the land, the water and the air we breathe. Where there used to be tallgrass prairie, oak savannah, and woodland there are now massive monocropped fields of corn and soy with ethanol plants, meatpacking plants, and Concentrated Animal Feed Operations dotting the landscape.

Yet I have found that returning the land to Indigenous peoples is exceedingly hard. I can raise funds to fight a pipeline or end the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives crisis, but it is almost impossible to raise funds as a non-profit to buy just one acre of land in Sioux City to start a Native urban garden, or for even a few acres near Des Moines so we can reclaim first foods and ReMatriate the prairie.

My friend Foxy Onefeather carried this sign about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (sometimes referred to at MMIW-Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) during our eight-day walk, the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, from Des Moines to Fort Dodge in 2018. Sikowis helped organize the march.

I first heard Sikowis and Donnielle Wanatee speak at our Quaker Yearly Meeting in 2017, in a panel discussion about building bridges with Native peoples.

I have spoken to hundreds of folks about Land Back and ReMatriation. I have also spoken to congregations such as the Mennonites, the Quakers, Nuns and Nones, The Beloved Community, The United Church and Catholic Workers. In every one of these conversations I hear a cocktail of white guilt combined with a desire to be in proximity to Indigenous folks and our movements that ultimately just leads to more inaction.

These conversations always leave me feeling tokenized and angry. Despite the fact that giving the land back to Native stewards is the single most powerful act that white folks with generations of inherited wealth—which can be traced back to stolen land—can do to counter colonialism, none of these conversations have ever led to any change.

ReMatriation is a movement

ReMatriation describes an entire movement that is not just intent on returning land, but making sure that Indigenous lifeways return so we can build a regenerative and compassionate world economy. While we will not ReMatriate the world in my lifetime, the term allows a new understanding. I consider this planet to be my mother and therefore she is a matriarch. I believe that by doing this work, I am following the path my ancestors put me on to keep my mother safe.

Indigenous People’s Day

To protect all living-beings and sacred sites is a feminine act and in complete defiance to Christopher Columbus’ worldview, which is the narrative that we counter every time we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day.

Sikowis Nobiss, MA is Nêhiyaw/Saulteaux of the George Gordon First Nation and the founder and Executive Director of Great Plains Action Society. When she imagines a strong political infrastructure, societies built on compassion, and a regenerative economy, she sees a focus on relationships and community. She believes we can get there through Indigenous ideologies and practices, which are the antitheses to Christian fundamentalism and colonial capitalism. Sikowis is mom, a writer, a speaker, an organizer and an earth defender fighting to decolonize the world. Learn more about Great Plains Action Society at greatplainsaction.org.

Sikowis references this article, which is an excellent discussion of what Land Back means: LAND BACK! What do we mean? by Ronald Gamblin, 4Rs NLC Coordinator, 4Rs Youth Movement. This quote is from that article:

“When you hear the words decolonization, white supremacy, patriarchy or even racism, do you feel something? Do you get a chill down your back, randomly start crossing your arms, get tense all over your body, or even just feel an urge to resist? Well good! When your body is cold it shivers, when it’s hungry it growls, when it’s in fear it shakes and when it’s sad it cries. Your body is meant to respond, whether that be physical or emotional, and it’s the same when deconstructing what you’ve been taught. It tells you that something is there and that you must go through it and find ways to process it.” – Kris Archie, Executive Director of the Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples

A few comments:

I don’t usually quote so much from other sources, as I did here. But this is Sikowis’ story, meant to better inform people about Land Back and ReMatriation.

Regarding my use of the word friend, that is not to call attention to myself. Rather that is to let the reader know that I know these people and firmly believe in what they stand for. I am blessed to know them as friends of mine.

We have some parallel paths. In Indianapolis I worked against the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines. That included organizing and training people to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience.

Yesterday, I wrote an update related to my website, LANDBACK Friends, that includes a detailed document about the relationships between the Great Plains Action Society and Midwest Quakers. As the name implies, LANDBACK Friends is my writing, hoping to inform Quakers (Friends) about LANDBACK and now, ReMatriate.

These are some of the photos I’ve taken over the past few years related to Indigenous People’s Day and related events in Iowa and Indianapolis.

Wet’suwet’en 1/11/2022

The last time I wrote about the Wet’suwet’en was January 2nd, RCMP Invasion expected on Wet’suwet’en territory. It’s not that the RCMP have left, but there has been a change in tactics. The threat continues.

There’s no question that I am guilty of painting on the street because the reason is so important.

Shawn Selway

We should all show up at these rallies when we are asked to do so by Indigenous people. Believe me, you will feel much better than reading a newspaper about more dead children being found somewhere.

Shawn Selway

Our first rally in support of the Wet’suwet’en was on February 7, 2020.

