Category: LANDBACK

Truth and healing coalition

Yesterday at my Quaker meeting, Bear Creek Friends near Earlham, Iowa, we continued discussions related to Quakers and our relations with Native peoples generally, and those we know personally. There was deep sharing related to what we were learning about the institutions of forced assimilation. Like me, others indicated they had not understood the depths of the tragedies of forced assimilation. We have little specific information about the role of some of our ancestors. While it is not appropriate to share what was said without the permission of those present during the meeting’s discussion, I think it is important to state that we are engaged in the process of learning more, i.e. truth telling, and what we might do. There was discussion about healing.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) has many excellent resources. One of their excellent publications is Healing Voices Volume 1: A Primer on American Indian and Alaska Native Boarding Schools in the U.S.

https://boardingschoolhealing.org/truthcommission/

NABS was formed in 2012, in part to advocate for the establishment of a federal commission on U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Canada’s Residential Schools. For years, NABS has been part of a grassroots movement of Native academics, researchers, tribal leaders, and boarding school survivors and descendants who are seeking truth, justice, and healing. The work to introduce a congressional commission has been underway for almost a decade.

The announcement by U.S. Interior Secretary Debra Haaland of the Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative in June this year is an important first step in the federal government taking accountability for revealing the truth, but we believe a Congressional Commission is the most comprehensive approach to developing a complete picture of the ongoing impact Indian boarding schools have had on generations of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people. This is critical to providing a path toward healing for individuals, families and Tribal communities that have endured the devastating consequences of Indian boarding school policies.

TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES IN THE U.S.

Here is a link a fact sheet related to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

Why a Truth and Healing Commission

We have a right to know the truth of what happened in Indian boarding schools in the United States.

Over the course of a century, hundreds of thousands of our children were taken or coerced away from our families and Tribes and forced to attend government-sanctioned Indian boarding schools. These schools were tools of assimilation and cultural genocide, resulting in the loss of language and culture and the permanent separation of children from their families. To date, there has never been an accounting of:

  • the number of children forced to attend these schools;
  • the number of children who were abused, died, or went missing while at these schools; and
  • the long-term impacts on the children and the families of children forced to attend Indian boarding schools.
Key Provisions of the Bill
  • Examines the location of children
  • Documents ongoing impacts from boarding schools
  • Locates church and government records
  • Holds culturally-appropriate public hearings to collect testimony from survivors and descendants.
  • Institutional knowledge gathering from subject matter experts
  • Shares findings publicly
  • Provides a final report with a list of recommendations for justice and healing

TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES IN THE U.S.

This is a link to articles on this website related to the institutions of forced assimilation. https://landbackfriends.com/forced-assimilation/

Spiritual basis of justice work

This morning my Quaker meeting will continue to discuss our work for peace and justice. In preparation, I’ve been praying about the spiritual basis of justice work.

Quakers have a long history of work related to Indigenous peoples, including participation in the institutions of forced assimilation (sometimes referred to as boarding or residential schools).

In the following, Paula Palmer writes about her spiritual leading that led to a ministry related to Quakers and Native peoples. She writes, “from our twenty-first-century vantage point, we know (or can learn) how Native people suffered and continue to suffer the consequences of actions that Friends committed 150 ago with the best of intentions. Can we hold those good intentions tenderly in one hand, and in the other hold the anguish, fear, loss, alienation, and despair borne by generations of Native Americans?”

What happened at those institutions is generating attention these days as the remains of thousands of children are being uncovered on the grounds of these institutions.

What I’ve been praying about for years is how Quakers could have become involved in those institutions? Not to judge what individual Friends might have done but wondering how the Spirit could have guided them to participate. This is a clear example of white supremacy and dominance. Those involved thought the Native children should be forced to learn the ways of the white society that was engulfing them.

This has led me to pray about:

  • How can Friends work spiritually toward truth and reconciliation?
  • What things might we be doing now that are not spiritually grounded?
  • How can we challenge and support each other to seek a spiritual basis for our work now?

As Paula Palmer writes, “who are Friends today? Knowing what we know now, will Quakers join us in honest dialogue? Will they acknowledge the harm that was done? Will they seek ways to contribute toward healing processes that are desperately needed in Native communities?”

Last year I responded to a call that came from two sources: from Spirit, in the manner of Friends experiencing leadings, and from a coalition of Native American organizations that is working to bring about healing for Native people who still carry wounds from the Indian boarding schools.

