SYRACUSE, NY – Environmental groups in New York are teaming up to blend indigenous knowledge of the land with Western scientific knowledge to strengthen local conservation practices and restore justice to Native American communities.
The Nature Conservancy donated $ 800,000 to support his four-year project with the Center for Indigenous Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Neil Patterson Jr., deputy director of the center and citizen of the Tuscarora Nation, said Indigenous peoples’ approach to the environment has been rejected by some Western scientists. It is optimistic that this is now being recognized in local conservation efforts that will also help tackle the climate emergency.
“It’s truly amazing that society as a whole examines the care and kind of reciprocal responsibilities that Indigenous peoples have with the natural world,” he said, “and finds that there are answers there. to our current situation. “
A 2019 UN report found that lands managed by indigenous peoples decline less rapidly than other lands, due to their stewardship practices. He said at least 25% of the world’s land is owned, managed, used or occupied by indigenous peoples, including around 35% of natural areas that are officially protected.
Peg Olsen, director of The Nature Conservancy in New York City, said an essential part of the collaboration is getting Indigenous peoples’ input on where they want the pilot to begin, as well as a new framing conservation reserves.
“A partnership with the Center for Indigenous Peoples and the Environment and Indigenous Communities is a path towards restoring Indigenous peoples’ commitment to these native lands,” she said. “So what we envision with this ‘re-story-ation’ project is to create a new narrative around these lands.”
She said this could include anything from renaming reservations with Indigenous languages, to territorial recognitions, to educational material depicting Indigenous history and values.
Patterson said he is grateful to allies who are ready to recognize the effects of colonization on Indigenous peoples, and looks forward to seeing what follows in this state of recovery.
“People often talk about reconciliation, certainly in Canada and in other parts of the world,” he said. “Certainly for the Haudenosaunee people, we are simply interested in determining our own future and coexisting together on this planet with the settler society.”
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OMAHA, Neb. – Tribal colleges and universities in Nebraska and across the country are teaching the next generation of preschool and elementary educators ways to incorporate Indigenous language and culture into their lesson plans, and a new grant guaranteed by the American Indian College Fund will help this work to grow.
Emily White Hat, the Fund’s vice president of programs, said having access to an educational path that includes traditional and indigenous knowledge significantly improves students’ academic outcomes.
“It really supports their identity,” White Hat explained. “It helps them have confidence in who they are. It connects them to parents in the community. It just gives them that bigger worldview.”
Nebraska Indian Community College and Tribal College of the Little Priest both offer early childhood education classes and will be eligible for a tranche of a recent $ 5.3 million grant from the Bezos Family Foundation over the next four years.
White Hat stressed that the aim of the program is to revise the curriculum to make it more culturally relevant and support graduation for teachers. For example, students explore native housing structures in their science, technology, engineering and math classes, in a class now known as “wigwam-etry”.
Educators also engage parents in their child’s education, through activities such as family home evenings on campus, where parents also get a taste of the tribal college experience.
“The hope, too, is that we can bring parents who hadn’t thought of college as an option to a place where they could be like, ‘Oh, I could do it. I could also go to college, “” White Hat pointed out.
White Hat also sees the program as a way for families and entire communities to heal from the lingering trauma caused when Indigenous children were taken from their homes for forced assimilation into white culture in residential schools.
“Supporting the development of new teachers in the classrooms of our tribal communities is fundamental to the visibility of indigenous peoples,” said White Hat. “We still exist, in this country and in this world.”
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BOISE, Idaho – Today is Indigenous Peoples Day, a celebration of the indigenous peoples of North America.
Tai Simpson, organizer of the Indigenous Alliance of Idaho, said it was also time to highlight the challenges facing Native American communities.
There are 5,700 unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women across the country. Simpson pointed out that the cases had not received the media attention that Gabby Petito, a missing white woman in Wyoming, received.
“These Indigenous women are not viewed fairly as human beings or worthy of investment when they go missing and are murdered in our communities,” Simpson observed.
Simpson noted that it’s not just Indigenous women who are missing. In Idaho, more men than women are reported missing, most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 25, and LGBTQ or Two-Spirit.
A movement is growing across the country to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Idaho has celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day since 2019.
Regarding missing indigenous peoples, Simpson refers to a statement by Urban Indian Health Institute, who said people disappear in real life, in the data and in the media. She added that she would like to see Internet detectives react to the missing natives as they did in Petito.
“The way this community of real criminals online sought to find Gabby and trace her whereabouts and location,” Simpson said. “How do we maintain that same energy for the indigenous peoples when we notice that they are gone? “
Simpson sees cultural rejuvenation as a preventive mechanism. She touted the many benefits of involving young Indigenous communities in artistic expression.
“Whether it’s beading, music, weaving, storytelling, dancing, gathering, gathering,” Simpson explained. “The more cultural activities to which they have access and to which they are exposed as young people, their risk factors for disappearance or assassination decrease considerably. “
Simpson stressed that Indigenous Peoples Day is about more than tragedy.
“We have brought as much as possible the best of our ancestors into this modern society in the face of violence, oppression and racism,” said Simpson. “And it is worth celebrating.”
Simpson focused on projects like the Seventh Generation Fund and Potlatch Fund are part of the resources for young Aboriginal artists in the Northwest.
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BOSTON – The city of Boston has declared today Indigenous Peoples Day for the first time, and a bill before the General Assembly would do this statewide.
The second Monday in October has long been known as Christopher Columbus Day in the United States, but over time states and municipalities began to recognize the atrocities committed by Columbus and other settlers, as well as the diverse indigenous communities who are often marginalized or ignored by the dominant. culture.
Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Council in Boston, said that at the heart of the problem is public education.
“Also just the simple fact that indigenous peoples live today, continue today, and not just as a single culture,” Pierite explained. “But we are many people with many cultures, and we represent many different governments.”
Over the weekend, groups held a rally and march for Indigenous Peoples Day, from Park Street station in Boston. At least 20 municipalities in Massachusetts are also celebrating the day.
Pierite acknowledged that the city of Boston declaring Indigenous Peoples Day was a step towards building trust between the city and tribal governments. He noted, however, that there is no Indigenous representation at Beacon Hill.
“In order for us to have good government-to-government relations, we should also have people in State House who are ready to be there to talk with colleagues and remind them of Massachusetts obligations,” said Pierite.
Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey also recognized the land where Boston is located as the traditional homeland of the Massachusett tribe and neighboring Wampanoag and Nipmuc tribes.
She urged local residents, businesses and institutions to use this day to celebrate Indigenous culture and reflect on policies that have harmed Indigenous communities to bring about change.
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