Following the Seasons to Resistance
For several months in Minneapolis, Native people have been on the frontlines in response to a surge in the presence of ICE and border patrol. Being under attack by the federal government is very familiar territory for us. Native Americans have borne the brunt of federal aggression for hundreds of years. We are still here, a growing and thriving community. I could not be more proud of how our community has responded peacefully and prayerfully to this occupation. Our Native values are helping the world see the resiliency and power of the Urban American Indian community in Minneapolis. Hundreds of people have turned out to ensure safety, care for one another, and resist the unsettling scale of these attacks on our citizens and neighbors.
I am here to tell you that there will be a tomorrow. We have the opportunity to generate positive change for our Native and non-Native communities. This is worth fighting for. When we allow the values and traditions of Native people to be centered, we open a reservoir of untapped power. Our historical ability to fight in the face of genocide has prepared us to effectively respond to tyranny.
I have witnessed some of the positive developments through this federal surge, and I hope we can build on them in the new ‘normal’. One thing that brings me hope is seeing how the next generation of Native leadership has stepped in and stepped up. Emerging leaders have taken their place to support and protect our communities. These young people base their work on a foundation of Native culture, language, spirituality and lifeways. We are in good hands.
Where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet, the Bdote, there are ripples of our survival. This place holds the memory of Indigenous resistance in the face of government violence and genocidal acts. While urban development has changed the landscape, the legacy of refusal remains. We refuse to accept these events. We refuse to let history repeat itself. We refuse erasure. The additional trauma triggered by the buildings and land around this most sacred of sites, Bdote, being used as a prison was especially apparent with our Dakota relatives, many of whom had forebears who were imprisoned and died there following the 1862 U.S./Dakota War. We as a city, region, and state need to move forward in acknowledgment of the harm done by settler colonialism, genocide, and forced assimilation. We need to advance with commitments to do better from the perpetrators and beneficiaries of colonization.
As Native people, we have a deep understanding of the language of community, of being in relation, and knowing how to work together, how to resist, and how to survive. We have come together in kinship and collective resistance. Our community is speaking. We are saying we will continue to organize and protect. We will work to dismantle the systems that oppress us.
As the midterm elections approach and with democracy under attack, we will be here for our community. In a nonpartisan way we will be increasing our efforts to engage and educate voters – Native and non-Native – to engage in the political process. What we do in Minneapolis will not be forgotten by the country, or by the world. It has united our community instead of dividing us. We have led with our Indigenous values and acted with bravery in the face of tremendous adversity. Now is the time to keep the spirit in motion.
Native people follow the seasons and are connected to Mother Earth. We have weathered the winter and are preparing to welcome the spring.
I have seen an unprecedented presence in our Urban Indian Community of Tribal leadership from across the U.S., encouraging stronger ties between reservation communities and the metro Urban Indian populations, which is a sometimes challenging goal for many of us. The response to the federal surge has advanced this cause. Also, I have seen stronger partnerships form between BIPOC communities and organizations out of necessity to keep our neighbors safe, housed and fed. These partnerships are not always easy to establish and sustain. I look forward to building on and strengthening these relationships advance through our shared response work.