events

Today, I’m excited to announce that our fourth annual online Wopila Gathering is coming right up on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3. It’s going to be a super incredible event this year — and you’re invited! Not only that, I hope you’ll extend the invitation to your friends for this special annual celebration of gratitude and Indigenous culture.

I’ll be hosting this year, and I urge you to come and spend some time online with me, Lakota Law leaders Darren Thompson and Chase and Tokata Iron Eyes, young leaders from the Native American Youth Organization (NAYO), and an incredible lineup of Indigenous performers and special guests. Please RSVP here, mark your calendar for Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3 from 4-6 p.m. PDT (7-9 p.m. EDT), then bookmark this page and return to it for the event in a couple weeks.

RSVP for Wopila Gathering

Watch: our short introductory video for more details on the big event — and RSVP to save the date!

I’m very much looking forward to seeing you at this yearly Giving Tuesday celebration, designed to share the spirit of wopila (deep gratitude), so we can honor, inspire, and activate as one in this movement for Indigenous and environmental justice. In addition to updates on our program priorities from Chase, Tokata, and NAYO, you’ll hear incredible music from talented Indigenous artists like Sage Bond and AntoineX and Miracle Spotted Bear of ALLSZN.

The Wopila Gathering is one of the highlights of our year at Lakota Law. Rather than simply ask for donations on Giving Tuesday like nonprofits across Turtle Island (though every donation is huge, and our allies at Nomadics Tipi Makers are generously matching the first $10,000 we receive this year), we want to use this day to give back to you and all our supporters.

We love to feel the energy when thousands of our friends gather with us throughout the day to share space, stories, and culture. So I encourage you to be there, take it in, and use the opportunity to interact with us! Join the chat during the event, and we’ll post and read comments over the course of the livestream.

Again, please RSVP to let us know you’re coming, extend the invite to those you love by clicking the social share icons on our Wopila Page, then join the celebration on that same page on Dec. 3. I very much look forward to seeing you there! It promises to be a memorable and inspiring day of conversation, music, and celebration.

Wopila tanka — thank you for being a part of our circle!
Henry “Ozuya” Crow
Director of Community Empowerment & Cultural Health
The Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund

Over the past couple weeks, you may have seen stories or social media posts detailing the terrible treatment of the Muwekma Ohlone People by federal agents on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It pains me just to write this, but government officials threatened to kill their horses and arrested tribal members at the tail end of the Muwekma’s cross-country “Trail of Truth” journey, in which tribal members sought government-to-government consultation with the U.S. Department of the Interior to restore their rightful federal recognition.

I have more to say on that below, but first I ask you to take action now. Tell your reps: End the cycle of colonial violence and respect the sovereignty of the Muwekma Ohlone People. Congress must restore federal recognition to the original inhabitants of California’s San Francisco Bay Area by writing, sponsoring, and passing the “Restore Muwekma Bill.”

The San Francisco Bay region has been the homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone People for more than 10,000 years, and congressional censuses acknowledged them throughout the early 20th century. And yet, today they’re landless and unrecognized by the federal government. This egregious oversight negatively impacts tribal members, who lose out on a myriad of important benefits when their sovereignty is ignored. The Muwekma Ohlone People have spent 40 years presenting valid evidence and struggling to reinstate their federal status, and the Department of Interior’s continued indifference amounts to a perpetuation of the cultural genocide of the Muwekma Ohlone.

With high hopes that an Interior Department now led by Deb Haaland of the Pueblo of Laguna would be more receptive to their message, the tribe, led by Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, set out on horseback from San Francisco in August on their Trail of Truth. Sadly, they — including women, children, and elders — were violently assaulted by the National Parks Police upon arrival in D.C.

On Oct. 15 — the day after Indigenous Peoples’ Day — National Parks Police officers immediately moved to take the horses, which were provided by Lakota allies, specifically Percy White Plume (a direct descendant of Red Cloud) at the Horse Nation on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The police then arrested tribal members who tried to prevent the horses’ capture. Those actions were inconsistent with the law and far out of line, and these are some of the reasons why, in partnership with Muwekma, I plan to share more about various aspects of their story with you soon. In the meantime, please assist by taking action and telling your reps to restore federal recognition to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe today.

Wopila tanka — thank you for supporting tribal sovereignty of the Muwekma Ohlone People!
Chase Iron Eyes
Director and Lead Counsel
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund