Serve, Work and Transform: Respect us or Expect us: Indigenous people rise up

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Respect us or Expect us: Indigenous people rise up

Indigenous people rise up to protect the planet

This week PPF joined the People vs. Fossil Fuels movement on the streets of DC in a week of action led by Indigenous water protectors. Just three days into the week-long action, which launched on Indigenous People's Day, and hundreds have already been arrested.

This powerful coalition of climate activists demands that President Biden uphold his campaign promise to take climate change seriously and protect frontline communities. We cannot pick and choose pipeline projects; we must divest from fossil fuels and build a just and renewable energy revolution.

“People are dying right now from the pollutants, the toxins, the climate catastrophes that are happening, and we have to stop the harm,” said Siqiñiq Maupin, the director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, which is working to protect Indigenous lands and stop oil drilling in Alaska. “Biden’s election was riding on climate change, his entire election on people of color, Indigenous people. But when it really comes to when it matters, our lives are still being sacrificed for oil and gas.”

From the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota to oil and gas drilling in Alaska, Indigenous peoples are on the frontlines of the fight against fossil fuels. Major pipeline projects and other forms of oil and gas extraction not only threaten the land and water in Native communities, but are often in direct violation of treaty rights or violate laws around Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Fossil fuel construction has also been linked to sex trafficking and an increase in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. In response, the rallying cry has become "Respect us or Expect us!"

Amplify the call led by Indigenous leaders on social media.

As the Build Back Fossil Free coalition has shown, the President has the executive authority he needs to declare a climate emergency, stop all new fossil fuel projects, and fight for climate justice.

The People vs. Fossil Fuels mobilization is calling on the President to:

Stop approving fossil fuel projects and speed the end of the fossil fuel era.
Declare a climate emergency and launch a just and renewable energy revolution.

Will you add your voice this week to the movement and call upon President Biden keep his promise? Email the white house today.

Integrating with our work:

We invite you into celebration and practice for Indigenous People's Day

When GA went virtual in 2020, PPF hosted a conversation with members of the PC(USA) Native American Coordinating Council about what it means to support Native American sovereignty and fundamental human rights.

Panelists are Anthony Trujillo, Fern Cloud, Irvin Porter, and Hollie Haile Thompson.

Watch the Teach-In

The indigenous population in Colombia is estimated at 1,500,000. Along with many campesinos and Afro-Colombian, many indigenous peoples in the country continue to struggle with forced displacement and landlessness as a result of the long term armed conflict in Colombia. Learn more.