Dear Family and Friends,
 
This past week, we (Maria & Anna) went to be with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota to stand in solidarity with native people who are fighting for their right to water and land, and also for their liberation (brief overview). As it stands, the company has been told to halt construction but hasn’t since the financial fine for breaking federal law is not close to comparable to the profit they would make.  With a short week and a half of preparation, we were able to gather over $1,500, 13 bags of winter coats, 5 sleeping bags, and 12 grocery bags of food from a few University of Michigan schools and the local community. Using a borrowed mini-van from a professor, we stuffed everything in and made the 18 hour trek out -- and here’s why.

For our four-day stay, we camped in the main camp called Oceti Sakowin filled with tipis, army and camping tents. With mild temperatures in the day, it dropped into the 20’s at night, so we did our best to stay warm in our summer tent covered in two tarps and in zero-degree sleeping bags (with the help of additional blankets and warm water bottles by our toes). Absolutely no photos or video footage are allowed in the camp due to the threat of security and their desire to spy and/or criminalize any behavior. In fact, police have the ability to turn on your phone and record even when it’s off. Since we do not have our own photos to share, please check out this video for an overview and images. Additionally, if you simply Google images of “No DAPL” you’ll see an assortment of photos.  

Upon arrival, we went to an orientation (that covered much material from this resource packet) with three foci: (1) the camp/space is indigenous-centered, (2) we are building a new legacy (one of love and not oppression), and (3) that we need to be of use! We took these to heart, especially as Maria sorted through hundreds of food donations and Anna built wooden floors in prep of winter conditions (til 1 in the morning!). Winter has already begun and it is frightening knowing the deathly low temperatures and high winds that will hit the plains of North Dakota while people continue to resist exploitation and fight for their rights.

The Camp itself is one of resistance. The native people are resisting centuries of genocide, colonialism, environmental devastation and oppression. A beautiful gathering of members of tribes from all over the country have come to support one another and resist peacefully.  Right now, as the Dakota Access Pipeline tries to build under the Missouri River which would damage sacred land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the risk of the pipeline breaking and hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic sludge poisoning the water supply is imminent (like this recent burst).

An impactful and meaningful element of the camp was the emphasis and expectation that everyone in camp act in prayer and ceremony at all times. This meant no drugs, alcohol, or swearing, in addition to treating each other with kindness and love. The daily meetings (or ‘gatherings’) were run in a Native format with bookended prayer and an emphasis on hearing all voices in the community, no matter how long it took. We attended ceremonies of celebration and reflection, and a vigil to wash away the trauma and violence that had occurred at the river a week prior. We also prayed for the pipeline workers, law enforcement and the oppressors -- how they have so much room for love in their hearts is truly remarkable.

It is important to us to not be silent about the oppression of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, among others. With Thanksgiving around the corner, we commit to talking with our loved ones about the current struggles of Native Americans and the legacy of racism and genocide in this particular holiday. With the recent election, there is even more work to do. We hope you will take these actions with us.

• For all of us:
  • For Thanksgiving:
    • Learn whose land you occupy by using this website and take a moment to honor and acknowledge the people and land.
    • Learn more and talk about your family’s ancestry (including any ugly truths!).
  • In general:
    • Donate money specifically here
    • Attend an anti-racist training near you.
    • Make phone calls for Standing Rock. Download the document attached and organize a group of friends/family to hold each other accountable! There are two tabs with info and a logging chart.
• For white people (from Anna): We, white people, voted Trump into presidency - we now have to take greater action than ever before. We (and more importantly people of color) don’t have time for us to sit in our fragility and instead I deeply encourage all of us to talk with each other in our white communities, make calls to avoid white supremacists from being in office, and join an anti-racist organizing group while taking care of each other. Please read this statement (which I was a part of creating) to learn more about our role in white supremacy and transformation, and share/use this resource guide and hotline(!) for talking with white people at Thanksgiving.
• For non-native people of color (from Maria): Just like white people, it is our responsibility to actively work to dismantle colonialism.  We must ask ourselves, in what way do I, as a non-native, POC, benefit from settler colonialism? Do I know the native and colonial history of my people? Centering a non-colonial paradigm is difficult at first, it was for me.  Before my time at Standing Rock, I had never taken the time to consider whose land I live on, which Indigenous community lived in the land I now get to “own”.  However, unless we recognize the complexities of anti-racist movements we will unintentionally replicate a black-white paradigm that hurts us all. Here are some articles that are worth reading this Thanksgiving break.
  • Why Racial Justice Needs to Address Settler Colonialism and Native Rights
  • Why the Black-White Binary Obfuscates and Distorts: Why the Antiracism Movement Must Reject It.