My leading started with a nudge four years ago and grew into a ministry called Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples. This ministry has grown in depth and breadth under the loving care of the Boulder (Colo.) Meeting. Working in partnership with Native American educators, I learned about their efforts to bring healing to the Native people, families, and communities that continue to suffer illness, despair, suicide, violence, and many forms of dysfunction that they trace to the Indian boarding school experience.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition says that for healing to occur, the full truth about the boarding schools and the policy of forced assimilation must come to light in our country, as it has in Canada. The first step in a truth, reconciliation, and healing process, they say, is truth telling. A significant piece of the truth about the boarding schools is held by the Christian churches that collaborated with the federal government’s policy of forced assimilation. Quakers were among the strongest promoters of this policy and managed over 30 schools for Indian children, most of them boarding schools, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The coalition is urging the churches to research our roles during the boarding school era, contribute this research to the truth and reconciliation process, and ask ourselves what this history means to us today.

Native organizations are not asking us to judge our Quaker ancestors. They are asking, “Who are Friends today? Knowing what we know now, will Quakers join us in honest dialogue? Will they acknowledge the harm that was done? Will they seek ways to contribute toward healing processes that are desperately needed in Native communities?” These are my questions, too.

Quaker Indian Boarding Schools. Facing Our History and Ourselves by Paula Palmer, Friends Journal, Oct 1, 2016

The country known as Canada went through a year’s long process of truth and reconciliation. The document referenced below is about what was learned in that process. A similar process is beginning in the land called the United States.
See: https://landbackfriends.com/2021/10/26/native-american-legislative-update/

It is due to the courage and determination of former students—the Survivors of Canada’s residential school system—that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was established. They worked for decades to place the issue of the abusive treatment that students were subjected to at residential schools on the national agenda. Their perseverance led to the reaching of the historic Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
All Canadians must now demonstrate the same level of courage and determination,
as we commit to an ongoing process of reconciliation. By establishing a new and respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians, we will restore what must be restored, repair what must be repaired, and return what must be returned.

What We Have Learned. Principles of Truth and Reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Minute approved by Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)

To this day we have not come to grips with fundamental injustices our country was built on, the cultural genocide and theft of land from Native Americans, the enslavement of African Americans and the legal justifications of bestowing rights and privileges on white land-owning men. The consequences of these injustices continue to plague our society today. And will continue to impact us until we do what is necessary to bring these injustices to light and find ways to heal these wounds.

Several Friends recently assisted Boulder Meeting Friend, Paula Palmer, to lead workshops and discussions as part of her ministry “toward right relationships with Native people.” Part of the tragedy of the theft of Native land is that some Native people don’t have the concept of land as property, belonging to a landowner. Rather they have a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, that the land is sacred and not something that can be claimed as property by anyone. Being forced to leave their land broke their spiritual bonds with the land.

Native people have asked us to begin work toward reconciliation and healing. The first step needed is truth telling, recognizing that injury or harm has taken place. One of the important parts of holding “right relationship” workshops is to determine which Native nations were on the land before white settlers arrived.

Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) 2019

This battle is far from over

The conflict in the Wet’suwet’en territories continues. The arrest of hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl and Kolin Sutherland-Wilson was a definite escalation. Both have since been released.

We talked about the Wet’suwet’en again this morning as we, Des Moines Mutual Aid, were working on our food project. Support of the Wet’suwet’en isn’t an official project of Des Moines Mutual Aid. But of interest to many of us. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago after we were done with the food giveaway.

Support for the Wet’suwet’en, Des Moines, Iowa, 10/16/2021

RCMP officers arrested two people on Wet’suwet’en territory Wednesday evening, including a hereditary chief who was held in jail overnight.
Chief Dsta’hyl (Adam Gagnon) of the nation’s Likhts’amisyu Clan was released from the Houston RCMP detachment Thursday, according to B.C.’s prosecution service.
Kolin Sutherland-Wilson from the Gitxsan Nation, who was taken into custody along with Dsta’hyl on Wednesday, was conditionally released the same day.

“It’s so insulting, and actually unbelievable, that they would arrest a hereditary name carrier and bring it to this level, for what — an industry?” said Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, John Ridsdale, as he awaited details about the arrests Thursday.

