Category Archives: Indigenous People

Stan Rushworth WE ARE THE MIDDLE OF FOREVER: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth

In 2019, we interviewed Dahr Jamail when his book, THE END OF ICE: BEARING WITNESS AND FINDING MEANING IN THE PATH OF CLIMATE DISRUPTION, was published by The New Press. In addition to interviewing scientists from around the world, he consulted with Indigenous people as well, investigating some of the cultural and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis.

After THE END OF ICE came out, he joined with writer and teacher, Stan Rushworth, in interviewing 11 Native women and 9 men from different generations and walks of life to solicit their perspectives. This collaboration has resulted in the book, WE ARE THE MIDDLE OF FOREVER: INDIGENOUS VOICES FROM TURTLE ISLAND ON THE CHANGING EARTH, also published by The New Press.

Stan Rushworth was a full time, tenured professor at Cabrillo College from 1992 til 2008, where he taught Native American Literature and Critical Thinking. He continued teaching and developing Native classes there until 2022. He is the author of three earlier books, GOING TO WATER: THE JOURNAL OF BEGINNING RAIN; SAM WOODS: AMERICAN HEALING; and DIASPORA’S CHILDREN.

Stan and Dahr told their interviewees: “Our focus is the disruption of Earth; how did we get here? how do we move on in the right way? What’s in the way of that? And no matter the outcome, how do we carry ourselves?”

We spoke with Stan Rushworth on August 3, 2022 via Skype.

Links to articles and videos pertinent to this interview:

“WE ARE THE MIDDLE OF FOREVER” is from a poem by John Trudell, The Cleansing (from his first album, Tribal Voice).

The Cleansing (Red Earth Song) – John Trudell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rYxUjedmNM

We Are Shapes of the Earth (John Trudell) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6tP23oCes&list=PLOnzFQVEgXSRNdJSYF4KWAJm_nnzsX-dW&index=3

From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers’ Warning – Kogi Message to Humanity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRgTtrQOiR0

HOPI PROPHECY – Thomas Banyacya – Two Paths: Destruction or Survival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UkHwjz4i1k&t=0s

Fawn Sharp: Quinault Indian Nation – President of The National Congress Of American Indians (NCAI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBaGfzjcg8

Climate Disruption Presentation – Gregg Castro & Dahr Jamail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oAkR3-H_YI

Ilarion Merculieff – The Womb at the Center of the Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rycqVPANBKQ

Lyla June Johnston on Forgiveness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnBWEBt7nk0

SHANNON RIVERS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM THROUGH AN INDIGENOUS LENS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLGYFWL4zQ

Melissa Nelson – Revitalizing Indigeneity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwsg_tRiBjo

Indigenous Insights & Decolonization with Kanyon Sayers Roods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKCZ5mdJBk

Corrina Gould You Are Not In California https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip6OgBsl7mc

Natalie Diaz: Post Colonial Love Poem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm6poGV9H_Q

Natalie Diaz: Manhattan is a Lenape Word https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEGxc9ZeCPk

A Just Transition to an Equitable Future – Melina Laboucan-Massimo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3WF_AgnnCM

Power to the People – Melina Laboucan-Massimo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QriDgfmyqqA

Native Land in Native Hands: Why the Land Back Movement Makes Economic Sense https://greenamerica.org/divided-we-fall/native-land-native-hands-why-land-back-movement-makes-economic-sense

‘A stepping stone’: Indigenous-led initiative at MSU helps bolster native food sovereignty https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/agriculture/a-stepping-stone-indigenous-led-initiative-at-msu-helps-bolster-native-food-sovereignty/article_291fdf99-feb8-549c-a30c-0ab9a5d96e2f.html

Tim Giago, Native American Newspaperman, Is Dead at 88 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/us/tim-giago-dead.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Obituaries

James Lovelock, Whose Gaia Theory Saw the Earth as Alive, Dies at 103 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/climate/james-lovelock-dead.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Obituaries

James Lovelock talks about his Gaia hypothesis and climate change in 2014 interview – video https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2022/jul/27/james-lovelock-talks-about-his-gaia-hypothesis-and-climate-change-in-2014-interview-video

State of Alaska Recognizes 229 Tribes in Historic Bill https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/state-of-alaska-recognizes-tribes-with-historic-bill

‘We’re dwindling like the salmon’: the Indigenous nations fighting for water rights https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/26/california-indigenous-water-rights-bay-delta

Richard Gray MURDER AT YELLOWSTONE CITY

Richard Gray has directed movies such as Robert the Bruce, Broken Ghost and Sugar Mountain. His latest film, MURDER AT YELLOWSTONE CITY, is the first feature length film to have been shot at the new Yellowstone Film Ranch outside of Pray, MT.