 
Lastly, if you are considering visiting Standing Rock, we have put together a document of some thoughts that we thought would be helpful after having been on the ground recently.
 
With love, humility, peace, justice and MORE LOVE,
Maria Ibarra-Frayre & Anna Lemler, MSW Candidates. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

On August 27, 2016, Detroit Wayne Mental Health Agency hosted their first Suicide Prevention and Awareness event. This event was designed to support adolescents maintain mental wellness while starting a new school year. As we all know starting a new school adolescents face challenges such as bullying, negative family situations, and a plethora of others that may lead to Risk of Suicide. 

Suicide was once the third leading cause of death in those ages 15-24, but it’s now the second. Through this event families were able to receive information on where and how to find local resources, develop healthy habits, change the word “Failure” to “lessons learned on the way to success”.  Families were able to tour Ford Field, participate in back to school supplies giveaway, face painting, inspirational t-shirt decorating led by Youth United and much more. This event was attended by 400+ Wayne County youth and families.

Through events like this Detroit Wayne Mental Health Authority and Youth United plan is to continue decreasing the risk of suicide while increasing community awareness. Read more about DWMHA at www.dwmha.com.

In a last minute effort to avoid a federal government shutdown last month, the House of Representatives approved $170 million in funding for communities like Flint that have been affected by contaminated drinking water. This comes more than a year after the official announcement of elevated lead toxicity in Flint’s water supply, after which lawmakers have been struggling to agree on a solution between the House and Senate. Though funding is approved and some state officials have been criminally charged, justice remains to be seen for residents still relying on bottled water—the city’s water is still not safe to drink, and thousands of children are at risk of illness due to high levels of lead exposure..

According to the World Health Organization, “the neurological and behavioral effects of lead are believed to be irreversible..” Many residents tested positively for lead poisoning and experienced hair loss, rashes, nausea and a variety of other complications due to lead and high chemical concentrations in the water. One solution is to remove the lead service lines that are the source for the contaminated water. In the meantime government officials and social service organizations have recommended drinking bottled water, installing filters, and using baby wipes instead of showering.. As a result of the fear of chemical exposure by washing, Flint is now facing an outbreak of Shigellosis, a bacterial infection that spreads when people don’t wash their hands.

A recent federal court order in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Resources Defense Council and the American Civil Liberties Union will provide at least some temporary relief. The State and City must begin to provide home deliveries of bottled water beginning mid-December – or ensure that every household has an NSF-certified filter properly installed and maintained.

​About 40 percent of its residents live under the poverty level, rendering Flint one of the poorest cities in the U.S. Though the city’s crisis is unrivaled, these social, political and environmental factors exist elsewhere, making it possible for similar events to unfold in other regions across America. Flint is a city from which lawmakers could learn. What follows is a timeline of the dangerous combination of environmental racism and government oversight, particularly when state appointed officials switched Flint’s water supply in an effort to save money, resulting in the public health catastrophe that is now costing millions of dollars to save lives. -

This visual timeline was created by Nursing@USC, the online family nurse practitioner program at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. The program prepares family nurse practitioners to treat physical and behavioral health, address social and environmental factors, and lead positive social change.
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