All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

by Winona LaDuke

Overview

How Native American history can guide us today: “Presents strong voices of old, old cultures bravely trying to make sense of an Earth in chaos.” —Whole Earth

Written by a former Green Party vice-presidential candidate who was once listed among “America’s fifty most promising leaders under forty” by Time magazine, this thoughtful, in-depth account of Native struggles against environmental and cultural degradation features chapters on the Seminoles, the Anishinaabeg, the Innu, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Mohawks, among others. Filled with inspiring testimonies of struggles for survival, each page of this volume speaks forcefully for self-determination and community.

“Moving and often beautiful prose.” —Ralph Nader

“Thoroughly researched and convincingly written.” —Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608466610
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	06/04/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	255
Lexile:	1370L (what's this?)
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Winona LaDuke lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. She is the Project Director of the Honor the Earth Fund and Campaign Director for the White Earth Land Recovery Project. In 1994, LaDuke was named by Time as one of America's 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age. In the 1996 presidential campaign, she served as Ralph Nader's running mate in the Green Party. In 1997, with the Indigo Girls, she was named a Ms. Woman of the Year. LaDuke received the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1998.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	The Toxic Invasion of Native America
	The Descendants of Little Thunder
	White Earth
1.	Akwesasne: Mohawk Mothers' Milk and PCBs	11
	The Mohawk Legacy
	Industry Takes Over
	PCB Contamination at Akwesasne
	The Mothers' Milk Project
	GM Goes Global
	The Great Law of Peace and Good Mind
2.	Seminoles: At the Heart of the Everglades	27
	The Seminole Wars
	The Land
	The Animals
	The Reservation and the Village
	The Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc.
	The Independent Traditional Seminole Nation
	The Panther and the Seminoles
	The Panther Reservations
	The People and the Ceremony
3.	Nitassinan: The Hunter and the Peasant	49
	The Peasants and the Hunters
	The Military and the Bombs
	Shutting Down the Runway
	The Liberation from Legal Colonialism
	Dams
	James Bay Dams
	Voisey's Bay
	Davis Inlet: The Future for the Environmental Refugees
	Bloodties
4.	Northern Cheyenne: A Fire in the Coal Fields	75
	The Beautiful People
	The Indian Wars: Land and Gold
	Dull Knife's Band
	Coming Home to the Coal Fields
	The Northern Cheyenne and AMAX
	Economic Justice and Ethnostress
	Return to High School
5.	Nuclear Waste: Dumping on the Indians	97
	The Nevada Test Site and the Western Shoshone
	Pressures Build to Dump on the Indians
	Grassy Narrows
	Resisting the MRS Program
	A Private Initiative in the Goshutes
	Prairie Island
	Yucca Mountain
	The Need for Alternatives
6.	White Earth: A Lifeway in the Forest	115
	Gitchimookomaanag, the White Man
	White Earth: The Appropriation of a Homeland
	The Land Struggle Continues
	The White Earth Land Settlement Act
	Extra-Territorial Treaty Rights
	White Earth Land Recovery Project
	Noopiming: In the Woods
	Gaa-Noodin-Oke: The Windmaker
	Noojwiijigamigishkawajig: Finding Neighbors (Friends)
	Minobimaatisiiwin: The Good Life
7.	Buffalo Nations, Buffalo Peoples	139
	Buffalo and Prairie Ecosystems
	Land Grabbing and Buffalo Killing
	The Buffalo Are Prairie Makers
	Community Health and Buffalo
	The Wild Herds: Wood Buffalo and Yellowstone
	The Yellowstone Herd
	Healing the Community, Healing the Buffalo Nation
	Buffalo Commons
	Cowboys and Indians One Hundred Years Later
	Pte Oyate: The Buffalo Nation
	Braids of a Grandmother's Hair
	"Bringing Back the Way"
8.	Hawai'i: The Birth of Land and Its Preservation by the Hands of the People	167
	The Birth of Land
	The Haole Arrival
	The Militarization of the Pacific
	Kaho'o'lawe
	Endangered Ecosystems and Voyeuristic Vacations
	Birthing a Nation
	Curating a Temple
9.	Native SUN: Determining a Future	187
	The Energy Crisis
	Colonialism and Self-Reliance
	Alternative Energy and the Future
10.	The Seventh Generation	197
	Rethinking the Constitution
	Notes	204
	Index	228
	About the Author	242
	About Honor the Earth	243
	About South End Press	244

What People are Saying About This

Ralph Nader

A brilliant, gripping narrative.