In this interview, we discuss the challenges of filming during Covid; his partnership with Livingston’s Carter Boehm and Chico Hot Spring proprietor, Colin Davis, in building the Yellowstone Film Ranch; their efforts to help pass The Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement (MEDIA) Act; and prospects for the Montana Film Industry after its passage.

The Bozeman Film Society will be premiering MURDER AT YELLOWSTONE RANCH on Friday, July 22 at the historic Ellen Theater. They post this at their website: The once peaceful and booming Yellowstone City has fallen on hard times, but when a local prospector strikes gold, things seem to be turning around. Any hope is soon shattered when the prospector is found dead and the Sheriff quickly arrests a mysterious newcomer. But nothing is so simple in this sleepy western town, and more than a few of the locals have secrets to keep and reasons to kill. As the brutal murders continue, pitting neighbor against neighbor, Yellowstone City goes down a bloody path to a final showdown that not all will survive. 123 minutes. NR. Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane, Isaiah Mustafa, Anna Camp, Aimee Garcia, Emma Kenney, with Nat Wolff, and Richard Dreyfuss.

We interviewed director/producer Richard Gray on July 11, 2022.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

https://bozemanfilmsociety.org/event/murder-at-yellowstone-city/

‘Murder at Yellowstone City’ Review: A Well-Crafted Mix of Traditional Western and Murder Mystery Elements https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/murder-at-yellowstone-city-review-1235301280/

Yellowstone Film Ranch https://bigskyjournal.com/yellowstone-film-ranch/

Alana Waksman WE BURN LIKE THIS

The film, WE BURN LIKE THIS, is a debut feature written, directed and produced by Alana Waksman.

It’s a coming-of-age story of historical trauma, survival, and healing. When 22-year-old Rae, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is targeted by Neo-Nazis in Billings, Montana, her ancestors’ trauma becomes real. It’s inspired by true events and features a terrific ensemble cast of largely Montana actors, as well as film crew.

We spoke with Alana Waksman on June 10, 2022.

From the website https://www.weburnlikethis.com/

director’s statement
I never met my grandparents. They were taken from their homes near Radomsko, Poland in 1942 and survived forced labor camps as young teenagers in Russia. I have been told that my grandfather survived a period of time by eating grass. After the war, my grandparents found themselves at a displaced persons camp in Germany. This is where my dad was born, and two years later they were able to immigrate to Brooklyn, New York. My grandparents were proud to be Americans, but my father grew up ashamed of his immigrant and Jewish identities as it was often the reason he was singled out, threatened, and bullied.
The day after the 2016 election, Neo-Nazi pamphlets showed up on the doorsteps of Har Shalom Synagogue in Missoula, Montana where I was living at the time. For the first time in my life, my family’s history was suddenly very real.
I made this film in order to sort through my thoughts about my identity, the inherited effects of historical trauma, and what self-acceptance and self-love looks like. We Burn Like This is my debut feature, which I have been developing for the last seven years. It is my contribution to the greater healing of Jewish bigotry, which continues to be even more important, timely, and urgent.
The storming of the capitol on January 6th was a continued reminder after an exhausting and frightening four years that we are living beside much hatred and rage, and our new administration does not erase the true colors and feelings of our fellow Americans. I believe that it matters to share this story and inspire discussion about Jewish identity and historical trauma in present day America.
May we find a way to forgive, accept, and love ourselves and others. May we find the perfection even in the darkest times and in the darkest memories. May this film be a part of that process, and may we all radically heal.
-Alana Waksman

Only love can stop war: a Northern Cheyenne chief’s call to the world https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/17/only-love-can-stop-war-a-call-to-the-world-from-a-northern-cheyenne-chie

Gustavo Vazquez KEEPER OF CORN

Indigenous artisans, cooks and farmers tell us this story (in Spanish and in their own languages) about the origins of indigenous corn and how their ancestors have guided the evolution of seeds from the dawn of agriculture to the 21st century; a collective effort that spans more than 350 generations.