Arrest of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief ‘So Insulting’. Chief Dsta’hyl spent the night in jail for his role in protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline by Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee, 10/29/2021

I have been following the efforts of Kolin Sutherland-Wilson and his brother Denzel since January 2020 when he sat in front of the British Columbia Legislature for a week. I hadn’t known about the history of Gitxsan support of the Wet’suwet’en.
https://jeffkisling.com/?s=kolin

The Gitxsan have a long history of supporting the Wet’suwet’en. The neighbouring nations worked together on the decade-long Delgamuukw and Gistay’wa court case, which ended with the Supreme Court of Canada confirming title to their respective territories in 1997.

Sutherland-Wilson was the first to begin supporting the Wet’suwet’en at the B.C. legislature in January 2020, a protest of one that steadily grew into a nationwide shut down of transportation and shipping routes.

Arrest of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief ‘So Insulting’. Chief Dsta’hyl spent the night in jail for his role in protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline by Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee, 10/29/2021

OCT 28, 2021 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNCEDED LIKHTS’AMISYU TERRITORY – HOUSTON, BC – On October 27, Likhts’amisyu Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl was arrested and forcibly removed from unceded Likhts’amisyu territory, along with Kolin Sutherland-Wilson of the Gitxsan Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit wilp. Sutherland-Wilson was released on October 27, and Dini ze’ Dsta’hyl was held overnight and released October 28.
https://likhtsamisyu.com/2021/10/28/wetsuweten-chief-dstahyl-arrested-upholding-wetsuweten-law/

…. As far as Wet’suwet’en go, I guess we’ve fought this fight for a long time and we are not given up now. We never give up. I’m telling everybody out there to not give up hope on us because this battle is far from over. We are gonna continue this campaign that might not be here and it might not be me but you’re gonna see you know young officers and young Warriors rising up. They are silly that they didn’t just work with me. Yeah I’m a lot more passive than a lot of ones that may come. That’s what I’m saying.
Dini Ze’Dsta’hyl
Likhts’amisyu Clan

I’m glad to see support to resist the Coastal GasLink pipeline from the Extinction Rebellon.

I trust you to backup the people who are protecting the land

In the following video, Kolin Sutherland-Wilson speaks at his arrest yesterday. His message to us is to support the land protectors. “Because we are doing what we know is right, and we are following our truth.“

It is an honor to be here on behalf of the Gitxsan people in support of our brothers and sisters of the Wet’suwet’en people. And I stand here as a diplomatic prisoner of the Gitxsan nation of the Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit  people and I stand fully behind the Likht’samisyu clan government and all those who stand up to support of the traditional laws of the land. Much love to all the people of the world. Thank you again for your support.

To all the people out there, I trust you to back up the people who are protecting the land, who are doing everything in their power to stand up to injustice. Because we are doing what we know is right, and we are following our truth. So as a member of the Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit, I ask that the Gitxsan people stand up to uphold our laws for the sake of peace, for the sake of the land.

Kolin Sutherland-Wilson

I trust you to back up the people who are protecting the land, who are doing everything in their power to stand up to injustice.

Kolin Sutherland-wilson
https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1454074052012920832?s=20

Some of my friends in Des Moines showing their support for the Wet’suwet’en on October 16, 2021.

In January, 2020, Bear Creek Friends (Quakers) approved the following statement in support of the Wet’suwet’en, and sent the letter below to John Horgan, British Columbia Premier.

Bear Creek Friends (Quaker) meetinghouse is in the Iowa countryside. Many members have been involved in agriculture and care about protecting Mother Earth. A number of Friends have various relationships with Indigenous peoples. Some Friends have worked to protect water and to stop the construction of fossil fuel pipelines in the United States, such as the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

We are concerned about the tensions involving the Wet’suwet’en Peoples, who are working to protect their water and lands in British Columbia. Most recently they are working to prevent the construction of several pipelines through their territory. Such construction would do severe damage to the land, water, and living beings.

Bear Creek Friends Meeting, of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) approved sending the following letter to British Columbia Premier, John Horgan.

John Horgan.
PO BOX 9041 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA, BC V8W 9E1.
Email premier@gov.bc.ca

John Horgan,

We’re concerned that you are not honoring the tribal rights and unceded Wet’suwet’en territories and are threatening a raid instead.

