April 23, 2019, Antioch College of Yellow Springs, Ohio hosted an Indigenous Water Protector’s Panel and live-streamed the event on Facebook and Youtube. The panel served to bridge the Indigenous community of the greater Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus region with the Indigenous allies, activists, and community members local to Yellow Springs.
The panel went in depth into the need to listen to front-line Indigenous Activists when creating decision making bodies as we create a model to be used nation wide that goes past land acknowledgements and consultations and moves toward Indigenous consent.
After discussing in depth the natural relationship between Indigeneity and water protection, the panel opened up a Q & A with the audience to discuss roles of allies and activists beyond performative allyship. Panelists took advantage of opportunities to create awareness around tendencies for groups to co-opt movements and Indigenous Identity.
The panelists shared impassioned histories of Indigenous Peoples and our relationship to the Earth. These histories served to underline our extensive collective history as water protectors above all other things and brought into focus our responsibilities as stewards of the environment informing our roles as activists.
Water unites all Indigenous peoples and therefore transcends all nations and borders around the world. Protecting our water, is protecting our lands, language and culture and this unity gives us strength in battling the ecological crises facing our planet today.
