2011: A Year of Connections and Resistance for #NDNZ in Cyber-Space
If you look at the top 20 tweeted stories from 2011, a dark picture is painted for NDN country. Most news stories were dominated by reports of the result of 519 years of Colonization: hate crimes, police brutality, racist stereotypes, the horrors of the residential schools, reservation poverty, domestic abuse, struggles to save sacred sites, sexual oppression, struggles to save sacred sites, culturally insensitive and paternalistic media and the homicidal results of New Age frauds. But there’s another way of looking at it. 2011 was a year of resistance for NDN Country – a year of standing up to fight for the preservation of a way of life, world view and sacred spaced threated by greed and ignorance.
2011 was also a year of making connections in cyber space. Twitter was instrumental in getting the word out about what’s happening in Turtle Island and several new indigenous bloggers came on the scene to offer insight and analysis from their unique perspectives. Some of the most insightful bloggers this year were:
Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Unsettling America: Decolonization in Theory and Practice http://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com
American Indian Alaskan Native: Attack the System
http://aianattackthesystem.wordpress.com
American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/
Native Appropriations by Adrienne K. (Cherokee)
http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com
My Culture is Not a Trend
http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/
Top 20 Tweeted News Stories in NDN Country in 2011
1.) Geronimo EKIA controversy http://is.gd/CoOrSr
2.) James Arthur Ray convicted of negligent homicide in Arizona http://is.gd/QJ1J7w and http://is.gd/5nFlfC
3.) Klee Benally chains himself to heavy machinery to Save the San Francisco Peaks http://is.gd/e2ieTe
4.) Protest to preserve Glen Cove / Segora Te http://protectglencove.org
5.) The Cobell Settlement http://is.gd/S0PAb9
6.) MTV the Dudesons and racism on the Findians show http://is.gd/DcnMSm
7.) Racist bake sale http://is.gd/p9WiPK
8.) Canadian residential schools inquiries and apologies http://is.gd/eYgYGJ
9.) The Dateline report on poverty on the Pine Ridge reservation http://is.gd/bS1kG1
10.)Longest Walk III to fight diabetes among Native Americans http://is.gd/fROs9Q
11.)Leonard Peltier, political prisoner ignored by president Obama http://is.gd/qCqOVL
12.)Movement to rescind the Wounded Knee medals of dishonor http://is.gd/ppQCkL
13.)Native American protest of the XL pipeline in Washington DC http://is.gd/9m9sMU
14.)John T. Williams, deaf American Indian wood carver murdered by a police officer http://is.gd/vCN9YK
15.) Kiesha Crowther exposed as a fraud, AIM West protest in Palm Springs, CA http://is.gd/N7Bz5m http://is.gd/lSpvE6
16.)Hate crimes against Native Americans in the Southwest http://is.gd/OvxfVu
17.)(Un)Occupy / Decolonize Wall street movement http://is.gd/Wh4dub
18.)Aboriginal poverty on Canadian reserves - Donations sought for Attawapiskat http://is.gd/WOFrb4 and http://is.gd/88woEr
19.)Missing and murdered women in Canada, Aboriginal feminism, fighting domestic abuse and abolishing prostitution http://www.missingjustice.ca
20.)Protest against racist Halloween costumes http://is.gd/Y6bzOf and http://is.gd/Bh3sVq
Indigenous Tweeters on Twitter:
AboriginalPress AboriginalNewsGroup http://www.twitter.com/AboriginalPress
beadb8bybead Carrie http://www.twitter.com/beadb8bybead
BJTuininga http://www.twitter.com BJTuininga
burnssweetgrass Maria Myers http://www.twitter.com/burnssweetgrass
Cuckfuster Jim B http://www.twitter.com Cuckfuster
CreativeCrip TheCreativeCrip http://www.twitter.com CreativeCrip
debreese Debbie Reese http://www.twitter.com/debreese
DecolonizeWS Mary L Adams http://www.twitter.com/DecolonizeWS
gr8tefulred Doug Self http://www.twitter.com/gr8tefulred
Elohi_Unitsi Earth Mother http://www.twitter.com/Elohi_Unitsi
fancyshawl48917 Lucy Alvarez http://www.twitter.com/fancyshawl48917
Greenthoughtbox Theresa Marinez http://www.twitter.com/Greenthoughtbox
greyhoundgerry Gervasio Morales http://www.twitter.com/greyhoundgerry
IAMNotAMascot Simon Moya-Smith http://www.twitter.com/IAmNotAMascot
indigenousissue Peter N. Jones http://www.twitter.com
IsumaTV IsumaTV http://www.twitter.com/IsumaTV
joanie399 joan rodriguez http://www.twitter.com/joanie399
JarridSmith Jarrid Smith http://www.twitter.com/JarridSmith
loveandfriction Helen Kuveke http://www.twitter.com/loveandfriction
jpmontano JohnPaul Montano http://www.twitter.com/jpmontano
mediaINDIGENA MEDIA INDIGENA http://www.twitter.com/mediaINDIGENA
Megawitch Lynda Kitchikeesic http://www.twitter.com/Megawitch
militantoutside John Claw http://www.twitter.com/militantoutside
NATIVObserver http://www.twitter.com/NATIVObserver
mz_chief mz chief http://www.twitter.com/ mz_chief
ndeertrack Vincent Rinehart http://www.twitter.com/ndeertrack
nikkealexis Diné Bikeyah http://www.twitter.com/nikkealexis
Nishwilguno1 Terrance H BoothSr http://www.twitter.com/Nishwilguno1
OccupyIthaca Occupy Ithaca http://www.twitter.com/OccupyIthaca