We ask you to de-escalate the militarized police presence, meet with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, and hear their demands:

That the province cease construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project and suspend permits.

That the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and tribal rights to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are respected by the state and RCMP.

That the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and associated security and policing services be withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en lands, in agreement with the most recent letter provided by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimiation’s (CERD) request.

That the provincial and federal government, RCMP and private industry employed by Coastal GasLink (CGL) respect Wet’suwet’en laws and governance system, and refrain from using any force to access tribal lands or remove people.

Bear Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
19186 Bear Creek Road, Earlham, Iowa, 50072

#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#FreeDstahyl
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#DefendWedzinKwa
#WetsuwetenStrong
#WeAreAllOne
#LANDBACK

Chief Dsta’hyl and Kolin Sutherland-Wilson arrested

There have been many conflicts and arrests of Wet’suwet’en people by militarized Royal Canadian Mounted Police for years. There are heightened tensions now as construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline has reached the point of drilling under the sacred headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa river.

Yesterday Chief Dsta’hyl and Kolin Sutherland-Wilson were arrested and removed from the Wet’suwet’en land. At the end of this are information and videos about Kolin and his brother Denzel Sutherland-Wilson and their work to protect the Wet’suwet’en territories.

Other posts about the We’suwet’en struggles can be found here: https://landbackfriends.com/?s=wetsuweten

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1453709584816824323?s=20
Image
#LANDBACK and Indigenous Youth
Image
Kolin Sutherland-Wilson arrested yesterday

Earlier in this series about #LANDBACK I wrote the first time I heard that term was from Denzel Sutherland-Wilson. I shared this awful video of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pointing sniper rifles at him. Canada is ready to kill us

[ WARNING: This video contains graphic images of an armed threat on the lives of land defenders Denzel Sutherland-Wilson (Gitxsan) and Anne Spice (Tlingit). It may be traumatic for many to see. But we feel strongly that it should be available to witness. Denzel, Anne, and all the land defenders are now safe. These events took place during the RCMP raid on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory on February 7, 2020. The video was filmed by Gitxsan land defender Denzel Sutherland-Wilson from atop this tower. ]

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1453714932193710085?s=20

At this same time his brother, Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, was bringing attention to these issues, including sitting outside the doors of the British Columbia legislature by himself for a week. His video on Colonialism in Canada is an excellent review of the subject and brings together many of the issues related to #LANDBACK.

#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#FreeDstahyl
#AllOutForWedzinKwa
#DefendWedzinKwa
#WetsuwetenStrong
#WeAreAllOne
#LANDBACK

Wet’suwet’en Urgent Update

The arrest of Chief Dsta’hyl occurred just a few hours ago. The only news are the following tweets and Facebook posts. Supporters are asked to do what they can now. “We need boots on the ground!”

There have been many conflicts and arrests of Wet’suwet’en people by militarized Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There are heightened tensions now as construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline has reached the point of drilling under the sacred headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa river. For background information see: https://landbackfriends.com/?s=wetsuweten

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1453543378826797057?s=20

With @jjhorgan releasing the provincial Climate Plan today AND while our People file an appeal on our Climate Change court case – this is what we are up against. Fossil Fuels are not an answer to a #ClimateCrisis #WetsuwetenStrong #alloutforwidzinkwa

http://www.likhtsamisyu.com

Originally tweeted by Likhts’amisyu (Fireweed) Clan (@Likhtsamisyu) on October 25, 2021.

Continued erasure of Indigenous peoples

How can the atrocities of the Native residential institutions of forced assimilation, continue to be ignored by the mainstream media, governments, and the public? (These institutions should not be referred to as “schools”. )

How can faith communities, some of whom were involved with these institutions, not advocate to have the truth revealed, and work toward reconciliation?

Some of the following might be traumatic for those who have had experiences related to forced assimilation.

The Facebook group, Every Child Matters, documents the progress in locating the remains of children on the grounds of some of these institutions. And stories of those who have been affected. Searches continue in the lands called the United States and Canada.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/125050373031500/permalink/217155080487695/

A community to provide educational resources, generate awareness, share events and actions and work together to create a world our 7 generations yet to come can feel proud to be a part of.

“Every person will do their work in their own way as we move forward.

Some will take direct action and take action. That is important. Some will write policy. That is important. Some will do ceremony. That is important. Some will share stories. That is important. Some will build relationships and understanding. That is important. Some will teach. That is important. If we all do what we know how to do, with what we know, it will be good.