To their voices are added those of community leaders, scientists, cooks and many others whose knowledge and activism are committed not only to the defense of food sovereignty and genetic integrity, diversity and the collective property of indigenous seeds, but also for the defense of an enduring cultural legacy and way of life.

Filmmaker and Chair of the FIlm & Digital Media Department at UC Santa Cruz , Gustavo Vazquez, brings us to Oaxaca to experience the wisdom of various indigenous communities, as they explain that “Corn was not domesticated by man – Man was domesticated by corn.”

Professors Ignacio Chapela (UC Berkeley) and Alan Bennett (UC Davis) discuss the merits and dangers of genetically modified organisms, and the characteristics of different landraces of corn that have co-evolved with the people of Oaxaca – continuing co-evolution vs. exploitation for patenting and profit.

Susana Harp, Senator from Oaxaca, works to protect the heritage and health of her region, and to respect the validity of their approach. “Corn & its surrounding rituals are tied to the cosmology of the indigenous people – by extension, the essence of being Mexican, linking our lives to corn.”

Alex Pritz THE TERRITORY

The Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people have seen their population dwindle and their culture threatened since coming into contact with non-Native Brazilians in the 1980s. Though promised dominion over their own rain forest territory, they have faced illegal incursions from environmentally destructive logging and mining, and, most recently, land-grabbing invasions spurred on by right-wing politicians like President Jair Bolsonaro. With deforestation escalating as a result, the stakes have become global.

Screen shots from THE TERRITORY of remaining Uru-eu-wau-wau territory surrounded on 3 sides by man made desert.

Filmmaker, Alex Pritz, gained incredible access to the Uru-eu-wau-wau people, and environmentalists dedicated to protecting them and their Amazonian rain forest, as well as Brazilian settlers, filming as the groups come into conflict. From stone age technology to e-technology in only a couple of generations, The Uru-eu-wau-wau understand that the struggle for their survival is also the struggle for humanity’s survival. Protecting the rain forest is crucial to minimizing the catastrophic effects of climate change.

eu-wau-wau people protect their land from invaders & illegal deforestation:

http://Invaded Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous reserve awaits relief by Brazil’s new government

http://These women are fighting for their Indigenous land and the survival of the Amazon

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-amazon-indigenous.html

‘Record after record’: Brazil’s Amazon deforestation hits April high, nearly double previous peak https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/record-after-record-brazils-amazon-deforestation-hits-april-high-nearly-double-previous-peak

Land of Resistants—Threatened Indigenous People and Communities in the Brazilian Amazon https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/land-resistants-threatened-indigenous-people-and-communities-brazilian-amazon

Jonathan Katz GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire

This interview was first broadcast as the sovereign nation of Ukraine was being invaded by the Russian Army. Terrible as this was, it was also an appropriate time to examine our own history, which Jonathan Katz has done in his most recent book, GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire, published in January 2022 by St. Martin’s Press.

He is an award winning journalist, whose earlier book, The Big Truck That Went By, chronicles his time in Haiti, where he was the only full-time American correspondent in Haiti, when the devastating earthquake struck on January 12, 2010 and the ensuing disasters brought on by the multiple failures of international aid projects. More than 230,000 people were killed.

As he describes in our interview, Smedley Butler was there from the very beginning of the United States’ imperialism, first as a 16 year old lieutenant in the Spanish-American War, when we secured Guantanamo Bay, then on to Puerto Rico, The Philippines, China, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

After a long career in the Marines, in which he pioneered counter-insurgency methods and the militarization of police forces to enforce the prerogatives of capitalist oligarchs, who he eventually came to understand were calling the shots, he retired with the rank of General, the most decorated Marine in history, as well as the first of only 19 Marines to have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice.

He became the Head of Public Safety for the City of Philadelphia, where he militarized that city’s police force. He eventually synthesized his experiences and understanding from his years subduing nationalist forces in those many countries – as well as battling gangsters in Prohibition era Philadelphia – to write his book, War Is a Racket, published in 1935.

