October 12th, 2020
In honor of Indigenous People’s Day we are amplifying visionary, Indigenous-led leadership today from our friends at the NDN Collective, who are launching the LANDBACK Campaign.
LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands -- and is more than just a campaign. It is a way of understanding the world that allows us to deepen our relationships across the field of organizing movements. Through LANDBACK, we envision a world where Black, Indigenous & POC liberation co-exists.
This is how LANDBACK describes their work:
The LANDBACK Campaign is focused on the return of public lands (Ain’t nobody coming for your house).
Locally, LANDBACK demands the closure of Mt. Rushmore, and the return of those lands and all public lands in the Black Hills to her original stewards.
Mt. Rushmore is not only in the heart of sacred lands, but also represents the ultimate shrine to white supremacy. To shut down the ultimate shrine to white supremacy, in the heart of one of the world’s greatest political and military powers, changes what is possible for ALL Peoples.
Support Indigenous LANDBACK struggles across Turtle Island and throughout the globe. Everywhere that there are Indigenous Peoples, colonial governments and corporate powers are working to displace and exploit them and their lands for profit. Indigenous Peoples globally are engaged in thousands of struggles for sovereignty over their homelands, wherever you are, there are groups of Indigenous land defenders that you can support.
Ways to participate leading up to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Mon. October 12, 2020:
1. Watch and share this video, “Ȟesápa: A LANDBACK Film”
2. Sign this petition demanding Mount Rushmore be closed and ALL public lands in the Black Hills returned to its original stewards
3. Donate to the LANDBACK Campaign
In solidarity,
War Resisters League