Everyone and everything has purpose. Keep your ears and minds and hearts open. Try to listen to each other without forming an opinion. Listen to things as information. You don’t have to agree with it. But you can validate it as someone’s experiences, feelings and ways of healing. ” 

Every Child Matters

As it says on that Facebook page, “Every person will do their work in their own way as we move forward… If we all do what we know how to do, with what we know, it will be good.”

Try to imagine how an Indigenous person feels as hundreds more remains of children continue to be uncovered. And seeing almost nothing is done to acknowledge that. To witness the continued erasure.

What work will we choose to do? The concept of truth and reconciliation begins with finding and sharing the truth. One thing I’ve been called to do is share what I’m learning on this website. https://landbackfriends.com/

Try to imagine how an Indigenous person feels as hundreds more remains of children continue to be uncovered. And seeing almost nothing is done to acknowledge that. To witness the continued erasure.

The following explains why orange is used as a theme for some of what is written and shared.

Both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day take place on September 30.

Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that honours the children who survived residential schools and remembers those who did not. This day relates to the experience of Phyllis Webstad, a Northern Secwepemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, on her first day of school, where she arrived dressed in a new orange shirt, which was taken from her. It is now a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations.

On September 30, we encourage all Canadians to wear orange to raise awareness of the very tragic legacy of residential schools, and to honour the thousands of Survivors.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Canadian Residential School History

Native American Legislative Update

Following are legislative updates for October from Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock, Congressional Advocate, Native American Advocacy Program, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). This is a link to information from FCNL related to Native Americans. On that page you can sign up to receive these legislative updates. https://www.fcnl.org/issues/native-americans

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is a national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. https://www.fcnl.org/about

This month’s action is to Support the Establishment of a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools.

“It is long overdue for the United States to acknowledge the historic trauma of the Indian boarding school era. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Christian churches collaborated with the government to create hundreds of boarding schools for Native American children. The conditions at these schools, some of them Quaker-run, were unspeakable.
Now we must work with tribal nations to advance congressional efforts to establish a federal commission to formally investigate boarding school policy and develop recommendations for the government to take further action. Although the wrongs committed at these institutions can never be made right, we can start the truth, healing, and reconciliation process for the families and communities affected as we work to right relationship with tribal nations.
Remind your members of Congress of their responsibility to tribal nations and urge them to support the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act (S. 2907/H.R. 5444).”

This link will help you write and send a letter of support for the establishment of a Truth and Healing Commission.

As a constituent and person of faith, I welcome the introduction of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S. 2907/H.R. 5444) and urge you to support this important legislation.

From the 1860s through the 1960s, U.S. federal boarding school policy sought to assimilate more than 100,000 Native children into white American culture at 367 boarding and day schools operated by 14 different denominations. The traumatic separation of Native children from their families, identity, traditions, and spiritual beliefs was often coupled with psychological and physical abuse administered at these institutions. Heartbreakingly, many of these children never returned home.

The faith community has begun acknowledging our complicity in the historic trauma of the boarding school era and is committed to locating, cataloguing, and sharing boarding school records with the commission and the public as part of the truth-telling process. Given the scale of this effort and the government’s central role in boarding school policy, I call on you to join this important work and establish a federal commission to formally investigate boarding school policy and develop recommendations for the government to take further action.

The intergenerational impact of federal boarding school policy is still felt today. Loss of indigenous languages and cultures, injury to tribal governance and sovereignty, and high poverty, poor health, and growing suicide rates continue to harm tribal communities across the country. The establishment of the commission is an important first step in starting the truth, healing, and reconciliation process for all of us.

I urge you to co-sponsor this vital legislation and make a public statement in support of it and ask that you encourage your colleagues in Congress to do the same.

Quaker Lobby Backs Indian Boarding School Investigation Legislation by Timothy McHugh, FCNL, October 4, 2021

Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) welcomed late last week’s introduction of important legislation to investigate and address the atrocities committed at Indian boarding schools throughout the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Contact Tim McHugh: media@fcnl.org, 202-903-2515

“For far too long, the truth of cultural genocide led by European-Americans at Indian boarding schools has remained hidden in secrecy and ignored. Christian churches, including Quakers, carry this burden of transgression against indigenous people. It is necessary and important for our government to investigate, acknowledge, and report the truth to help us move toward healing the injustice against American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians,” said Diane Randall, FCNL’s general secretary.