He wrote, ”War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

He spent his final years promoting democracy here in the United States and fighting fascism here and abroad, as well as trying to prevent what became World War II. Smedley Butler died of cancer at the age of 59 on June 21, 1940.

This edition of Forthright Radio ends with a tribute to Dr. Paul Farmer, who died on on February 21, 2022 at the age of 62. It is followed by Paul Farmer’s own voice speaking of his work.

Links to articles pertinent to this interview:

Gorsuch Calls for Overruling ‘Shameful’ Cases on U.S. Territories https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/02/us/politics/gorsuch-supreme-court-insular-cases.html?searchResultPosition=1

Civil Rights Groups To Biden DOJ: Stop Using 100-Year-Old Racist Precedents In Court https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-doj-insular-cases-racism_n_620bc80ae4b032302470eae8

As Honduras’s New President Seeks End to Narco-State, Will US Stand in Her Way? https://truthout.org/articles/as-hondurass-new-president-seeks-end-to-narco-state-will-us-stand-in-her-way/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=75f265c3-570c-48ec-a36c-8c3be3ffa4c4

Former Honduras President Detained After a U.S. Extradition Request https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/world/americas/honduras-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-detained.html?searchResultPosition=3

Dominican Republic begins building border wall with Haiti https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/21/dominican-republic-begins-building-border-wall-with-haiti

Paul Farmer, Pioneer of Global Health, Dies at 62 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/obituaries/paul-farmer-dead.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Obituaries

A Moment in the Sun a novel by John Sayles

John Leshy OUR COMMON GROUND: A History of America’s Public Lands

John D. Leshy is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He was Solicitor (General Counsel) of the Interior Department throughout the Clinton Administration. Earlier, he was counsel to the Chair of the Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Associate Solicitor of Interior for Energy and Resources in the Carter Administration, an attorney-advocate with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and a litigator in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. He led the Interior Department transition team for Clinton-Gore in 1992 and co-led it for Obama-Biden in 2008.

The U.S. government owns and manages more than six hundred million acres, which is about 30% of the nation’s land. These lands and the agencies that manage them—the National Forest Service, the National Park Service, the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management—are a presence in our western communities.

John Leshy’s forthcoming book, OUR COMMON GROUND: A HISTORY OF AMERICA’S PUBLIC LANDS, soon to be published by Yale University Press. In 600+ pages, it chronicles this history of our public lands and suggests how Congress, the executive and the federal courts have responded to the numerous challenges facing these lands.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Judge halts oil and gas leases in Gulf of Mexico; the largest offshore auction in U.S. history https://www.salon.com/2022/02/05/halts-oil-and-gas-leases-in-gulf-of-mexico-the-largest-offshore-auction-in-us-history_partner/

Guest column: The U.S. Forest Service’s access contradictions https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/guest-column-the-u-s-forest-services-access-contradictions/article_3564cf1a-adda-5beb-9593-1c1a51026bc7.html

Guest column: Making progress on access in the Crazy Mountains https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/guest-column-making-progress-on-access-in-the-crazy-mountains/article_5c773a1e-9456-53e9-9d7e-8f5206f0f3ac.html

Plan to Reduce Feral Cattle in New Mexico Draws Objections https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/feral-cattle-gila-national-forest.html

Activist Renew Push for Moratorium in Jackson State Forest – Six Arrested https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/11/activists-renew-push-for-moratorium-in-jackson-state-forest-six-arrested/

Native Americans are at the heart of Yellowstone. After 150 years, they are finally being heard https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/native-americans-are-at-the-heart-of-yellowstone-after-150-years-they-are-finally-being-heard-aoe

Kehinde Andrews THE NEW AGE OF EMPIRE: How Racism & Colonialism Still Rule the World

Kehinde Andrews is Professor of Black Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University. He is the director of the Center for Critical Social Research, founder of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity,
and co-chair of the UK Black Studies Association. In fact, he was the first black studies professor in the UK and led the establishment of the first black studies program in Europe at Birmingham City University.

Among his books are Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality, and the Black Supplementary School Movement and Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century.

His most recent book is THE NEW AGE OF EMPIRE: HOW RACISM & COLONIALISM STILL RULE THE WORLD, published in the US by Bold Type Books.

