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On November 22, 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded Eloise P. Cobell with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a civilian. Cobell (1945--2011) was a Blackfeet Tribal Elder, a highly-accomplished woman championing the rights of her people, and the person who filed the largest class action lawsuit against the United States government in American history--and won!

In the 1980s, Cobell saw a systemic pattern of corruption in how the U.S. government was treating the Blackfeet and other Indigenous nations within their confederacy, and she took on the responsibility to do something about it. After taking a deep-dive into the historic accounting practices between the U.S. and the Blackfeet that entailed pouring over centuries-old treaties, she not only determined the mishandling of funds, but the staggering figure the government owed the Blackfeet.

Water cannons in sub-freezing weather. Prayers. Rubber Bullets. Devotion. Concussion grenades. Love. The Indigenous response to tyranny and violence today is what it has been since 1492: band together even more deeply, practice ancient traditions, speak truth to colonial power, and pray and pray and pray. No matter the problem, the answer is always Love and Remember the Stories of Who Indigenous People Are and How to Live Correctly on Mother Earth.

Since Monday, November 21, violence has escalated in Morton County, Cannon Ball, North Dakota where hundreds of protestors stand around-the-clock watch to prevent an oil pipeline from being dug. Greenpeace spokeswoman Mary Sweeters calls it "nothing short of horrific" and Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune calls what the militant police in riot gear are doing "act[s] of brutality" and "nothing short of life-threatening and inhumane." Meanwhile, top American government officials remain silent. Police are also stressed and under duress while their leaders make decisions that they are required to obey if they want to keep their jobs. Nevertheless, sacred objects are being confiscated and destroyed; the 528 people arrested are herded onto trucks that are little more than cages and then incarcerated in over-crowded cells--medical attention is not provided. These are Third-World country responses to peaceful protests--this is not supposed to happen in the United States. Above is a photograph by Rob Wilson published in Indian Country Today Media Network.

With grief levels running deep in the United States and the world due to various global events, that now includes the recent American presidential election, some balm for our souls is needed.The American Thanksgiving holiday is two days away, yet many of us have heavy hearts. The true Thanksgiving story is a bleak part of our history that, this year, I will not repeat in my blog. Instead, let's take each others' hands now and be quiet together as we turn our minds to our origins.

The place for healing is always the stories of our people, whoever our ancestors are. Here on Turtle Island the original Story Keepers are Indigenous, and their stories infuse the land, waters, trees, rocks, and whole of life. The European settlers brought their stories here; stories that, if you go back far enough, are also filled with love of land. Though the stories of Turtle Island belong to Native Americans, all Americans can respect, learn from, and take solace in them.

Excessive force indeed! The United Nations blasts the Americans on November 17 for its response to the Water Protectors' protest in South Dakota. The struggles around the Dakota Access Pipeline took an alarming turn when Donald Trump became the United States President-Elect on November 9th. At right is a photograph from Indian Country Today Media Network courtesy of Myron Dewey. What you see in this very disturbing photo is merely the continuation of what has never ended in the United States when it comes to Native Americans. Here is the American historical response to Indigenous sovereignty since the 1500s:

1. Militarized response to Indigenous peaceful protests;

Should the history behind publicly displayed statues be made readily available for viewers? How is the history of Columbus Day taught to American children and to kids around the globe? These are important questions to contemplate, and take action on, every October when Columbus Day arrives once again in America. More and more, though, "Columbus Day" is becoming "Indigenous People's Day" in the cities of the United States.

Before Christopher Columbus made his infamous voyage in 1492 from Spain to arrive in what is now called the Caribbean Islands (landing on Guanahani Island to be exact), there were legal statutes and religious doctrines set in place that shaped the outcomes of his voyage--and of history. Unknown to most Americans, those doctrines are still in place and annually contested by Native American nations.

On September 9, a federal judge ruled that the Dakota Access Pipeline, a pipeline to carry crude oil from Canada into the U.S. that will run under the Missouri River and across sacred Indigenous sites and a Native cemetery, would not be halted, despite Indigenous protests. Though the judge was clear that the court understands the importance of the sacred sites to the Standing Rock Sioux nation, and he even recognized the centuries-long injustices meted out upon Indigenous nations, the pipeline would continue to be built. But then the federal government stepped in and temporarily over-rided the judge's determination. Above is a photograph of Cherokee women protestors from Indian Country Today Media network. The Cherokee nation gave $50,000.00 to the Standing Rock Sioux nation for their legal defense expenses.

Background information: A company called Energy Transfer Partners plans to run a pipeline, called the Dakota Access Pipeline, through the Standing Rock Sioux nation's territory. Originally, the pipeline was going to be run under the Missouri River in Bismarck, North Dakota, which is the state's capitol and is a largely EuroAmerican neighborhood. It was determined, however, that the pipeline might potentially contaminate the water there, so the pipeline plan changed to be run through Indigenous lands. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council has been fighting the Energy Transfer Partners company in court since 2014! By treaty and federal law, the Army Corps of Engineers MUST confer with all Native American nations if they plan to do anything on Native lands. The Army Corps did not confer with the Standing Rock Sioux and are thus in violation of federal law. Further, the Standing Rock Sioux charge that the pipeline is in violation of the Clean Water Act, among other federal laws; but, most importantly, the pipeline violates the human law that mandates our responsibility to protect Mother Earth.

Indigenous peoples have engaged in spiritual running for thousands of years and continue their traditions of running today. To many Indigenous nations, running is ceremonial and has deeply spiritual and traditional meanings. Runners also served as messengers. The Peace and Dignity Journeys, a series of runs across the Americas, are continuing those ancient running traditions. The purpose of this series of Indigenous runs, held every four years since 1992, is to fulfill the Condor and Eagle Prophecy, a prophecy held by the Taino people and other primarily South American Indigenous nations. Above is a photograph of a pair of Andean Condors. The California Condor went extinct in the wild in 1987, but has been recently reintroduced (see photo at right).

To some Indigenous nations, the Eagle represents the male principle of our planet, and the Condor is the female principle. The prophecy states that once the European settlers arrived the balanced principles of Indigenous nations were devastated and the Eagle (men) have dominated for the past 500 years. Through these spiritual runs, the balance between the principles of women and men is returning--the Condor is being brought back into Her rightful place of honor. The 500-year cycle of disharmony is closing. These runs are meant to heal the Indigenous peoples, but ultimately, the Earth and all people will find healing once the female/male principles are righted after the tragic disruptions brought by colonization of the Americas.