“History cannot be undone. But it also can’t be ignored. The faith community must acknowledge our complicity in the historic trauma of the boarding school era and work in solidarity with tribal nations to advance congressional efforts to establish a truth, reconciliation, and healing process for the families and communities affected,” Randall concluded.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), Representative Sharice Davids (KS), and Representative Tom Cole (OK) introduced the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act to establish the first formal commission in US history to investigate and document the attempted termination of cultures and languages of Indigenous peoples, assimilation practices, and human rights violations that occurred against American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians through Indian Boarding School policies. A final report will be due within five years of the commission’s creation.

“This bill is a positive first step toward addressing not only the crimes of the boarding school era but centuries of abuse, maltreatment, and genocide of Native people at the hands of the federal government. Acknowledging the truths tribal communities have always known is an important part of the healing and reconciliation process for all of us,” said Portia Kay^nthos Skenandore-Wheelock, FCNL’s Native American Advocacy Program Congressional Advocate.

“Our work must also continue beyond the Commission in supporting the Indigenous languages, cultures, and peoples these policies were intended to destroy and erase. Only then can we create a future where all our children are safe, loved, and proud of who they are.”

Bill Advances to Protect Native American Cultural Heritage

On Oct. 13, the House Committee on Natural Resources advanced the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act of 2021 (H.R. 2930) by unanimous consent. This bipartisan bill would prohibit the export of Native American cultural items that were illegally obtained, provide for the return of items, and double criminal penalties for individuals convicted of selling or purchasing human remains or illegally obtained cultural items.

“Throughout history, Native American cultural items such as human remains, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony have been looted and sold to collectors in our country and abroad,” said Rep. Leger Fernández (NM-3) during an earlier hearing on the bill. “The STOP Act gives Tribes, Pueblos, and Nations a tool to close the door on the illegal exportation of cultural objects.”

Similar legislation (S. 1471) has been approved by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and is awaiting action by the full Senate.

Native American Legislative Update (FCNL)

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

As we bear witness and lobby in solidarity with Native Americans, we also honor the Nacotchtank tribe on whose ancestral land the FCNL, FCNL Education Fund, and Friends Place on Capitol Hill buildings stand. They are also known as the Anacostans, the Indigenous people who lived along the banks of the Anacostia River, including in several villages on Capitol Hill and what is now Washington, D.C. By the 1700s, the Nacotchtank tribe had merged with other tribes like the Pamunkey and the Piscataway, both of which still exist today.

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Levels of Reality

Wow. The rate at which our environment, economy, political system and social safety programs are collapsing is accelerating much faster than anyone expected. My intension in writing these blog posts is to help me understand what is happening, what crises need attention. Explore possible solutions. And hopefully stimulate others to act to address these urgent problems.

We need to mobilize people to work for change. That requires accurately identifying what the primary problems are. Then discover ways to address those problems.

It is an understatement to say I have not been successful in this process. For example, over forty years ago I realized I could not own a car. I knew fossil fuels were not renewable, so we needed to protect those reserves for future generations. The effects on air quality were obvious from the smell and sight of clouds of smog, this being before catalytic converters.

It was obvious, to me, that we needed to do everything we could to reduce the use of fossil fuels. But either that was not obvious to others, or they chose to ignore the dangers. I tried all the ways I could think of, but it is clear nothing worked.

I was intrigued when I read the article cited below about different levels of reality. That might help me understand my failure to convince others to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Anyway, we have three or four levels of reality that we should be discussing all the time because they’re incredibly important. But, generally speaking, American politicians and media don’t talk about the deeper layers. In fact, they only talk about the surface layer.

So, using this past presidential election as an example: Layer one was — Who’s going to win? Biden or Trump? That’s the surface layer. It was fair to talk about it and fair to debate it. But if we stop at that and don’t dig deeper, we don’t actually know anything about reality. It would be like licking the top crust of an apple pie and saying, “I get it. It tastes like crust. It’s dry and crumbly.” But in fact, you still have no idea what an apple pie is.