“Where knowledge is duty, ignorance is a crime.” Thomas Paine
http://Public Good: Being an Examination Into the Claim of Virginia to the Vacant Western Territory and of the Right of the United States to the Same to Which Are Added, Proposals for Laying Off a New State, to Be Applied Asa Fund for Carrying on the War

Articles referred to or pertinent to this interview:

The Psychosis of Whiteness https://drive.google.com/file/d/16FAFidJPpee2RqEH4hcYAoWfZ0kTDR1o/view

I Don’t Mourn the Queen https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/13/for-black-britons-the-late-queen-is-the-number-one-symbol-of-white-supremacy-00056262

His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels & Toluse Olorunnipa review – the murder that shamed the US https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/22/his-name-is-george-floyd-by-robert-samuels-and-toluse-olorunnipa-review-the-that-shamed-the-us

THE RANSOM – The Root of Haiti’s Misery: Reparations to Enslavers https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/americas/haiti-history-colonized-france.html

D.C.’s Enslavers Got Reparations. Freed People Got Nothing. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/17/washington-emancipation-day-00038824

Jamaican Leaders Shun Prince William, Kate Middleton Visit, Demand Slavery Reparations https://www.huffpost.com/entry/royal-visit-jamaica_n_62396bc3e4b0c727d48265ab

As a historian of slavery, I know just how much the royal family has to answer for in Jamaica https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/25/slavery-royal-family-jamaica-ducke-duchess-cambridge-caribbean-slave-trade

My family benefited from slavery. Why can’t we accept white people still owe a huge debt? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/slavery-enriched-family-accept-white-people-owe-huge-debt

A Bill Proposed to Teach History. It Got the History Wrong. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/virginia-lincoln-douglas-debates-bill.html

Rich Countries Lure Health Workers From Low-Income Nations to Fight Shortages https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/health/covid-health-worker-immigration.html

We can afford to reverse poverty and climate breakdown. What we can’t afford is the alternative https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/24/we-can-afford-to-reverse-poverty-and-climate-breakdown-what-we-cant-afford-is-the-alternative

When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/29/slavery-abolition-compensation-when-will-britain-face-up-to-its-crimes-against-humanity

Built on the bodies of slaves: how Africa was erased from the history of the modern world https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/12/africa-slaves-erased-from-history-modern-world

Reparations to the Caribbean could break the cycle of corruption – and China’s grip https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/25/reparations-caribbean-cycle-of-corruption-china

There was a time reparations were actually paid out – just not to formerly enslaved people https://caricomreparations.org/there-was-a-time-reparations-were-actually-paid-out-just-not-to-formerly-enslaved-people/

Why climate change is inherently racist https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220125-why-climate-change-is-inherently-racist

80 Years Ago the Nazis Planned the ‘Final Solution.’ It Took 90 Minutes. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/europe/lake-wannsee-conference-final-solution-holocaust.html

Lessons to remember this Holocaust Memorial Day https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/guest-column-lessons-to-remember-this-holocaust-memorial-day/article_cfc570ed-e546-5465-b990-8dc730b1b039.html

Our people will be mourning on 26 January, but it can still become a day of healing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/25/our-people-will-be-mourning-on-26-january-but-it-can-still-become-a-day-of-healing

The west was built on racism. It’s time we faced that – video https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2017/jan/18/the-west-was-built-on-racism-its-time-we-faced-that-video

Native American tribes reclaim California redwood land for preservation https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/25/native-american-tribes-california-redwood-preservation

White women and fascism: Seyward Darby on how right-wing women embrace their “symbolic power” https://www.salon.com/2022/01/28/women-and-fascism-seyward-darby-on-how-right-wing-women-embrace-their-symbolic-power/

Fascism’s “Legal Phase” Has Begun. Threats of White Vigilante Violence Are Real. https://truthout.org/articles/fascisms-legal-phase-has-begun-threats-of-white-vigilante-violence-are-real/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=fb0f0c17-eea0-4e37-91c0-a78a05a727f5

David Lammy requests pardon for 1823 slave rebellion convicts https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/13/david-lammy-requests-pardon-for-1823-slave-rebellion-convicts