This is from the AFSC Midwest Digest, January 2022. Jon Krieg (AFSC), Patti McKee, Peter Clay, and I were among those at the rally to support the Wet’suwet’en at the Chase bank in Des Moines. (photos below)

https://www.afsc.org/story/midwest-digest-january-2022

Following is a statement from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples. I’ve worked with RAN since 2013 when I was trained to be an Action Lead in the Keystone Pledge of Resistance. The following relates to a letter to the editor I wrote that was published in the Indianapolis News about Indiana Senator Donnelly’s support of the Keystone pipeline.

I was glad to be called a RAN activist.

RAN @RAN May 15, 2014
@ran activist @jakislin calls out @sendonnelly on willfully ignoring the dangers of #KXL a_ran.org/iS #NoKXL

Big banks are bankrolling this pipeline: Will you rise up and join the Wet’suwet’en to protect their land?

Right now, Wet’suwet’en Indigenous rights are under attack: Canadian paramilitary troops flew into Indigenous lands in support of fossil fuel giant TC Energy, and their 417-mile fossil fuel pipeline — without the consent of hereditary chiefs. 

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are urgently calling out for massive global support. Will you take action in solidarity, Jeff?

The Canadian government and big banks like Chase and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are forcing disastrous oil pipelines on Wet’suwet’en territories and meeting peaceful protests with violence.

The Coastal Gaslink pipeline WILL have harmful impacts on water, wildlife, the Wet’suwet’en people — and on our global climate. In solidarity with them, tell big banks to stop financing Indigenous rights abuses.

For the past twelve years, the Wet’suwet’en have asserted their sovereignty to stop fossil fuel companies from trespassing on their lands, and they have won. This community organized against two more huge pipelines and defeated them, and we know they can win. Coastal Gaslink is already way over budget. These banks know the investment is incredibly risky, and we have a chance to stop it.

Here in the U.S., we can support the Wet’suwet’en by fighting back against the financial backers of this climate-killing pipeline. Banks from the U.S. to Japan to Canada, including the #1 worst banker of fossil fuels JPMorgan Chase, are funneling BILLIONS in loans to TC Energy, the company behind Coastal GasLink. These banks are directly contributing to the destruction of sacred Wet’suwet’en land and the blatant violation of their rights. 

The bankers behind this pipeline must be held accountable for their role in destroying Indigenous lands and fueling the climate crisis. Will you rise up and join the Wet’suwet’en to protect their land?

We won’t let big banks destroy rivers, air, wildlife, and the climate while hurting people who are protecting what is rightfully theirs. There is no climate justice without Indigenous sovereignty, Jeff. 

“You can’t claim to be a climate leader and still allow a project that will be the largest point source of carbon emissions in our province. And you can’t say you’re adhering to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when you clearly don’t have consent from the actual title holders, and when you’re in violation of the article that says Indigenous peoples can’t be forcibly removed from their own territory.”

ANALYSIS: Coastal GasLink, LNG Controversies Will Haunt B.C. NDP in 2022, Mitchell Beer, The Energy Mix, January 10, 2022

#RiseUpfortheFallen, #RebelForAction, #RebelForLife, #SeLeverPourNotreSurvie, #ActNow, – #AgirMaintenant, #TellTheTruth, – #DireLaVérité, #ExtinctionRebellionCanada, #ExtinctionRebellion, #XRTV, #XR, #IndigenousResistance , #alloutforwedzinkwa, #RCMPofftheYintah, #WetsuwetenStrong, #Cdnpoli , #BCpoli , #ClimateCollapse, #BiosphereCollapse, #DecolonizeBC, #RespectIndigenousSovereignty , #LandBack, #RCMPstanddown, #StopCGL , #StopTMX, #LeaveItInTheGround, #ClimateEmergency , #500YearsIndigenousResistance ,

Three years ago RCMP moved onto Wet’suwet’en territory, tearing down a barricade on a forest service road that blocked access to the planned route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The single-day enforcement on Jan. 7, 2019, resulted in the arrest of 14 people, both Wet’suwet’en and their supporters. But it didn’t bring a resolution to the dispute over the pipeline, opposed by Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

Since then, dozens more have been arrested under an injunction granted to Coastal GasLink, which is building a 670-kilometre gas pipeline from northeast B.C. to an LNG processing facility on the coast in Kitimat.

And the conflict has brought increasing internal pressure on the BC NDP government to find a new approach that better reflects its stated commitment to Indigenous rights.

About 75 people have been arrested in total on the territory, with RCMP enforcement criticized as heavy handed and oppressive. In February 2020, 28 people were arrested over five days at several locations along the road. This November, at least 30 more were arrested over two days at a camp on Gidimt’en Clan territory and a worksite where Coastal GasLink plans to drill under the Morice River, known to the Wet’suwet’en as Wedzin Kwa.

And for three years, RCMP have continued patrolling the Morice, establishing a detachment on the remote resource road and racking up a bill for policing that now exceeds $20 million.

As rumours swirl about plans for a fourth police raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, the B.C. government faces growing pressure from within the NDP to find a new approach, with federal MPs, riding associations and high-profile supporters all calling for change — and getting very little response from B.C.’s ruling party.