Now let’s move on to layer two (which is already a layer beyond what your mainstream corporate media will ever report on). Layer two is the slightly deeper understanding that  American oligarchs win each election no matter what. They win it in multiple ways — one is by making sure progressives, socialists, libertarians, anarchists, communists, etc. are purged from the process. The other way they dominate every election is with cold, hard cash. And the third — perhaps the most important way — is that our system simply does not pass anything through the government that isn’t beneficial to the business community.

Wow. Sounds like layer two is kind of important. But nope, the mainstream media will never mention it. They pretend it’s not happening.

THE FOUR LAYERS OF REALITY — AND WHY WE’RE ONLY ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT ONE By Lee Camp,Scheer Post, October 22, 2021
There are at least four different aspects of our daily American lives that affect everything from how we think to where we live.

With the trashing of political norms by the previous administration, the capitol insurrection, the difficulty in passing Biden’s agenda, etc, more people are becoming aware of the second layer.

Layer three: Capitalism and environmental collapse. Under our current economic system, the most powerful people (the corporatocracy) will eventually own everything. It’s inevitable. The gravity of capitalism pulls everything towards corporate hegemony. Every time. In every way. You can sometimes score roadblocks that slow them down, but that’s all it does — slow them down. As they take control, the environment — the NATURAL WORLD — will be destroyed.

So that’s what talking about level three looks like. It’s talking about the economic system and its global impact. And yet again, the corporate media will pretty much never have that discussion.

THE FOUR LAYERS OF REALITY — AND WHY WE’RE ONLY ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT ONE By Lee Camp,Scheer Post, October 22, 2021

I’ve been studying, writing, and talking about capitalism and environmental chaos for years now. Fossil fuel energy powers our capitalist economy. Any effort to curb production for environmental reasons has been doomed to failure. The country has witnessed the continued violent, militarized response to those working to protect water and Mother Earth.

Level four — Now we really get deep. Level four is the true analysis of our reality. And there are a lot of different topics in level four.
Or level four could be something like, “Why do we live the way we do — in single-family houses or apartments? We live inside seclusion boxes, hardly interacting with our fellow humans except at our wage slavery jobs where we go, ‘Hey Jim. At least it’s hump day’ or some dumb crap like that. What the hell is this existence?”

That’s level four. It’s getting pretty deep into the philosophical realm. But so why don’t our media think the most basic questions of our existence are important at all? They don’t think it makes sense to occasionally talk about level four? 

But can’t the deepest echelons of our reality ever come up in the mainstream narrative? 

We are left at level one because it serves as a beautiful distraction. Never talk about the deeper economic system. Never talk about how nations are used to divide us. Never talk about how corporations own our society. Media only reports surface level reality.

THE FOUR LAYERS OF REALITY — AND WHY WE’RE ONLY ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT ONE By Lee Camp,Scheer Post, October 22, 2021

Activists I know understand capitalism is responsible for environmental chaos. But as I said, I’ve had no success in convincing others of that. Or those who do know are unwilling to consider alternatives. Don’t want to make changes that diminish material possessions and services.

What are alternatives? Mutual Aid is a framework that can replace capitalism. The premise of Mutual Aid is the opposite of capitalism, supremacy, and materialism. Mutual Aid is based on a horizontal, or flat hierarchy where everyone has a voice. Everyone can participate in building their community in ways that help each member. The immediate survival needs of everyone are met by a structure not based on money.

This idea of levels of reality is useful for me. Because our society is stuck on the surface reality, it is difficult to get people to the level of capitalism and environmental collapse.

I’ve caused a lot of tension when trying to get people to understand justice work cannot be successful if the work is constrained to the surface level. Many are upset, for instance, when I suggest lobbying elected officials is a waste of effort.

This is a diagram I’ve been working on to try to visually depict these ideas.
See also:
Capitalism https://landbackfriends.com/?s=capitalism
Mutual Aid https://landbackfriends.com/?s=mutual%20aid

Another World is Possible

Despite the collapse of capitalism and the current political system based upon it, there are signs of hope. More and more people are joining with others to build better economic and political systems. Or return to systems that worked in the past for hundreds of years.

I am blessed to have gotten to know people who are doing just that. One of my new friends is Jake Grobe who works at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI). Jake joins in our Mutual Aid work in Des Moines. I knew he was going to the People vs Fossil Fuels Week of Action last week in Washington, DC. I saw some of what he posted online while he was there. And we got to visit yesterday when we were at the Mutual Aid food bank. He described being present when the flag outside the Army Corps of Engineers was replaced with one indicating “No Consultation”, which you can see in the video below. Following is from an email message he sent yesterday. I like the things he said about what gives him hope.

