San Jose, CA – On August 4, around 70 people gathered to celebrate the removal of the Thomas Fallon statue that had stood at the corner of West Julian Street and Notre Dame Avenue in San Jose for over 20 years. Fallon was a captain of the U.S. military during the Mexican-American War and captured San Jose in 1846. In the 1850s, he returned to the area and began a political career, culminating in a one-year term as mayor of San Jose in 1859. His time in public office took place during a period of genocide against the indigenous peoples of California, as well as the oppression and disenfranchisement of Mexican people in California.

The removal celebration was hosted by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, the indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Centro Aztlan Chicomoztoc, a community organizing center that focuses on the Mexican, Chicano, and indigenous communities of San Jose.

The celebration began with a cleansing ceremony at the removal site, including prayer songs. Julie Dominguez, Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Ambassador, read a Tribal Land Acknowledgment. Community members spoke about the 30 year long community struggle against the statue, beginning with the original commissioning of the piece in the 1980s and culminating in the successful removal of the statue on April 24, 2023.

The group then proceeded to the corner of Almaden Boulevard and West San Carlos Street, also known as the historic Holiday Inn site. Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh spoke about how ancestral remains of the Muwekma Ohlone people were uncovered at the site during the construction of the Holiday Inn in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her mother, former Tribal Chairwoman Rosemary Cambra, was arrested in the 1980s while protesting for the respectful repatriation of the remains to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.

Next, the procession moved to the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, before finally gathering at Saint James Park. Omar Torres, San Jose city councilmember for District 3, which includes the site of the former statue, gave a speech about how the Fallon statue symbolized genocide and oppression. Citlalmina Ortiz from Centro Aztlan Chicomoztoc spoke about how the Mexican-American War was an act of aggression by the U.S., launching a period of oppression for Mexican, Chicano and indigenous people in San Jose that continues through the present day.

Tribal Chairwoman Nijmeh spoke about the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s ongoing fight for federal recognition, including their efforts to get the San Jose City Council to pass a resolution in support of federal recognition. She encouraged those gathered to continue fighting for what is right, as the campaign to remove the Fallon statue was only successful due to the tenacity and organizing power of the people of San Jose.

#SanJoseCA #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights

Oeida, WI – On November 9, over 50 people gathered on the Oneida Indian Reservation in northeast Wisconsin to show solidarity with the Oneida people and all indigenous people as a Supreme Court decision regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) looms. The crowd included members of the Oneida Tribal Nation, concerned community members and several organizations that helped facilitate the event. The gathered community members, both tribal and not, were met with hospitality from the Oneida hosts, with homemade corn soup and community-building conversation being shared before the speakers began.

The first speaker had firsthand experience seeing the effects of harsh U.S. policy concerning the children of oppressed groups. As an immigrant, the speaker told of the shared struggle between oppressed groups at the hands of U.S. imperialism. He stressed the need for continued awareness and public action and was met with enthusiasm from the crowd.

Supporters then heard from Attorney Gerald Hill, chief counsel for the Oneida Nation’s legal department and advocate. He spoke of the need for indigenous people protect their children. Hill described the boarding schools of the recent past, where indigenous children taken from their homes and placed in schools where they were subjected to terrible conditions to deprive them of their culture and identity.

Hill was followed by an elder of the neighboring Menominee tribe. Elder Art Shegonee is of Menominee and Potawatomi descent, and he was placed in a boarding school and later outside foster care. He recalled the abuse he suffered under both systems, moving the gathered audience. A reverent silence was filled with his brave telling of the pain that follows systemic abuse. He passionately recalled being separated from multiple siblings in addition to his mother. The ICWA is a critical piece of protection, not only for future generations in keeping Indigenous children within their cultural home, but for Indigenous autonomy as a whole, and he stressed the importance of supporting it.

After a loud round of applause, the rally was closed with a candlelight walk from the speaking venue to a major throughway. With lights burning in the warm November air, the people of this community showed others that they were there to support the ICWA and the right of indigenous people to live free of the fear and pain inflicted by the U.S. in the past. Activists are at work planning follow-up actions in Green Bay and Appleton.

#OneidaWI #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights

Canon Ball, ND – Resistance to the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline continues to grow. The Standing Rock Sioux, members of hundreds of tribes from around the country, as well as non-Natives have gathered to stop the pipeline.

The pipeline, which is scheduled to run under the Missouri River less than a mile north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, extends 1134 miles and connects the Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. It is projected to transport 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day along this route.

If completed, the pipeline would destroy more sacred burial sites. A leak in the pipeline will pollute the river and poison the people at Standing Rock as well as millions downstream. Furthermore, this represents a continued and expanded use of fossil fuels rather than a shift to environmentally friendly energy like wind or solar.

On Nov. 3, demonstrators put out a call to “make our way to the river” for a “river action.” Water protectors, as they call themselves, built a bridge across the Cantapeta Creek to be able to get to the sacred burial sites on the other side to pray. Despite a heroic and prolonged effort to save the bridge, it was destroyed by law enforcement in boats. Then at least 60 protectors swam across the creek. They stood in the cold water up against a line of 100 police in riot gear who peppered sprayed and tear gassed them.

Supporters on the other side chanted “the whole world is watching.” During the three-hour confrontation, 100 were injured. According to the camp medics 60 were treated for hypothermia, many for pepper spray and at least two for wounds from rubber bullets, including a journalist doing an interview.

The following day, Nov. 4, over 500 clergy from around the world, representing many faiths, came to the camp to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock tribe. Before walking to the police blockade closest to the pipeline building site to pray, sing and speak, they burned the Doctrine of Discovery, a religious document issued in the 1400s sanctioning the taking of lands from indigenous people.

That afternoon, 100 of the clergy and supporters traveled to Bismarck, where they went to the state house and the governor’s mansion. When the governor refused to meet with them and they refused to leave, 14 were arrested and held in jail overnight.

Supporters continue to answer the call to come stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who are committed to stay as long as it takes to stop the pipeline.

#CanonBallND #PeoplesStruggles #IndigenousPeoples #Protest #oil #EnvironmentalJustice #Antiracism #StandingRock #IndigenousRights