Native American activists urge Biden to listen to them in the Holy Land

The red road to the capital began last week in the coastal nation of Lummi north of Seattle and will end July 29 in Washington, DCT The cross-country caravan will arrive on Saturday at Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a site especially sacred to Native Americans. The dominant images of the colorful totem being towed across the country: an eagle diving to the ground, a man praying and a salmon, dozens of Native American activists in 10 cars dragging a single pole across the country, while this protest caravan may seem small, its message to Congress is too big: give indigenous peoples a say before granting access to lands that tribes consider sacred. The opposing argument: Public lands are for everyone and the energy needs of a nation cannot be ignored, and nowhere is this debate hotter than at Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, an amazing archaeological and natural marvel that activists will reach on Saturday. Barack Obama set aside 1.35 million acres for the memorial in late 2016. Conservatives criticized the move for government overreach, and then-President Donald Trump reduced the size of teddy bears by 85% in 2017. Its fate is still in play. “Public lands and lands are under constant pressure from climate chaos and dependence on fossil fuels, and we feel that under this administration we can change the role of the federal government in this equation,” said Judith LeBlanc, director of the Alliance of Indigenous Regulators, who spoke to. USA TODAY as the caravan marched through Utah.” “This is the political moment.” The original organizers were backed by the appointment of former U.S. Representative Deb Haaland, of New Mexico, of Laguna Pueblo, to run the Department of the Interior as well as President Joe Biden’s relaunch of the House House White on Native American Affairs. Activists say the role indigenous peoples played in recent elections should give them a greater say in policies that can help tribes with employment, education, and health care. “Native Americans should be at the decision-making table,” Lee told Blanc, belonging to the Kadu nation in the southeastern states, land use and ownership is a top priority for most of the federally recognized Hawa tribes me 600 in the country. While some tribes have had success on this front—last year, the Supreme Court ruled that half of Oklahoma is on Native land, leading to repercussions for court cases—most have spent the past years protesting access to federal lands, many In India the Trump administration has given energy and mining companies, from the Gila River to Bears Ears: Environmental activists renew efforts to protect public lands in the US southwest amid a shift in policy, and the result, activists say, is deep concern about land plunder due to fracking and oil pipelines which often have deep historical and religious significance to indigenous peoples. “Much like Notre Dame Cathedral is a symbolic structure of Catholicism, this landscape is our cathedral,” said Pat Gonzalez Rogers, executive director of the Bears Ears Intertribal Council, who is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We ask the people to be in the same considerate mindset and to show respect for this spectacle as our people and tribal leaders do.” Gonzalez Rogers added that while no sacred site is more important than another, Bears Ears, bearing his name on a towering ear—like Bottis, is likely to test the authority of the presidency when it comes to overseeing the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gives the president powers to “declar on historical landmarks by public declaration. Bears supporters say that’s what Obama was doing when he made it a monument in one of his last gestures in office. Critics say the law is not designed to allocate such vast tracts of land, and thus potentially limit access to a group of users. “This law should be used to prevent looting of the smallest compliant area,” Jeffrey McCoy, an attorney, told Pacific Legal, a liberal public interest law firm representing plantation owners who said Obama’s announcement denied them access to land they had long used. The case is halted while Biden reviews his predecessor’s conduct. McCoy said it’s not up to the presidents of either party to decide the fate of huge holdings of federal land, but rather “that is the job of Congress and the National Parks Declaration.” Bears Ears leader, Gonzalez Rogers, said activists are urging lawmakers to increase the size of the national monument to nearly 2 million acres, acknowledging that the fate of the Indian state has long been tied to federal politics, and to a diverse group of Indigenous peoples. Groups came up with the idea to drive from Washington State to Washington, D.C., while stopping at some of the most controversial indigenous sacred sites. Dubbed The Red Road to the Capital: A Polar Totem Journey to Protect the Holy Places — a name that refers to a journey from addiction to sobriety — the trip began last week in the coastal state of Lummi north of Seattle and will conclude with events in the nation’s capital on July 29. ude Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (July 18), fracking takes place in an area where thousands lived between AD 850 and 1200; Standing Rock, North Dakota (July 24), home of years of protests against the Dakota Pipeline; and Mackinaw City, Michigan, where tribes are fighting to shut down a pipeline for fear the spill could contaminate lake water. Dive into Race and Identity: Sign up for the This Is America, USA TODAY newsletter It was a totem pole carved into the best traditions of protest: having something that makes those who see it ask questions, LeBlanc said. “It is about raising all people’s awareness of what is happening to our nation’s land.” A traditional feature of Native American tribes from the Pacific Northwest and considered sacred symbols. This special totem was created over a period of three months by Lome craftsmen called the House of Tears Carvers. It is 25 feet high and 43 inches wide and was carved from a 400-year-old red cedar tree, and among the predominant images of the colorful totem are an eagle diving to the ground, a man praying, and a salmon. There is also a woman with a girl nearby, in appreciation of the way grandmothers often teach the younger generation in indigenous ways and languages. There are also seven tears carved into the totem, which represent seven generations of Native Americans who suffered at the hands of non-Natives, according to the organizers of Red Road to DC. As the convoy continues, activists hope to draw attention with both totems. and their gatherings of the global need to protect nature at a time when climate crises – from the wildfires in the West to storms in the East – seem to pose a growing threat. “Sacred places are the places where our peoples have gone since the beginning of time to collect medicines, to communicate with our ancestors, and to pray and raise their spirits,” LeBlanc said. “We have an understanding on how best to preserve and protect these places to ensure these places continue for our people and all people.”