Editorial Reviews

A thoughtful and in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation. Acclaimed Native activist LaDuke chronicles the efforts of movements to overcome racism and poverty and to establish communities on indigenous people's terms. A brilliant, gripping narrative.
— Colorlines

Ralph Nader

All our relations blurbs

"A brilliant, gripping narrative ... I urge that everyone read [All Our Relations] ... which describes the raveges of corporations and government activity on the reservations for our first natives. This is a beautifully written book.... As Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished land of Native Americans."
—Ralph Nadar

As Winona LaDuke's All Our Relations shows, a vital Native American environmentalism is linking indigenous people throughout North America and Hawaii in the fight to protect and restore their health, culture, and the ecosystems on their lands. LaDuke herself is a member of the Anishinaabeg nation and was Ralph Nader's Green Party running matte in 1996. These Native American activists take inspiration from their forebears' responsible treatment of natural systems, based on reverence for the interconnectedness of all life forms."
—The Nation

In this thoroughly researched and convincingly written analysis of Native American culture . . . LaDuke demonstrates the manner in which native people face a constant barrage of attacks that threaten their very existence."
—Choice

"[LaDuke] presents strong voices of old, old cultures bravely trying to make sense of an Earth in chaos."
—Whole Earth

'With a good ear and sharp eye, LaDuke introduces us to Native activists and records gross environmental abuse and creative resistance. By placing people in the center of industrial soup, LaDuke tells a story that has not been told before in this way."
—Radcliffe Quarterly

"A rare perspective on Native history and culture."
—Sister to Sister

"One of the pleasures of reading All Our Relations is discovering the unique voices of Native people, especially Native women, speaking in their own Native truths."
—Women's Review of Books

"LaDuke unabashedly confronts spiritual and political grassroots missions with a tenacity that, as she explains, springs up from devotion to the land."
—City Pages

"A thoughtful, candid, in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation ... La Duke provides a unique understanding of Native ideas ... offering a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual ... transformation."
—Midwest book Review

"...as Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished lands of Native Americans."
—Public Citizen News

"Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation. All Our Relations is essential reading for everyone who cares about the fate of the Earth and indigenous peoples."
—Winds of Change

All our relations blurbs

"A brilliant, gripping narrative ... I urge that everyone read [All Our Relations] ... which describes the raveges of corporations and government activity on the reservations for our first natives. This is a beautifully written book.... As Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished land of Native Americans."
—Ralph Nadar

As Winona LaDuke's All Our Relations shows, a vital Native American environmentalism is linking indigenous people throughout North America and Hawaii in the fight to protect and restore their health, culture, and the ecosystems on their lands. LaDuke herself is a member of the Anishinaabeg nation and was Ralph Nader's Green Party running matte in 1996. These Native American activists take inspiration from their forebears' responsible treatment of natural systems, based on reverence for the interconnectedness of all life forms."
—The Nation

In this thoroughly researched and convincingly written analysis of Native American culture . . . LaDuke demonstrates the manner in which native people face a constant barrage of attacks that threaten their very existence."
—Choice

"[LaDuke] presents strong voices of old, old cultures bravely trying to make sense of an Earth in chaos."
—Whole Earth

'With a good ear and sharp eye, LaDuke introduces us to Native activists and records gross environmental abuse and creative resistance. By placing people in the center of industrial soup, LaDuke tells a story that has not been told before in this way."
—Radcliffe Quarterly

"A rare perspective on Native history and culture."
—Sister to Sister

"One of the pleasures of reading All Our Relations is discovering the unique voices of Native people, especially Native women, speaking in their own Native truths."
—Women's Review of Books

"LaDuke unabashedly confronts spiritual and political grassroots missions with a tenacity that, as she explains, springs up from devotion to the land."
—City Pages

"A thoughtful, candid, in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation ... La Duke provides a unique understanding of Native ideas ... offering a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual ... transformation."
—Midwest book Review

"...as Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished lands of Native Americans."
—Public Citizen News

"Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation. All Our Relations is essential reading for everyone who cares about the fate of the Earth and indigenous peoples."
—Winds of Change

From the Publisher