2014: an Indigenous Year in Review

Re-printed with permission from Tom (@waytooindian) of the #NDNZ Daily on twitter

http://ndnzontwitter.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-year-ofindigenous-resistance-and.html

2014: A Year of Indigenous Resistance and Solidarity

2014 was a year of struggle for Indigenous people, but it was also the dawning of a new era of collaboration between diverse groups.  We bonded with our African-American cousins over police brutality and the murder of innocent people of color. We marched with Indigenous people from around the world for Climate justice. We formed grassroots alliances with farmers and ranchers in efforts to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Our young people re-discovered the activism of the 1970s and gave the struggle new life around Idle No More, Dakota 38, Un-Thanksgiving. The Daily show brought the 40 year old racist mascot issue to the fore-front. Our struggle to bring attention to the murders of our indigenous sisters along the Canadian border was also given more attention this year. Alliance were made between young and old, NDN and non-NDN, environmentalist, anti-fascist, anti-Capitalist, Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street. It was a year to be proud of our new relationships. In 2015, the struggle will be to keep Indigenous people’s voices in the fore-front of all the grassroots movements that we seeded in 2014.

For those of you just getting acquainted with indigenous struggles, here is a list of the top 15 stories on the #NDNZ hash tag on twitter.

Excellent sources of non-mainstream news reporting are:

Brenda Norell’s Censored News

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Last Real Indians

http://lastrealindians.com/

Native News Online

http://nativenewsonline.net/

TOP 15 stories of 2014

1.)    Tonto at the Oscars. Major twitter storms erupted when the film The Lone Ranger was nominated for best make-up. Hash tags that emerged were:

#NotYourTonto and #NotYourNDN

2.)    Indigenous representation by Hollywood were questioned when Rooney Mara was cast as Princess Tiger Lily in the 2015 prequel to Walt Disney’s Peter Pan

Hash tags:  #NotYourTigerLily

3.) The Cliven Bundy stand-off and extreme right wing racism against Native Americans and claims of “ancestral rights” to Federal lands.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/property-records-cast-doubt-on-cliven-bundys-ancestral-claims-to-disputed-federal-land/

Hash tag: #ClivenBundy

4.) Native American headdresses worn by hipsters and supermodels. University of North Dakota students selling “Siouxper drunk” T shirts and Oklahoma State University students posting an offensive “Trail of Tears” banner. Heidi Klum, Pharell Williams, Khloe Kardashian and other vapid celebrities became infamous for wearing headdresses without understanding the meaning behind them.

Hash tags: #Cochella #NativeAppropriations #RedFaceDisgrace #NotHappy

5,) Indigenous protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking and the Virginia spill mounted in a huge Cowboy and Indian alliance protest in Washington, D.C. Native leaders worked with farmers and ranchers and in direct action against the pipeline as well as leading ceremonies and protests around the country.

Hash tags: #NoKXL #RejectandProtect #NoBlackSnake #cowboyindianalliance

6.) Hopi sacred artifacts and masks were auctioned in Paris and Ojibwe scalps were put on display in Germany. #HopiMasks #Ojibwe

7.) The issue of 1200 missing and murdered Indigenous women was raised all over Canada.

Hash tags: #MMIV #OpThunderbird #InquiryNow #VAW

Indigenous Feminists also jumped on the hash tags: #BringbackOURgirls #YesAllWomen and #NotOneMore

Follow @kwetoday @_RuthHopkins @Megawitch @apihtawikossian for information about fighting sexual violence against Indigenous women and girls

8.)4^th of July Independence day twitter storm to free all Indigenous Political Prisoners

Hash tags: #FreePeltier #LeonardPeltier #FreeJohnGrahms

Links: http://www. leonardpeltier.info

http://www.grahamdefense.org/

9.) Removal of racist mascots, chief Wahoo and the R*dsk*ns logo

Hash tags: #ChangeTheName #NotYourMascot #NoHonorInRacism #DeChief

The Jon Stewart show appearance of a crying R*dsk*ns apologist also sparked the popularity of the #WhiteTears tag

10.) The People’s Climate march in New York City was lead by Indigenous peoples.

Hash tags: #PeoplesClimateMarch #ClimateJustice #IndigenousRising

11.) Revitalization of the American Indian Movements and re-discovery of the issues of the 1970s by young activists

Hash tags: #WoundedKneeII #AmericanIndianMovement #Alcatraz

12.) The Dakota 38 ride and the movie

#Dakota38

13.) Racist Halloween Costumes were protested along the same time that the movie #DearWhitePeople premiered. Our issues of respect and dignity overlapped.

#RacistHalloween #HalloweenCostume #RacistHalloween

14.) A Thanksgiving education twitter storm along with attempts to fight ulta right-wing erasure of America’s history of genocide

Hash tags: #UnThanksgiving #DecolonizeThanksgiving #AntiThanksgiving #JeffCoSchoolboard

15.) Police brutality and murder of un-armed men of color was highlighted as Native Lives Matter joined with Black lives matter. Protests of un-armed indigenous men murdered by police:

John T Williams

Mah Ha-Vist Goodblanket

Cory Kanoush

Benjamine Whiteshield

Allen Locke

#NativeLivesMatter #ICantBreath #handsupdontshoot #WeWillBreath

For a daily summary of News that affects Indigenous people go to :

The NDNZ DAILY

http://paper.li/tag/NDNZ

The Idle No More Daily

http://paper.li/occupySYDNEY/1339777646#!tag-idlenomore

The Indigenous Daily

http://paper.li/tag/indigenous