A marker at the #NoDAPL encampment in North Dakota. Photo by Cherokee Nation
Misty Perkins, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, connects the #NoDAPL movement to ongoing efforts to shed the effects of colonization of indigenous peoples:
Most people just don’t understand why today’s water protectors don’t like being labeled as “protestors” because they are confused about the concept of protecting the earth. This is a direct result of using the English language to convey their message, it is in essence “the real world” vs. “the sacred earth." In the real world, we are taught from birth thru schooling that the earth is a natural resource to be managed or property to be owned thru the system. This is in opposition to the indigenous concept of the sacred earth which can never be owned, where we relate to the earth as our relative and honor that connection by way of life and in ceremonies. Thanks to the brutal assimilation of the native America thru things like boarding schools and the denial of religious freedoms, most natives use English as their first language, however there seems to still be a lingering language barrier called mistranslation. For words are not just names and definitions, but hold entire concepts behind them and depending on the translation of words between languages, the message can often be altered or misconstrued. One word that seems perpetually lost in translation is "ours." When most people hear indigenous peoples say "ours,” they associate it with a claim of possession and their minds autocorrect the word to “theirs”. Because the Dakota access pipeline is trespassing Native waterways and reservation boundaries as guaranteed by treaties, and they will be the first to suffer when the pipe breaks should it be put into active use, they assume Natives are saying that they are defending "their” land and people or specific reservation. Which both is, and isn’t the case. The underlying issue here is that they do not mean to protect this land for themselves because they view it as their property alone. Quite the opposite is true. They mean "ours" as in all human beings, all living beings including the water and earth itself. As in collective commonwealth and human rights to access clean water. They mean that the waters and the land are part of a living network in which we have the right to defend if threatened, because it cannot defend itself and we depend on it for our very existence as a species. They mean "ours" as in our childrens’ generations which literally and figuratively are our future on this earth. They maintain that they are protecting the land and waters against its very destruction for ALL OF US, for ALL life.Read More:
Misty Perkins: Protectors not Protesters: Indigenous Voice Lost in Translation by Colonialism (Indian Country Today 10/21)
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