BC NDP Faces Internal Pressure to Change Course on the Wet’suwet’en Crisis. The calls come from New Democrats across Canada and within the provincial party’s ranks by Amanda Follett Hosgood, TheTyee.ca, January 10, 2022

#wetsuwetenstrong

RCMP Invasion expected on Wet’suwet’en territory

Readers of my blogs know what an influence the struggles of the Wet’suwet’en peoples have had on my life. It was at a vigil for the Wet’suwet’en in February, 2020, that I met Ronnie James and became involved in Des Moines Mutual Aid. Links to articles about the Wet’suwet’en can be found below.

I am deeply saddened to hear that another invasion of the Wet’suwet’en territory is expected.

Statement from Gidim’ten Checkpoint: 

For the fourth time in four years, we have received information that dozens of militarized RCMP are en route to Wet’suwet’en territory, to facilitate construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and to steal our unceded lands at gunpoint. We continue to hold the drill pad site, where Coastal Gaslink plans to tunnel beneath our pristine and sacred headwaters.

RCMP have booked up local hotels for the next month. We have also received word from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs that the C-IRG unit of the RCMP – the paramilitary unit that protects private industries who are seeking to destroy Indigenous lands – are being deployed onto our lands.

We need boots on the ground and all eyes on Wet’suwet’en territory as we continue to stand up for our lands, our waters, and our future generations! If you can’t be here, take action where you stand – at investors’ offices, RBC branches, or your local police detachment.

#ShutDownCanada
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#WetsuwetenStrong

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1477839133393530880?s=20

Logan Staats is mentioned in the video above. His beautiful new song, “Deadman” is another example of the power of art to call attention to injustice. The track comes alongside a visual accompaniment partially shot at the site of a former residential school.

Logan was beaten and arrested by the RCMP while supporting the Wet’suwet’en peoples. I was only peacefully singing our water song and hugging/protecting a 70-year-old matriarch. I was free’d and remain steadfast and committed to defending the land from sea to sea all across Turtle Island.

“I wrote “Dead Man” while in rehab. It’s not about a girl. The culture is the love that I’m asking for. The love for myself. That was stolen from me – by the government, the crown, the church. When I sing “GIVE ME BACK MY LOVE”, I’m speaking about my culture, my pride, the love for myself.” – Logan Staats

Mohawk singer-songwriter Logan Staats makes his return with the new single “Deadman,” which signals the storyteller and activist’s debut release under the Indigenous-owned label, Red Music Rising.

“I wrote ‘Deadman’ while in rehab. It’s not about a girl; the culture is the love that I’m asking for,” he revealed in a press release.

The love Staats pleads for in the song is not romantic but rather a demand for something cherished, stolen by settler colonialism. “The love for myself that was stolen from me — by the government, the crown, the church. When I sing ‘Give back my love,’ I’m speaking about my culture, my pride and my love for myself.”

As a descendent of residential school survivors, Staats delivers the single alongside a video partially shot on the property of the Mohawk Institute — a former residential school in Brantford, ON — and at Land Back Lane, where Six Nations land defenders have been fighting development on unceded Six Nations territory.

In a statement, Staats recalled fighting for land sovereignty alongside the land defenders in Wet’suwet’en territory:

Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time on the West Coast in Wet’suwet’en territory after answering the call of the Hereditary Chiefs there and standing in solidarity with the land defenders on their sovereign ground. After serving an eviction notice to Coastal Gas Link, a for-profit corporation conducting illegal activities on Wet’suwet’en territory, heavily armed RCMP officers were flown in and conducted a raid on the traditional lands or ‘Yin’tah’. During that raid I was punched in the ear, my head was slammed into the frozen pavement by my braids, and I was kneed in my spine and held down while I was handcuffed and bleeding… all after I was only peacefully singing our water song and hugging/protecting a 70-year-old matriarch. I was hauled off to jail along with my sister Layla Black, several other land defenders, elders; along with members of the press. With the support of my community and people rallying across nations, I was free’d and remain steadfast and committed to defending the land from sea to sea all across Turtle Island.

Logan Staats Announces Red Music Rising Debut with New Single “Deadman”. The track comes alongside a visual accompaniment partially shot at the site of a former residential school by Haley Bentham, exclaim.ca, Nov 25, 2021

Iowa Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en is about our action at Chase Bank in Des Moines on December 23, 2021. Chase is one of the main financial institutions supporting the Coastal GasLink pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory. (Photos below).

Articles about the Wet’suwet’en on my blog Quakers, social justice and revolution. https://jeffkisling.com/?s=wetsuweten

And more recent articles on my blog LANDBACK Friends https://landbackfriends.com/?s=wetsuweten

Prairie Not Pipelines

Tonight, my friends at the Great Plains Action Society will present Episode 1 of an Indigenous web series related to climate, water, and resource extraction on the Plains.

“Currently, the majority of the media and public pushback is coming from white landowners. However, these pipelines are being proposed to be forced through stolen land and treaty territories where Indigenous voices need to be heard. This forum will discuss the legal, environmental, and tribal perspectives of Carbon Capture and Storage.”

