Prayer
Blessed Holy Week to all. May we all continue our journey for justice in peace.
Advocacy and Action
House Republicans and several House Democrats just passed HR1, which environmental activists are calling “The Polluters over People Act”. Now, it moves to the Senate. This bill would roll back environmental laws and regulations that safeguard Native communities, in an effort to fast-track fossil fuel development and extraction. Top Senate Democrats and the White House have signaled they are against the bill. However, they still want to pass a core element of the bill that would prioritize corporate profits over people. Joe Manchin has been working with top Democrats and Republicans in Congress to fast-track permitting for dirty energy projects by gutting the National Environmental Policy Act. This act currently allows communities to fight back against fossil fuel and mining projects. If rolled back, we will lose that right. Tribal nations and Native peoples already fight to have a voice in the development and extraction of their sacred lands. You can use the Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund website to send a letter to your senators. We need to transition away from fossil fuels, not embrace more of them.
Can you imagine someone you love sentenced to death, especially for a crime they didn’t commit? This is the stuff of nightmares. Death Penalty Action is asking for our help in the case of Tony Apanovitch. DNA evidence in his case, only made available after his conviction, proves he was not involved. You can read details on the case. Then, please send a letter to both Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and the Ohio parole board here.
Interfaith Power & Light is asking for members of religious communities to sign a petition to Toyota to ask them to stop lobbying against climate change provisions and to commit to putting more electric vehicles on the road. You can sign the petition online. Just scroll down a bit. If you’d like to sign a paper copy, let me know.
Education
If you are free on Wednesday, April 5, Nuns and Nones is hosting a conversation regarding the Vatican’s historic repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery at 1 pm ET. Four movement leaders will discuss what this historic moment of reckoning means for them, their communities, and the world:
- Pat McCabe, Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker;
- Çaca Yvaire, Atakapa Ishak, Kréyòl, and Black territorial scholar-artist, and the Community Conservation Co-Director with the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust;
- Tela Troge, Shinnecock, Tribal lawyer and co-founder of the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers and Warriors of the Sunrise;
- Michelle Shenendoah (Oneida), Founder of Rematriation; presented as a spiritual advisor to the Pope in the First Nations Delegation at the Vatican that prompted his apology regarding Indian Residential Schools.
The N&N Land Justice team will also discuss how this moment connects to decisions about land and wealth, and where we can go from here to create the true "Change of Era" of which Pope Francis speaks. Register here. I do not know if the presentation will be recorded, but if it is and you are registered, you will get a link.