Ojibray Raymond http://www.twitter.com/Ojibray
Okie Bowl (MKG) http://www.twitter.com/okiebowl
realndntm C T Harper http://www.twitter.com/realndntm
realtucsonn8tiv Maya G http://www.twitter.com/realtucsonn8tiv
redroadcollect Marie Aqiiaqwak http://www.twitter.com/redroadcollect
robohontas Robohontas http://www.twitter.com/robohontas
smartassNDN J Skenadore http://www.twitter.com/smartassNDN
squashblossomgr Irene A http://www.twitter.com/squashblossomgr
swskeptic Rose Garcia http://www.twitter.com/swskeptic
TheAngryindian Abiyomi Kofi http://www.twitter.com/TheAngryindian
tommy_hawk Tommy Hawk http://www.twitter.com/tommy_hawk
UBCIC UBCIC Union of British Columbian Indigenous Chiefs http://www.twitter.com/UBCIC
waytooindian Tom http://www.twitter.com/waytooindian
werhumanbeings Rachel in Owosso, Michigan http://www.twitter.com/werhumanbeings
WillowsHowl Jacelyn http://www.twitter.com/WillowsHowl
slow_ro RPS http://www.twitter.com/slow_ro
UpliftingWoman Sherry Dion http://www.twitter.com/UpliftingWoman
Facebook Groups
Decolonize Wall Street
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/155451274551415/
Anti-racist working group for Decolonize Oakland
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anti-racist-Decolonizing-Working-Group-for-Decolonize-Oakland/267329019970029?ref=ts&sk=wall
Decolonize San Diego (A Group That Won't Censor Posts on Racial Inequity)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/decolonizesandiego
Online Radio
Rosebud Rez on Blog Talk Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rez-king-international
Censored News on Blog Talk Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell
Blog Talk Radio
Unification of the People
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/unification-of-the-people/2012/01/02/all-native-aerican-issues?utm_source=BTRemail&utm_medium=ShowReminder#.TwIzrOgKuTA.twitter
Native America Calling
www.nativeamericacalling.com
Native Voice One
www.nv1.org
Censored News on Blog Talk Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell
Engler Refugee's Comprehensive List of Native Online Streaming Radio Sites
http://englerrefugee.bravehost.com/OnlineRadio.html
A variety of online daily newspapers also became more popular this year. Word in the twittersphere is that WaytooIndian/Tom got fed up with the colonized #NativeAmerican hashtag that was full of advertisements for cheap knock-off “Indian art” made my non-Indians and ads for disrespectful plastic sweats. He created the #NDNZ tag and got quite a following that defends the hashtag ferociously to keep it clean from wannabes and New Age frauds. Twitter NDNZ have created quite a unique space for indigenous people from around the world to post news and commentary of interest to us and not of a commercialized nature.
Online Newspapers
#FreePeltier Daily
http://paper.li/tag/FreePeltier
The #JamesRay Daily
http://paper.li/tag/JamesRay
The #NDNZ Daily
http://paper.li/tag/NDNZ
The #Indigenous Daily
http://paper.li/tag/indigenous
News for NDNZ
http://paper.li/f-1319923983
DECOLONIZE! Daily Online Journal
http://paper.li/f-1320536209#
Other Sources of Online Native News
Native News Network
http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com
The Circle
www.thecirclenews.org
Rez Net News
www.reznetnews.org
Native Network
http://naenetwork.com
This year, NDNZ should be proud of staking out a small space in the social media world that has remained just for us, just about us. There has also been a large following of “fellow travelers”, anti-racist white people, anarchists, anti-cult activists and people from the occupy wall street movement have all started following the #NDNZ tag as well as the #decolonize tag. Natives from all over Turtle Island and even aboriginal people from Australian and New Zealand have tweeted the stories they care about and most affect their lives as indigenous peoples.
Popular hastags this year for indigenous tweeters were:
#NDNZ
#decolonize
#indigenous
#SacredSites
#nopoopsnow
#JamesRay
#rez
#rezlife
#powwows
#FirstNations
#LeonardPeltier
#FreePeltier
I’d like to call out for all Natives with online access and out allies to get connected this year.Get involved and get connected in any way you can! We need more intelligent indigenous voices using the internet to get our perspective out there. If you feel passionately about an issue blog about it. If you don’t have the time to blog, then consider microblogging with an application like tumblr where you can post a photo and write a paragraph about it. If you don’t have the time to do that, at least get connected to twitter and read the news. It only takes a few seconds to retweet an important news story and get it out to people all over the planet. We now have a small space in cyper-space, the question is, can we all work together to keep it?
Blogger
create blogger account
Wordpress
https://en.wordpress.com/signup/
Tumblr
https://www.tumblr.com/
www.twitter.com
How to use twitter hashtags
http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/05/how-to-use-twitter-hashtags
I'm sure there are lots of great tweeters and online Native news sources that I've missed. Please feel free to add them to the comments.