Great Plains Action Society

Event today: PRAIRIE NOT PIPELINES
An Indigenous web series on climate, water and resource extraction on the plains
December 28 at 6PM CST

May be an image of outdoors and text that says 'PRAIRIE NOT PIPELINES AN INDIGENOUS WEB SERIES ON CLIMATE, WATER AND RESOURCE EXTRACTION ON THE PLAINS Episode 1 Carbon Capture and Sequestration in the Great Plains and Indian Country December 28 at 6PM CST Streamed on Great Plains Action Society's FB and YouTube Pages Hosted by Mahmud Fitil and Sikowis Nobiss With Guests Lisa Deville, Carolyn Raffensperger, Chase Jensen, Frank James, Michelle Free-LaMere, Brian Jorde, Donnielle Wanatee, Joseph White Eyes, and Scott Skokos DAKOTA RESOURCE COUNCIL SCIENCE ENVIRONMENTAL BAC ETWORK DAKOTA RURAL ACTION GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING THE FUTURE'
https://www.facebook.com/events/2712621119047428

Event by Dakota Rural Action, Ní Btháska Stand and Great Plains Action Society
Public  · Anyone on or off Facebook

December 28 at 6pm
OnlineWatch on FB at:
https://www.facebook.com/GreatPlainsActionSociety
Watch on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RUfRUgVVLQ

Check out the first webisode of Prairie Not Pipelines, an Indigenous web series focused on climate, water, and resource extraction on the plains.
Hosted by Mahmud Fitil and Sikowis Nobiss.
Folks from across the Great Plains in ND, SD, NE, and Iowa will be discussing the recent push for CO2 pipelines across the region. Currently, the majority of the media and public pushback is coming from white landowners. However, these pipelines are being proposed to be forced through stolen land and treaty territories where Indigenous voices need to be heard. This forum will discuss the legal, environmental, and tribal perspectives of Carbon Capture and Storage. These projects are being touted as environmentally sound when in fact they are huge greenwashed projects which extend a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry which is responsible for our current climate emergency in the first place. These investors and corporations are merely looking to profit from government programs and subsidies rather than address our climate woes in any meaningful way. The people, land, and water in the way of their profiteering ambitions are of little concern.
Guest Speakers
From Iowa:
Carolyn Raffensperger – Executive Director, Science and Environmental Health Network
Donielle Wanatee – Meskwaki Nation, Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
From Nebraska:
Michelle Free – HoChunk/Ojibwa, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Brian Jorde – Managing Lawyer, Domina Law Group
From South Dakota:
Chase Jensen – Community Organizer and Lobbyist, Dakota Rural Action
Frank James – Staff Director, Dakota Rural Action
Joseph White Eyes – Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe & Collective Member of Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective
From North Dakota:
Lisa DeVille – The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation
Scott Skokos – Executive Director, Dakota Resource Council

Two Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) pipelines are proposed to be built in Iowa. There are many reasons carbon capture is a bad idea. The table below lists numerous organizations working to stop CCS.

Pipeline Watchdogs: Monitoring Construction and Operations
Carbon (CCS) Pipeline Resistance Coalition – Iowa
Great Plains Action Society
Bold Iowa
LANDBACK Friends
Food & Water Watch
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
Petition: No more public dollars for false carbon storage solutions
At Summit Carbon Solutions offices, Ames, Iowa
12/18/2021

Iowans pushing back on CO2 pipelines

May be an image of 1 person, horse and text

#NoCO2Pipelines
#NoCCS
#NoCarbonPipelines
#ClimateEmergency
#NoCO2Pipelines
#StopNavigator
#StopSummit
#HiFromIA

Iowa Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

As I’ve been writing (see table below), the Wet’suwet’en peoples have declared the week of December 20 as a time for international support for their struggle to stop the completion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their pristine lands and water.

The map shows only two actions were planned in the Midwest. One is the action we took at the Chase bank in Des Moines yesterday, and the second will be held today in Chicago. Ironically, a mutual friend introduced me to Daniel, another Quaker working in support of the Wet’suwet’en and for LandBack. Daniel will be participating in the Midwest solidarity event in Chicago today.

Another new connection was made when my friend Jon Krieg (American Friends Service Committee) introduced me to Julie Brown, Turtle Island Solidarity Network, who has connections with the Wet’suwet’en organizers as well as activists in Iowa. Julie had connections with most of those who showed up yesterday. She also spoke with the bank manager by phone the day before our event, which facilitated talking with the manager and delivering a letter when we were there yesterday.

The people in the bank were clearly uncomfortable when we entered, but we were silent and non-threatening as we waited for the manager to appear. I was told I could not take photos in the bank and immediately stopped, although I had several shots prior to that.

Dear Branch Manager Minnihan,

As concerned residents of Des Moines and surrounding areas in Iowa, we are gathering today at the Chase bank branch on Merle Hay Road to demand that Chase immediately stops funding of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) project in Wet’suwet’en territory.

