This has been a difficult week for Native and Indigenous people and their allies in the #OO movement.
Brief context... Names.
The Queer People of Color/People of Color (Q/POC) Caucus has been discussing a proposal by several Native/Indigenous people to change the name of OO to Decolonize/Liberate Oakland. As of today, they have not reached consensus on the text of the proposal or, more to the point, on its intent. Concerns have congealed around questions about the larger goals of #OO/#OWS, whether or not those goals speak to the histories and realities of colonialism, imperialism, and racism, and what kinds of actions would characterize a decolonial movement. Several have expressed concerns about the way a name change would suggest a breaking apart from the international #OWS movement.
Concurrently, a number of Native and Indigenous people and their allies -- at the time, none of whom had been actively involved in the Q/POC -- put forth a Memorandum of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples to the General Assembly. The Memorandum passed by a 97% vote on October 28. It was based on the text of a statement passed by Occupy Boston immediately before Indigenous Peoples Day. It paralleled actions at Occupy Albuquerque, when a group of Native/Indigenous activists named their protests (Un)Occupy Albuquerque, and at Occupy Portland, where a group changed their name to Unsettle Portland. These name changes were done to acknowledge the roots of colonialism and imperialism within capitalism as well as its consequences for the original inhabitants of these lands.
In Oakland, the tenth annual Sacred Site/Shellmound Peace Walk took place. Sponsored by Indian People Organzing for Change, the walk intends "to join in a journey of walk and prayer to remember our ancestors that lived on this land for thousands of years. We will walk and pray with our ancestors in areas where shellmounds and sacred sites have been desecrated by development." The Bay Street Mall -- renamed the Dead Mall by IPOC -- is in Emeryville. It was built over a deplorably contaminated Chochenyo Ohlone shellmound site. During the construction of the mall, many ancestors were left in the ground and are now under stores and parking lots, while over 500 ancestors were dumped into a mass grave in an unknown location. The Dead Mall serves as the place of the last day of a month of protest and public education about Ohlone people and struggles for sacred site protection in the bay area (watch the short documentary "Shellmound" to learn more).
Two days before the Emeryville action on Black Friday, November 25, the General Assembly approved a solidarity statement. Many OO people attended and stood with IPOC in their efforts.
Two days before the Emeryville action on Black Friday, November 25, the General Assembly approved a solidarity statement. Many OO people attended and stood with IPOC in their efforts.
And then... Websites.
Corrina Gould (Chochenyo Ohlone), Morning Star Gali (Pit River), Krea Gomez, and Anita DeAsis -- some of whom had attended Q/POC meetings -- put forth their own proposal to change the name of OO to Decolonize Oakland. They forwarded the proposal to the facilitation team, who was supposed to post it and put it on the GA agenda. This did not happen.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian man who has been active in #OO efforts and serves on the Media Committee, posted a long comment on the #OO Open Forum's page denouncing the proposal. This post set off a flurry of similar postings on OO sites -- including Facebook and twitter.
Corrina, Morning Star, Krea, and Anita decided to table the proposal for a week. They resubmitted it to the facilitation team, who posted it on-line and put it on the GA agenda. It will be presented to the GA on Sunday, December 4.
And a Tipi....
A Blackfoot man, probably most well-known in bay area politics for protesting UCB's destruction of an Oak Grove over an Ohlone burial site to expand one of its sports facilities, announced that he was going to put up a tipi at Oscar Grant Plaza. The announcement made it quickly onto the OO website and independent news forums, stating:
"A teepee will remind the public of the former Occupy camp (pictured in its former condition; now a swamp--thanks to Quan) and historic struggles of the Sioux Indians on the Plains of the U.S., homeless workers in Hoovervilles during the Great Depression, the "Bonus March" in Washington D.C. by unpaid and unemployed veterans in 1932, Resurrection City following the assassination of Martin Luther King, the AIDS vigil of 1980s San Francisco, and the redwood occupations of Judi Bari and Running Wolf."
"A teepee will remind the public of the former Occupy camp (pictured in its former condition; now a swamp--thanks to Quan) and historic struggles of the Sioux Indians on the Plains of the U.S., homeless workers in Hoovervilles during the Great Depression, the "Bonus March" in Washington D.C. by unpaid and unemployed veterans in 1932, Resurrection City following the assassination of Martin Luther King, the AIDS vigil of 1980s San Francisco, and the redwood occupations of Judi Bari and Running Wolf."
Individuals within OO and OSF rallied support for the tipi, claiming it as an act of civil disobedience that embodied the best principles of the #OWS movement to reclaim public spaces for public use.
Expectations
Swirling, whirling tides of frustration, anger, withdrawal, disrespect....
The deep potential of the #OWS movement to initiate radical social change has been met in Oakland with the harsh realities of U.S. colonialism, imperialism, and racism on "the left."
These harsh realities include those in privileged positions of power not being held to account and not being transparent in their actions. As with the individual who posted comments on the OO Open Forum about a proposal that had not yet been made public. However he was able to get a copy of the proposal ahead of time, he worked hard to thwart and undermine the process of its presentation and reception.
These harsh realities also include those in privileged positions -- such as civil rights attorneys and left activists of the bay area -- wanting to use Native and Indigenous people as symbols to legitimate their political radicalness and inclusivity ('cause tipis are cool) without having to change their historical understanding or acknowledgement of their role in Native and Indigenous oppression.
As has been observed by many Native and Indigenous people in the bay area on the occasion of the tipi being put up at Oscar Grant Plaza: This was an action of an individual Blackfoot man, apparently encouraged by an OSF/OO "working group" of civil rights attorneys. It was not done in consultation with Chochenyo Ohlone people (on whose lands Oakland rests) nor with Native/Indigenous people involved in #OO. It is, of course, his right to do so but #OO and the media should not represent it as being representative.
Glomming onto the tipi as a symbol of solidarity with Native/Indigenous peoples is problematic in several directions, including the basic historical fact that the Ohlone did not use tipis and the Lakota are not indigenous to Oakland. Its appropriation by #OO and the left as an emblem of solidarity is confused and insulting to many Native/Indigenous people.
And Still.
Just when frustration seems to peak, several of us are reminded by Native/Indigenous grandmothers who have come forward in #OO that the ancestors want us to be calm and patient, to remember the deeper goals and work of restoration and reconciliation. To honor the ancestors is to defer to their teachings. To regroup and remember why we are here.
I am still trying to figure this out, but it seems to me that "decolonization" -- with all of its convoluted legal, political, and social implications -- is most important in relation to our minds and our relationships. We must work hard to stay the course of solidarity work but we must also work hard at re-educating ourselves and respecting one another.
Difficult, to be sure, when confronting not only a capitalist-legal system built on our dehumanization and exploitation but individuals within the #OO/#OWS movement who have misused their positions of privilege and authority to undermine, belittle, or appropriate us and our cultures.
Further reading and listening:
Winona LaDuke, The Militarization of Indian Country (2011)
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