Also below is part of a teach-in my friend Ronnie James presented in 2020. “The recent past shows us that mutual aid is not only a tool of survival, but also a tool of revolution.“

In addition, umair haque writes about the problems with hierarchies. “These two forces naturally oppose one another, like fire and ice — hierarchy and progress. And it seems to me one of the great secrets history tries to teach us is that when we find ways to make them work together, then and only then human possibility opens to its fullest horizons.”

Hierarchy is what Mutual Aid is about. Mutual Aid works to avoid vertical hierarchies. And instead to maintain a flat or horizontal hierarchy, where everyone has a voice.

As an example of how our struggles are interconnected, Jake and Ronnie are in the photo below that was taken after we completed the Mutual Aid food giveaway. We are supporting the Wet’suwet’en peoples who are struggling to protect the water and prevent the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their pristine lands.

Last week a delegation of CCI members and People’s Action joined thousands in Washington DC for the People vs Fossil Fuels Week of Action. Led by Indigenous and frontline communities, we marched, occupied, and blocked roads alongside faith groups, racial justice groups, and environmental groups to demand federal action to end the era of fossil fuel destruction. 

Words mean nothing without action: call Biden to demand a halt to Line 3.

Despite all the promises, the Biden Administration has approved over 2,500 new oil and gas permits on public land, the fastest pace since 2008. He has let projects like the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota go online, already polluting sacred water and violating treaty rights. And as I speak, Biden is surrendering to the demands of two blatantly corrupt Senators to gut the Build Back Better bill of programs needed to address the climate crisis. 

Reeling with all this has been hard to say the least. Here is where I’m finding hope:

  • Indigenous people have been resisting genocide for hundreds of years and many continue to lead the fight on the frontlines – there is a lot to learn.
  • Over 500 of us were arrested in the name of justice last week, many more have put their literal bodies on the line to stop construction of fossil fuel projects, and right now Sunrise youth are going on a hunger strike outside the white house while tens of thousands of workers are on strike.

People seeing their power and using it means we can win, because Mother Earth will regenerate and heal herself, as soon as we stop the harm.

Jake Grobe, Iowa CCI

Perhaps, like me, you think things aren’t going so well in the world today — 1930s style authoritarianism, extremism, and stagnation rock the world like a hurricane once again.
The question then is this: what kind of world do we want? In this essay I’m going to offer three futures. They’ll contrast the tension between hierarchy and progress. You see, the question in ages like this one is whether hierarchies — which make things comfortable for those above the waterline, even during decline and collapse — can make us more capable of change, growth, and maturity, somehow too. So I will write it from a curious perspective, too — that we each decide, in some way, what kind of future we are to create.

These two forces naturally oppose one another, like fire and ice — hierarchy and progress. And it seems to me one of the great secrets history tries to teach us is that when we find ways to make them work together, then and only then human possibility opens to its fullest horizons.

So what kind of future do we want? One with lots of burdensome, bitter, and polarizing hierarchy — groups vying to pull each other down — which flatlines progress? Or one where consensual hierarchy has collapsed into predation — no one can agree to govern or be governed, so monsters rule — which leads to super-charged regress? Or one in which, improbably, hierarchy and progress have learned, improbably, to walk hand in hand? That choice, I think, is the one that will define these times.

(How) We Need To Fix The World. If We Don’t Change the Path We’re On… by umair haque, Eudaimonia and Co, Oct 2021

As bleak as this is, there is a significant amount of resistance and hope to turn the tide we currently suffer under. We stand on the shoulders of giants that have been doing this work for centuries, and there are many lessons we can learn from.

The first, and possibly the most important, is that it was not always this way, which proves it does not have to stay this way. 

What we have is each other. We can and need to take care of each other. We may have limited power on the political stage, a stage they built, but we have the power of numbers.

Those numbers represent unlimited amounts of talents and skills each community can utilize to replace the systems that fail us.  The recent past shows us that mutual aid is not only a tool of survival, but also a tool of revolution.

If we are to survive, and more importantly, thrive, we know what we will have to do.

All Power To The People.

Ronnie James, The Police State and Why We Must Resist, 8/22/2020

Mutual Aid supports the Wet’suwet’en peoples