Coastal GasLink does not have the consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, whose title to the land the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes. And yet Chase has continued to bankroll this illegal project and the destruction of Wet’suwet’en land, When met with resistance, the CGL project deployed sniper rifles and militarized squads against unarmed Indigenous peoples on their own land. People will not stand for this.

We demand that Chase immediately stops funding Coastal GasLink and profiting off of the illegal destruction and invasion of Wet’suwet’en land.

Attached are copies of the eviction notice issued on January 4, 2020, by Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and the notice of enforcement issues on November 14, 2020.

Concerned local residents of Des Moines, Iowa

Action Goals
  • Take up the time and energy of Chase leadership nationally and locally
  • Educate members of the public on the role of TC Energy in their role in violating Indigenous rights by sharing graphics on social media, on email lists & in-person interactions
  • Increase the skills and leadership abilities of action participants 
  • Informing the public about the link between the bank’s fossil investments, land theft, and the climate crisis. 
  • Building solidarity between Land Defenders on the frontlines and the broader climate movement. 
  • Building power for the movement by training teams who can escalate against Chase come spring.
Defund Coastal GasLinkhttps://landbackfriends.com/2021/12/22/defund-coastal-gaslink/
Evicting Colonizershttps://landbackfriends.com/2021/12/21/evicting-colonizers/
International Week of Action to Defund Coastal GasLinkhttps://landbackfriends.com/2021/12/20/international-week-of-action-to-defund-coastal-gaslink/
Wet’suwet’en solidarity in Iowahttps://landbackfriends.com/2021/12/19/wetsuweten-solidarity-in-iowa/

#WetsuwetenStrong
#WetsuwetenSolidarity
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#1492LandBackLane
#LandBack

Defund Coastal GasLink

Today (12/22/2021) we will be gathering in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples at 4:00 PM. at the Chase Bank, 3621 Merle Hay Rd, Des Moines, IA 50310.

Chase is one of the major institutions funding fossil fuel projects, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built on Wet’suwet’en lands. Pressuring financial institutions to divest funds from fossil fuel projects has been a tactic for many years. Gatherings like this can encourage the bank to divest from fossil fuel projects. They can also provide a public way for individuals to divest their funds from these banks.

Banks and private equity companies are pouring billions on a massive fracked gas pipeline to cross Wet’suwet’en territory: Coastal GasLink. 

Indigenous Hereditary chiefs and supporters have responsibilities to defend the sacred, pristine headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa, in Wet’suwet’en law. They hold uninterrupted title to the land, in colonial law. For peacefully acting in accordance with the law and defending our shared future, land defenders, allies and journalists were removed at gunpoint. 

These companies are bankrolling Wet’suwet’en people being removed at gunpoint from their land.

  • RBC, Chase, and KKR are violating the rights of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs by funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline. 
  • This week of action comes one month after RCMP raided Wet’suwet’en land, arresting 32 people (Land Defenders, Elders, journalists, and allies). 

Action Goals
  • Take up the time and energy of Chase leadership nationally and locally
  • Educate members of the public on the role of TC Energy in their role in violating Indigenous rights by sharing graphics on social media, on email lists & in-person interactions
  • Increase the skills and leadership abilities of action participants 
  • Informing the public about the link between the bank’s fossil investments, land theft, and the climate crisis. 
  • Building solidarity between Land Defenders on the frontlines and the broader climate movement. 
  • Building power for the movement by training teams who can escalate against RBC come spring.
https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1473660041597177867?s=20
https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1473661024658202629?s=20

I will not tell my children and grandchildren that a piece of paper from a colonial court kept me from standing up for our lands and waters.

Skyler Williams

The camp that was burned to the ground by the RCMP with help from CGL has be retaken, the Wet’suwet’en returned to their lands!

The courts and cops think that we will just go away, that we will stop honouring our connection to these lands and waters. That we will forget our responsibilities to our children. When will Canada realize that we cannot be forced from our lands, that we will cannot be forced into giving up on our future generations?

I will not tell my children and grandchildren that a piece of paper from a colonial court kept me from standing up for our lands and waters. The police have power because they use fear, intimidation and violence. Our power comes from our love for our lands and for each other.

Skyler Williams

#WetsuwetenStrong
#WetsuwetenSolidarity
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#1492LandBackLane
#LandBack

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Wet’suwet’en Evict Coastal Gaslink From Drill Site; Re-Establish Coyote Camp

Dec 20, 2021 – Unceded Gidimt’en Territory, Smithers (BC):

Gidimt’en land defenders and supporters have once again evicted Coastal Gaslink workers from a key pipeline drill site, protecting Wet’suwet’en headwaters and re-occupying the area known as “Coyote Camp”. 

Early Sunday, in observance of Wet’suwet’en law, land defenders enforced the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs’ 2020 Eviction Notice to Coastal Gaslink, removing pipeline workers and re-establishing the blockade that ended on Nov 19th after two days of militarized police raids. 
The eviction took place exactly one month after RCMP made 30 arrests on Wet’suwet’en yintah, marking the third large-scale militarized operation on unceded Wet’suwet’en land since 2019. Approximately 100 RCMP, equipped with assault weapons, sniper rifles, and dogs were deployed while floodwaters raged throughout the province, to facilitate construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and the theft of sovereign Wet’suwet’en land.

