Dear Bay Area people,
Many of you are supporting or want to support the efforts at Standing Rock to resist the North Dakota Access Pipeline. There are action steps below from the folks at SURJ—Showing Up for Racial Justice below to connect to that struggle. Also SURJ Bay Area will be putting together events and actions in solidarity with Standing Rock so check out the SURJ Bay Area newsletter and get on the weekly mailing list at http://www.surjbayarea.org/join
Most of us cannot go to North Dakota and there is much work to do here to support local Ohlone struggles so please see the resources/actions/events below for ways to get involved.
1. Action to Protect the Shell Mounds and Standing with Standing Rock
Sunday, November 6, 2pm
Activist Corrina Gould writes: “Calling all Prayer Warriors. The Ohlone Sacred Site [on 4th Street in Berkeley] is in danger of being destroyed. We are calling all friends and allies to come forward and put our hearts together with the intentions to save the oldest Ohlone site in the entire Bay. While we are gathered together we will also send our prayers to the warriors holding the front lines in ND at Sacred Stone Camp/Red Warrior Camp/and other camps. We will send Prayers for the waters everywhere in the world and the sacred sites that are in danger of being destroyed world wide and the genocides taking place. We will send prayers out to the four directions. I am calling on all of my spiritual friends to come forward at this time to assist us with this prayer to create healing.
At: 1900 Fourth Street, Berkeley between University & Hearst
2. The Sogorea Te Land Trust
The Sogora Te Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led community organization that facilitates the return of Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone lands in the San Francisco Bay Area to Indigenous stewardship. Sogorea Te creates opportunities for all people living in Ohlone territory to work together to re-envision the Bay Area community and what it means to live on Ohlone land. Guided by the belief that land is the foundation that can bring us together, Sogorea Te calls on us all to heal from the legacies of colonialism and genocide, to remember different ways of living, and to do the work that our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.
Support the Land Trust by paying the Shuumi Land Tax
The Land You Live On
Do you live in Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, San Leandro, Alameda, Piedmont, Hayward, Union City, Fremont, Pleasanton, Pinole, Livermore, Moraga, Orinda, El Sobrante, Danville, Walnut Creek, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Benicia or Vallejo?
If the answer is yes, you live on traditional Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone land. This land has a deep history and a community of people who have lived here for thousands of years. For those of us who are not Indigenous to this land, the Shuumi Land Tax is a way to acknowledge this history and the Ohlone community.
The Shuumi Land Tax directly supports the Sogorea Te Land Trust’s work to acquire and preserve land, establish a cemetery to reinter stolen Ohlone ancestral remains and build a community center and round house so current and future generations of Indigenous people can thrive in the Bay Area.
Shuumi is for non-Indigenous people who live in traditional Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone territory to make a voluntary annual financial contribution to this critical community work.
If you live on Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone land, you are inadvertently benefitting from the genocide waged against the Ohlone people and the theft of their land. Whether you know it or not, however you feel about it, this is an inescapable fact. The civic infrastructure, the economic system, the private development and the consumption of natural resources in our society are all connected to and in different ways built upon the colonial occupation of this land and the violent displacement of the Ohlone. Paying the Shuumi Land Tax is a small way to acknowledge this legacy and contribute to its healing.
Calculate your land tax and contribute at http://sogoreate-landtrust.com/shuumi-land-tax/
3. Save The Date: Saturday, November 19th, 2016 for the 9th Annual Thangs Taken!
The Free Land Project presents…
a day of art and culture celebrating Indigenous resistance
Featuring Corrina Gould (Chochenyo/Ohlone), Hartman Deetz (Wampanoag), Calina Lawrence (Suquamish), GoodShield Aguilar (Lakota/Yaqui), Mignon Geli (Waray-Waray) and more!
Hosted by Ariel Luckey and Desirae Harp (Mishewal Wappo/Diné)
Saturday, November 19, 2016, 8pm, $10-25 Sliding Scale
Back by popular demand!
Thangs Taken for Kids and Families!
A family-friendly interactive presentation for elementary school-aged children featuring Corrina Gould, Hartman Deetz and Kanyon Sayer-Roods (Costanoan Ohlone/Chumash)
Saturday, November 19, 10-11am
$5 for kids, $10 for adults and $15 for families
All events at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA.
Advanced tickets available at La Peña Box Office or lapena.org.
thangstaken_postcard_final
4. Support Standing Rock! #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife
Posted by Felicia Gustin 278sc on October 31, 2016
NoDAPL.jpgThe Indigenous struggle to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline needs your support! On Thursday, 10/27, over 300 militarized law enforcement in riot gear, with military-grade vehicles and using sound cannons, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, arrested over 100 people. On 10/30, organizers from Standing Rock, Black Lives Matter, and SURJ had a national phone call to build solidarity.
Here are 10 things you can do right now to support this critical struggle:
1. Go to Standing Rock. The more people on the ground, the less likely there will be state violence. Folks who have direct action training and experience are especially needed. If you do go, please listen to and follow local Indigenous leadership. The National Lawyers Guild (Red Owl Collective) has issued a national call for legal workers and lawyers to join them to do legal observing and other non-representation movement lawyering. For lawyers or legal observers who are interested in assisting, please contact King Downing at massdef@nlg.org
2. Send financial contributions for legal support. Some of those most recently arrested have not yet been released. Monetary support is urgently needed.
Contribute to the Red Warrior Camp Legal Fund
Contribute to the Sacred Stone Camp Legal Defense Fund
Contribute to the Standing Rock Sioux
3. Contact the Morton County Sheriffs Department: Kyle Kirchmeier, Sheriff, Phone: 701-667-3330
Request that they demilitarize their tactics and refrain from mass arrests, macing, clubbing, hooding, strip searching, and armed confrontation with UNARMED peaceful water protectors engaged in constitutionally protected civil disobedience.
4. Call the Department of Justice and tell them to send observers immediately to ensure the protection of First Amendment Rights and the safety of the thousands gathering at Standing Rock. DOJ Comment Line: 202-353-1555. DOJ Main Switchboard: 202-514-2000
5. Call North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple at 701-328-2200. Leave a message, calling on him to respect the treaties and withdraw the militarized forces.
6. Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414. Tell President Obama to rescind the Army Corps of Engineers’ Permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline. Sign the petition to the White House to Stop DAPL
7. Target the banks who are funding the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, especially Citbank and TD Bank. Learn more about that HERE, where you’ll also find the list of companies who are involved in the construction of the pipeline.
8. Call out corporate media. There is a complete media blackout with journalists being targeted for arrest. Demand that mainstream media stop ignoring this struggle by calling, tweeting, tagging and sharing articles using mentions such as @ABC, @NBCNews @CBSNews @cnnbrk @MSNBC etc. Use the hashtags #MediaWhiteout and #NoDAPL
9. Post to social media daily. Because mainstream media has failed to cover this struggle, organizers are asking you to do at least 2 social media posts a day, more if you can, to Facebook, Twitter and others. Sample messaging and memes can be found HERE. If you are an independent journalist with broad social media reach, please help tell the story of the water protectors.
10. Winter is coming – help water protectors winterize the camps! The weather is getting colder – cold-weather tents, warm clothing, and blankets are needed. Donate items via their Amazon wish lists: Red Warrior Camp | Sacred Stone Camp
Visit this website for updates: NoDAPLSolidarity
Like and follow these pages to stay up to date: Sacred Stone Camp | Red Warrior Camp | Standing Rock Sioux Tribe | #NoDAPL|
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