Native-Led Movements for Justice

UPDATE, 11/14: During Native American Heritage Month and as we approach the National Day of Mourning (Thanksgiving), it's critically important to support Native and Indigenous activists in protecting ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act. Follow and learn more from @ProtectICWA here. 

UPDATE, 10/6: On Indigenous Peoples Day 2022, we wanted to share some ways to celebrate Native and Indigenous Peoples, here in the U.S. and globally. Some of these we’ve shared below on the Native-Led Movements for Justice page, and some are new:


UPDATE 1/31/22: At our Climate Action in a Global Landscape summit in December 2021, we heard from four Indigenous climate activists about their cultural practice informs their work. As part of that session, we learned ways that theatre-makers could directly support their work, and we're sharing those links again here:

HOUSTON CYPRESS:
CHERRI FOYTLIN:

 SACHEM HAWKSTORM AND NAWASHAHU YAWANAWA-BERGIN:

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UPDATE 11/24/21: On the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving, we acknowledge that this season has always been marked by harvest celebrations and opportunities to reflect on and deepen our relationships to land, foodways, and each other. In particular, the Wampanoag peoples, also known as the People of the First Light, have stewarded what is colonially known as Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. We encourage you to learn their histories of what is now called Thanksgiving, and to support the Mashpee Wampanoag's ongoing sovereignty and cultural preservation efforts. This is also a good time of year to recommit to Native-Led Movements for Justice, and we encourage to keep reading for more.
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UPDATE 10/5/21: Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! On October 11, TCG will be closed in celebration and recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. TCG reclaimed the holiday in 2015 in accordance with our values of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and commits to redefining this day as a day to celebrate the rich cultures and histories of Indigenous peoples. On this day and every day, we encourage you to take some of the actions listed below to support Indigenous theatre-makers and Native-Led Movements for Justice.

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ORIGINAL POST, 7/7/21: We’re writing this post to express our grief and outrage over the 1505 people, most of them children, whose bodies have been found in unmarked graves at residential schools over the past few months. Here in the U,S., Native American children were forcibly abducted by the government and sent to schools hundreds of miles away, facing violence, starvation, and death merely for speaking their languages. These graves are a raw reminder of the losses inflicted by the genocide of colonization--a process which is still ongoing. 

We encourage you to support the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) in their vital work. Yet for those of us who continue to benefit from the horrors of colonialism, we must do much more to be in right relationship with the Native and Indigenous peoples who have stewarded these lands for generations. Land acknowledgment is an important start, but it is not enough. 

To that end, we wanted to share resources for learning and action:


  • Support Native Theatres and theatremakers, using “A List of Native Theatres and Theatremakers” from American Theatre as a starting place.
  • Read plays by Native authors (here’s one reading list from (RE)IMAGINE INDIGENOUS THEATER READING LIST) and learn the history of Turtle Island (the U.S.) through Indigenous perspectives through books like An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.
  • Show up for Native-led movements for justice such as #StopLine3, which is challenging the proposed pipeline expansion bringing nearly a million barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the U.S., seeks to build a new pipeline corridor through untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Anishinaabe peoples, through the Mississippi River headwaters to the shore of Lake Superior. Line 3 would violate the treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations in its path — wild rice is a centerpiece of Anishinaabe culture, it grows in numerous watersheds Line 3 seeks to cross. #StopLine3 is just one example, and others include:
  • Participate in Groundwater Arts’ Divest to Invest Campaign. 
  • Contribute to land tax/land rent campaigns such as The Shuumi Land Tax. This specific land tax directly supports Sogorea Te’s work of rematriation, returning Indigenous land to Indigenous people, establishing a cemetery to reinter stolen Ohlone ancestral remains and building urban gardens, community centers, and ceremonial spaces so current and future generations of Indigenous people can thrive in the Bay Area. The Shuumi Land Tax is one of the first and best known examples, and others include:

These are just some of the ways to go beyond land acknowledgment and act in solidarity with Native and Indigenous Peoples. We’ll continue to add to this list as we go--send your suggestions to Corinna Schulenburg.