The Wet’suwet’en people have never sold, surrendered, or in any way relinquished title to Wet’suwet’en land.

Today’s action follows the 24th anniversary of the 1997 Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa court ruling, which proved that Aboriginal title has never been extinguished across 58,000km2 of Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan lands. The Supreme Court of Canada recognized the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs as representatives of the Wet’suwet’en title holding collective, and Anuc ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law) as the basis of Wet’suwet’en society.

In violation of the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa ruling, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Anuc ‘nu’at’en, the Coastal GasLink pipeline has proceeded without the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

In early 2020, Hereditary Chiefs representing all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en nation issued an eviction notice to Coastal Gaslink, leading to a series of blockades across Wet’suwet’en land and sparking nationwide solidarity actions. Today, this eviction is once again in force.

“Coastal GasLink does not and will never have the consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary governance system and should expect that Wet’suwet’en law will prevail on our lands. No amount of state violence against us will make us forget our responsibility to protect the water for all future generations”, says Sleydo’, spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Checkpoint. 

Media contact: Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Media Coordinator
yintahaccess@gmail.com
250-917-8392 

Media Backgrounder :
Wet’suwet’en 101: https://www.yintahaccess.com/media-background

Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs’ Eviction Notice:
https://unistoten.camp/wetsuweten-hereditary-chiefs-evict-coastal-gaslink-from-territory/

International Week of Action to Defund Coastal GasLink
Wet’suwet’en solidarity in Iowa

#WetsuwetenSolidarity
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#1492LandBackLane
#LandBack

EVICTING COLONIZERS

The complete title of the post quoted below is “WET’SUWET’EN RESISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY: EVICTING THE COLONIZERS” By YintahAccess.com, December 19, 2021.

Wet’suwet’en land defenders have reminded us through their recent re-capture of Coyote Camp – injunctions are only pieces of paper. Canadian law has no legitimacy on stolen land. #LANDBACK

Reconciliation at Gunpoint

CONTENT WARNING: Detailed description of colonial violence and dehumanization at the hands of police and prison/court staff.

In this interview, Layla Staats and Skyler Williams describe their arrest on unceded Cas Yikh territory, and the disgusting lengths that the Canadian state went to try and break their warrior spirits.

Through these desperate and brutal actions, the RCMP and the courts showed the true essence of ‘reconciliation’ in a militarized settler-colonial state.

As Skyler says, and Wet’suwet’en land defenders have reminded us through their recent re-capture of Coyote Camp – injunctions are only pieces of paper. Canadian law has no legitimacy on stolen land.

#AllOutForWedzinKwa #shutdowncanada

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1473288514611601411?s=20

The Wet’suwet’en peoples are calling for this to be an International Week of Action to Defund Coastal GasLink.

Hold an Action in your city or your town. Banner drop, hold a Rally/March at RBC or Chase headquarters/ building, have a sit in, jam up phone lines, etc…spread the awareness! You can do this. There were just six of us who stood on a street corner at our first vigil in support of the Wet’suwet’en peoples in February 2020. We knew nobody would recognize Wet’suwet’en, but that was our intention, to “spread awareness”. And amazing connections were made at that event. You never know what will happen. That was where I met Ronnie James who taught me the concepts of Mutual Aid.

Wet’suwet’en vigil, Des Moines, Iowa

We have a sacred responsibility to our children, to protect Wedzin Kwa, our clean drinking water, our salmon, and the right to be Wet’suwet’en, for all future generations. We will not endure genocide by oil and gas corporate colonizers. We call on our allies everywhere, to rise up, stand up, fight back! Put pressure on investors, on industry, and the government to put an end to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. All Out for Wedzin Kwa! Join the Wet’suwet’en resistance!

YintahAccess.com

For the third time in three years, the Wet’suwet’en have faced militarized raids on our ancestral territory.

One month ago today, the RCMP violently raided unceded Gidimt’en territory (November 18-19, 2021), removing Indigenous people from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. The Wet’suwet’en enforced our standing eviction of CGL by closing roads into the territory November 14-17. Following the raids, arrestees received cruel and violent treatment in prison. The conditions set forth by the court are human rights violations to Indigenous peoples. We’re still here. We’re still throwing down. We are more determined than ever to protect our traditional territories for future generations.

In September 2021, Gidimt’en Checkpoint reoccupied Lhudis Bin territory, building a clan cabin on the drill pad site where Coastal GasLink pipeline wants to drill underneath our sacred headwaters, Wedzin Kwa. The Coyote Camp re-occupation of Cas Yikh Gidimt’en Yintah was an historic 56 days long.

CGL took extreme measures to force us from our ancestral lands. They employed fear tactics and threats of violence daily. They surveilled us with helicopters and drones, threatened us with attack dogs, pointed guns at us and chainsawed down the doors to our homes. They put their own workers in danger and used them as political pawns for profit. They tried to break our spirits in prison and in court with torture and colonial “release conditions”.

