Minneapolis, MN – After a spirited protest downtown, Indigenous rights leaders, including Nina Wilson, a founder of Idle No More, gathered here at the American Indian Center on Franklin Avenue, March 21, for a wrap-up of the day’s activities and to prepare for the next event. On March 22, Wilson and others will be present at the Environmental & Treaty Rights Symposium, also to be held at the American Indian Center.
Minneapolis, MN – About 150 people joined the American Indian Movement, the Indigenous Environmental Network and OccupyMN for a rally and march to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, Oct. 27. Speaking in front of the Canadian Consulate, Clyde Bellecourt, of the American Indian Movement expressed solidarity with OccupyMN, denounced the oppression of native peoples and urged support for the movement to bock the pipeline.
Minneapolis, MN – Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement (AIM) organized a rich and moving Indigenous People’s day ceremony of speakers, dancing and drumming for OccupyMN at the People’s Plaza, Oct 10.
Winona, MN – On Jan. 3, an FBI agent contacted Waziyatawin, a well-known Dakota activist and scholar. The agent from the FBI’s Mankato, Minnesota office wanted to question her about her beliefs and about the content of a speech she gave in Winona on Nov. 8, 2010. Waziyatawin said she declined to talk with the FBI agent about the presentation or her viewpoints and instead referred him to her attorney.
Los Angeles, CA – The Guatemalan community, especially the indigenous Mayan sector, has been protesting and angry over the brutal killing of their community member Manuel Jamines. Jamines was shot in the head and body on a busy street in the late afternoon in the Pico Union, a Central American community, by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on Sept. 5.
I spent most of the month of May at Eagle Rock in the Yellow Dog Plains of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Yes, I am one of the people who was camped there in an effort to save Eagle Rock, a sacred site to the Native American community, from the grip of Kennecott Minerals Company. The site is about 25 miles from Marquette and 45 miles from the reservation of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), but what happens there has serious consequences for anyone living in the Lake Superior region.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles City council passed a motion to officially boycott the State of Arizona. Arizona’s new racist law SB1070 targets Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people for harassment. From California, right across the country, many people are outraged. Under the new Arizona law, local police will have the power to harass and arrest people based on immigration status. This will increase the already existing racist harassment and arrest of Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people. Many police, including the police chief of Tucson, AZ, publicly oppose the law because of the burden it places on them and because it promotes racial profiling.
Corvallis, OR – Over 300 students, campus workers, professors and community members rallied at Oregon State University on May 12, to protest the racist SB 1070 law in Arizona. Chanting “The people of Arizona are under attack, what do we do, stand up fight back!” the demonstrators marched from the Centro Cultural César Chávez to the center of campus, with banners and brightly-colored signs denouncing SB 1070, as well as another racist bill, HB 2281, which bans schools in Arizona from teaching ethnic studies.
Bloomington, MN – El lunes 23 de noviembre por la mañana, un grupo de activistas pro-inmigrante organizó una protesta al estilo del teatro popular para denunciar de forma dramática el racismo y la hipocresía de las redadas en contra de los inmigrantes latinos, separando familias y comunidades.