U.S (NATIVE ORGANIZERS ALLIANCE ACTION FUND): Secretary HAALAND, the first Native person to lead a Cabinet agency, needs our support now.

 

 

 

 

 

Friend, 

 

Last year, thanks to your activism, the U.S. Department of the Interior undertook the long overdue process of renaming historic sites across the country to remove racist slurs from over 650 geographical landmarks and waterways. This is a critical step toward healing and toward creating a future in which the beauty of landscapes will not be tainted by reminders of systemic racism for generations to come.

The use of offensive place names perpetuates discrimination, racism, and denies this land’s history of Indigenous people being the original stewards of the land.

This week, the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names will meet to continue this critical work and they need to hear from us.

Click here to send a message directly to the committee, urging them to continue taking steps in renaming derogatory landmarks in consultation with Tribes.

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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has led this successful effort, but our work is not done. Names of landmarks must promote respect and dignity of Native peoples and support building pride in the beauty of the natural world.

Nearly 70 Tribal governments have weighed in with hundreds more recommendations of name changes. However, those who seek to maintain the unjust status quo are pushing back. For example, in North Dakota a County Commissioner has suggested that the “culture” of the non-Native community should be the priority over the civil rights or dignity of Indigenous people who have lived on the land for time immemorial.^[1]

Secretary Haaland is the first Native person to lead a Cabinet agency under a presidential administration and we need to have her back.

Click here to send a comment directly to the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names and support the committee’s critical ongoing work of renaming locations with degrading slurs to heal historical wounds.

Together, we are moving towards a truly multiracial democracy which guarantees the inclusion of Native peoples and our traditional belief systems.

Hawwih (thank you), 

 

Judith LeBlanc (Caddo)
Executive Director

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^{[1] The U.S. renames 5 places that used racist slur for a Native woman}