Again, they threatened to kill us and steal our land. But we’re still here.

In 2010, there were 13 proposed pipeline projects to go through Wet’suwet’en territory. Investors were forced to pull out of these mega-destructive projects through our territory and the CGL pipeline is the only one left, from Enbridge, Pacific Trails Pipeline, Spectra, Pembina, and several others.

Within the first days of the reoccupation there were violent arrests and police brutality on unarmed welcome guests on Cas Yikh yintah. We put a callout for solidarity from our neighboring nations and from our allies. The Haudenosaunee showed up in solidarity and walked the RCMP out of the territory. Gitxsan erected a railway blockade in solidarity with our reoccupation. Others took action in their territories including land back, rolling blockades, highway shut downs and rallies across Turtle Island.

Wet’suwet’en RESISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY: EVICTING THE COLONIZERS” By YintahAccess.com, December 19, 2021.

International Week of Action week of December 20th 2021

We are calling on our supporters and allies to join us to turn our outrage towards RBC once again! Their lack of accountability in financing Colonial Violence and land theft from Indigenous People is unacceptable. We are all in this together and we all have a responsibility to stand up to big financial institutions that invest and keep the fossil fuel industry going full force. With no green sustainability transition in the foreseeable future, all of humanity and our kin are at dangerous risk. With the fires and floods that happened recently south of so-called British Columbia we can’t let any more time pass while big banks are fueling our demise. 

Hold an Action in your city or your town. We know it’s close to the end of the year, we need to make sure RBC doesn’t slip through the cracks and slither away! 

Banner drop, hold a Rally/March at RBC headquarters/ building, have a sit in, jam up phone lines, etc…spread the awareness! 

https://www.yintahaccess.com/

Wet’suwet’en solidarity in Iowa

There will be a gathering in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples this Wednesday, December 22, at 4:00 PM. at the Chase Bank, 3621 Merle Hay Rd, Des Moines, IA 50310.

International Week of Action to Defund Coastal GasLink

Toolkit: 20 December Week of Action to #DefundCoastalGasLink.
This toolkit is for grassroots activists wishing to take part in the week of action the week of December 20st against Coastal Gaslink’s partners.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q7GBPhpkCBn5f4_X-oxUpDHNnkZsqXsg01eaaM-KLMU/edit

There will be a gathering in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples this Wednesday, December 22, at 4:00 PM. at the Chase Bank, 3621 Merle Hay Rd, Des Moines, IA 50310.

Chase is one of the major institutions funding fossil fuel projects, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built on Wet’suwet’en lands. Pressuring financial institutions to divest funds from fossil fuel projects has been a tactic for many years. Gatherings like this can encourage the bank to consider divesting from fossil fuel projects. They can also provide a public way for individuals to divest their funds from these banks.

https://landbackfriends.com/2021/12/19/wetsuweten-solidarity-in-iowa/

Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Woos is taking the fight against Coastal GasLink abroad, calling on international shareholders to divest from the multibillion-dollar gas pipeline.

On Friday, Chief Woos spoke at an annual shareholder meeting of the National Australia Bank (NAB). Last year, NAB pumped $117 million into the company to help it build the pipeline as part of a $6.4-billion loan to Coastal GasLink backed by 27 banks.

“As shareholders of National Australia Bank, you should know that your company is not upholding its own commitments to respect Indigenous and human rights,” he said.

“How do you reconcile your company’s supposed commitments to (the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP) while financing a project that is illegal and committing human rights violations and perpetuating the oppression of Indigenous people for the purpose of colonial extractivism?”

On Sunday, the Gidimt’en Checkpoint said it evicted Coastal GasLink workers from the drill site and had reoccupied Coyote Camp. Coyote Camp is where several land defenders and journalists were arrested a month ago during an RCMP raid.

Gidimt’en Checkpoint spokesperson Sleydo’ also spoke at the shareholder’s meeting, describing her recent arrest by the RCMP at gunpoint and being restricted from returning to her territory. The project is contributing to the genocide of her people, she told the shareholders, and asked if the NAB was willing to take accountability for that.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief takes fight against Coastal GasLink all the way to the banks
By John Woodside, National Observer, December 20th 2021

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1472928907481468938?s=20

Banks and private equity companies are pouring billions on a massive fracked gas pipeline to cross Wet’suwet’en territory: Coastal GasLink. 

Indigenous Hereditary chiefs and supporters have responsibilities to defend the sacred, pristine headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa, in Wet’suwet’en law. They hold uninterrupted title to the land, in colonial law. For peacefully acting in accordance with the law and defending our shared future, land defenders, allies and journalists were removed at gunpoint. 

Banks and investors bankroll the violence it will take to complete and operate Coastal GasLink. It’s time to tell them that no investment is worth damaging the lands and waters of Wet’suwet’en Yintah and the climate all of us share.

