Dec 24, 2018 - Why I March: Tara Houska ‘Giving Voice to Mother Earth’
On January 18 2019, Indigenous peoples from across the world will be uniting in Washington D.C. to stand together to bring awareness to the injustices affecting Indigenous men, women and children.
In the lead up to the historic event, Last Real Indians will be featuring individuals involved with the Indigenous Peoples March.
LRI editor Matt Remle recently spoke with Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe) about the march, the Line 3 pipeline resistance camp, and building networks.
Tell us about the Indigenous Peoples March?
The Indigenous Peoples March is a gathering of Native peoples from all walks of life to bring forward our shared struggles, to build our networks and learn from one another, to let the mainstream know we are still here, we are still strong, and we are united.
What issues will you be high-lighting at the march (how can people support that issue/s)?
I plan to share a message from the frontlines of fighting big oil — our resistance camp is facing down Enbridge’s Line 3 line, and all of the destruction that comes with it. Extractive industry brings human trafficking, increased rates of violence and drug use, alongside bulldozing our sacred sites and making climate change worse. Native people have been invisibilized and disrespected for far too long. Listening to the peoples still connected to Mother Earth is critical and long overdue.
October 23, 2017 direct action targeting Wells Fargo’s investment in Enbridge.
Why is it important for indigenous peoples to show unity?
Though our struggles are varied and many, they all share the threads of giving those yet to come a better world. The genocidal practices of colonization have left us as less than 2% of the population, so we need allies to stand with us. We must stand in unity first, and remember who we are fighting for.
Why will you be in the streets 1/18?
I will march in the streets with my brothers and sisters to give a voice to Mother Earth.
Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe) is a tribal attorney, the National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth, and a former advisor on Native American affairs to Bernie Sanders. She advocates on behalf of tribal nations at the local and federal levels on a wide range of issues impacting indigenous peoples. She spent six months on the frontlines in North Dakota fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline, and is heavily engaged in the movement to defund fossil fuels and a years-long struggle against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. She is a co-founder of Not Your Mascots, a non-profit committed to educating the public about the harms of stereotyping and promoting positive representation of Native Americans in the public sphere.
For more information on the Indigenous Peoples March go here
Follow on Instagram here #whyimarch #ipmdc19
by Wakíƞyaƞ Waánataƞ (Matt Remle)
Matt Remle (Lakota) is an editor and writer for Last Real Indians and LRInspireand the co-founder of Mazaska Talks. Follow @wakiyan7