Twitter

Follow:  @gidimten, @likhtsamisyu,

Twitter: Week of Action 

  • .@RBC is funding climate destruction and Indigenous rights violations by bankrolling Coastal GasLink.
  • .@kkr_co is refusing to meet with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs while funding Coastal GasLink on their territory.
  • If we stop the flow of money, we can stop the flow of fracked gas. Let’s organize on the week of December 20 to support frontline Indigenous leaders about the impacts of Coastal GasLink @RBC, @KKR_Co, and @chase needs to drop ➡️ https://bit.ly/Dec20toolkit 
  • Join us the week of December 20 to call on @RBC, @Chase, @kkr_co, and other global finance giants to drop toxic fossil fuels including Coastal GasLink. Learn more and register your action

Hashtags: #DefundCoastalGasLink #DivestCGL, #WetsuwetenStrong #AllOutForWedzinKwa

Yesterday the Gidimt’en Checkpoint said it evicted Coastal GasLink workers from the drill site and had reoccupied Coyote Camp.

Gidimt’en Checkpoint

12/19/2021  · BREAKING –
Gidimt’en Clan Evicts Coastal Gaslink from Drill Site; Re-Occupies Coyote Camp

Early Sunday, Gidimt’en land defenders evicted Coastal Gaslink workers and re-established control of Coyote Camp, the site where Coastal Gaslink plans to drill beneath Wet’suwet’en headwaters.
This courageous action took place one month after a wave of militarized raids on Gidimt’en land, where police with assault weapons, dogs, and sniper rifles arrested 30 people, including land defenders, journalists, and legal observers.
Wet’suwet’en people have never surrendered this land, and we never will. Our lands are not for sale, and the safety of our waters is non-negotiable.
In early 2020, Hereditary Chiefs from all five clans of our nation stood together and issued an eviction to CGL. That eviction remains in force today.
We are calling for supporters to join us on the ground, or take action where you stand.
Take Action:
🔥 Host a solidarity rally or action in your area.
🔥 Issue a solidarity statement from your organization or group. Email to: yintahaccess@gmail.com
🔥 Pressure the government, banks, and investors. http://yintahaccess.com/take-action-1
🔥 Donate. http://go.rallyup.com/wetsuwetenstrong
🔥 Come to Camp. yintahaccess.com/
🔥 Spread the word.
#ShutDownCanada
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#WetsuwetenStrong
#ExpectUs
More information and developing stories:
Website: Yintahaccess.com
IG: @yintah_access
Twitter: @Gidimten
Facebook: @wetsuwetenstrong
Youtube: Gidimten Access Point
TikTok: GidimtenCheckpoint

Keep Mason City’s Racist Mascot in the Past

December 20 at 5:30 PM the Mason City Community School District will be meeting at 1515 South Pennsylvania Ave in Mason City (be there by 4:30). Map below.

May be an image of text
https://www.facebook.com/events/4637917899590338/?ti=ls

Monday, December 20, 2021, from 5:30 – 6:30 PM CST
Mason City Community School District Administration Building
1515 South Pennsylvania Avenue, Mason City, Iowa

Important Notes:
– Enter the building on the South side.
If you would like to speak then you must be signed up to speak before 5:30 PM.
– We are encouraging folks to show up by 4:30 PM to fill the room with positivity!
– Folks signed up to speak have 5 minutes allotted, but we encourage shorter testimonies so more may be heard.
– We are there only to make a case to the Mason City School Board that they must NOT reinstate the mascot. We DO NOT encourage any interaction with the “Save the Name” group outside or inside the meeting. We insist on non-violent language and behavior.

The Mason City Community School District realized, after 96 years, that they needed to retire the racist Mohawk mascot. They did so after the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe told them to stop and the Meskwaki Nation/ACLU and Great Plains Action Society have been very public about abolishing racist mascots in Iowa. However, a white-led group of agitators is trying to reverse this decision and their rhetoric is filled with vile, dehumanizing, racist, and transphobic behavior. They managed to present a petition to speak at the December 20th meeting and we would like Indigenous folks and allies to join us in making a strong stand against white supremacy and to set a precedent that racist mascots will no longer be tolerated in Iowa.

Keep Mason City’s Racist Mascot in the Past

This is follow up to previous events about Mason City schools, including an online forum December 12. See more here: Abolish Racist Mascots

Join us for an Indigenous-led forum discussing why mascots in Iowa are harmful and perpetuate white supremacy. Though Iowa has 27 racist “Indian” mascots still being used, we will spotlight the issue in Mason City where white supremacists have organized to protest the rightful retirement of the Mohawk mascot.

Following are graphics from the Great Plains Action Society

“The Des Moines Register identified 27 high schools with Indigenous-themed mascots from a list provided by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. That count does not include the Meskwaki Settlement School Warriors. The Sac and Fox Tribe’s list included elementary and middle schools as well”

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/2021/11/30/mason-city-mohawks-name-removed-mascot-debate-continues-iowa-high-school-sports-indigenous-people/6394646001/

#greatplainsactionsociety
#NotYourMascot