1
00:00:01,583 --> 00:00:05,192
Aquay Wunne Kesuk. 
Kelsey Leonard Nooweesuonk.

2
00:00:05,575 --> 00:00:07,566
Hello, good day, everyone.

3
00:00:07,590 --> 00:00:09,805
I'm from the Shinnecock Nation.

4
00:00:10,359 --> 00:00:12,907
Tabutni to the Cahuilla peoples,

5
00:00:12,931 --> 00:00:15,097
whose land we gather on today.

6
00:00:16,374 --> 00:00:19,632
I was taught that water is alive.

7
00:00:19,656 --> 00:00:21,352
It can hear,

8
00:00:21,376 --> 00:00:22,854
it holds memories.

9
00:00:23,343 --> 00:00:26,424
And so I brought a water vessel
up with me today,

10
00:00:26,448 --> 00:00:30,169
because I want it to hold the memories
of our conversation today.

11
00:00:31,876 --> 00:00:34,213
Who gets legal rights?

12
00:00:35,273 --> 00:00:39,782
History has shown us
some people but not others.

13
00:00:39,806 --> 00:00:43,545
In the United States,
Indigenous peoples like myself

14
00:00:43,569 --> 00:00:47,401
were not citizens
under the law until 1924.

15
00:00:47,850 --> 00:00:50,469
My Shinnecock ancestors, pictured here,

16
00:00:50,493 --> 00:00:52,794
were not citizens under the law.

17
00:00:53,573 --> 00:00:59,731
Then why do we claim to be nations
governed by the rule of law

18
00:00:59,755 --> 00:01:04,018
if some people are protected,
but not others?

19
00:01:04,042 --> 00:01:08,676
Because it remains one
of the best ways to fight injustice.

20
00:01:09,470 --> 00:01:13,549
And, as Indigenous people,
we know injustice.

21
00:01:14,809 --> 00:01:20,047
A dear friend, mentor, water walker,

22
00:01:20,071 --> 00:01:23,175
Nokomis, Grandmother
Josephine Mandamin-ba,

23
00:01:23,199 --> 00:01:26,922
she told me of a prophecy
that comes from her people,

24
00:01:26,946 --> 00:01:29,332
the Anishinaabe of the Midewiwin Society.

25
00:01:30,444 --> 00:01:32,136
And in that prophecy,

26
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,287
she told me that it tells
of a day that will come

27
00:01:35,311 --> 00:01:39,310
where an ounce of water
costs more than an ounce of gold.

28
00:01:40,767 --> 00:01:45,441
When she told me that prophecy,
I sat for a moment,

29
00:01:45,465 --> 00:01:51,227
and I thought about all of the injustices
we see in our world today,

30
00:01:51,251 --> 00:01:55,144
the water crises we see
in our world today,

31
00:01:55,168 --> 00:01:57,631
and I said, "Nokomis, Grandmother,

32
00:01:57,655 --> 00:02:00,956
I feel like we are already
in that time of prophecy."

33
00:02:02,281 --> 00:02:04,107
And she looked back at me directly,

34
00:02:04,131 --> 00:02:05,431
and she said,

35
00:02:05,455 --> 00:02:07,670
"So what are you going to do about it?"

36
00:02:08,208 --> 00:02:10,655
That's why I'm here with you today,

37
00:02:10,679 --> 00:02:13,981
because I believe
that one of the many solutions

38
00:02:14,005 --> 00:02:17,894
to solving the many water injustices
we see in our world today

39
00:02:17,918 --> 00:02:21,205
is recognizing that water
is a living relation

40
00:02:21,229 --> 00:02:23,967
and granting it the legal
personhood it deserves.

41
00:02:25,319 --> 00:02:30,554
So to do so, we need to transform
the way in which we value water.

42
00:02:31,268 --> 00:02:35,029
We have to start to think
about how do we connect to water.

43
00:02:36,085 --> 00:02:38,197
Usually, someone might ask you,

44
00:02:38,221 --> 00:02:39,931
"What is water?"

45
00:02:39,955 --> 00:02:45,770
and you would respond
with "Rain, ocean, lake, river,

46
00:02:45,794 --> 00:02:47,963
H20, liquid."

47
00:02:47,987 --> 00:02:52,294
You might even understand
the sacred essentiality of water

48
00:02:52,318 --> 00:02:55,095
and say that water is life.

49
00:02:56,268 --> 00:02:58,731
But what if I asked you, instead,

50
00:02:58,755 --> 00:03:00,722
"Who is water?"

51
00:03:01,241 --> 00:03:05,273
In the same way that I might ask you,
"Who is your grandmother?"

52
00:03:05,297 --> 00:03:07,058
"Who is your sister?"

53
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,136
That type of orientation

54
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,469
fundamentally transforms the way
in which we think about water,

55
00:03:13,493 --> 00:03:15,660
transforms the way
in which we make decisions

56
00:03:15,684 --> 00:03:17,771
about how we might protect water,

57
00:03:17,795 --> 00:03:20,701
protect it in the way that you
would protect your grandmother,

58
00:03:20,725 --> 00:03:23,191
your mother, your sister, your aunties.

59
00:03:23,974 --> 00:03:25,617
That is the type of transformation

60
00:03:25,641 --> 00:03:29,465
that we need if we are going to address
the many water crises we see

61
00:03:29,489 --> 00:03:30,743
in our world today,

62
00:03:30,767 --> 00:03:32,950
these harrowing water crises

63
00:03:32,974 --> 00:03:35,122
that have streamed
across our digital devices

64
00:03:35,146 --> 00:03:37,435
in countdowns to Day Zero,

65
00:03:37,459 --> 00:03:40,657
the point at which municipal
water supplies are shut off.

66
00:03:41,636 --> 00:03:44,015
Places like Cape Town, South Africa,

67
00:03:44,039 --> 00:03:45,815
where in 2018,

68
00:03:45,839 --> 00:03:48,752
residents were limited
to two-minute showers

69
00:03:48,776 --> 00:03:52,464
and 23 gallons of water
per day per person,

70
00:03:52,488 --> 00:03:55,987
or just this past summer,
where the mismanagement of water

71
00:03:56,011 --> 00:03:57,686
led the streets of Chennai

72
00:03:57,710 --> 00:04:01,750
to be lined with thousands
of plastic water jugs

73
00:04:01,774 --> 00:04:05,517
as residents waited hours
for water tankers

74
00:04:05,541 --> 00:04:08,978
to deliver water,
first by rail, then by truck,

75
00:04:09,002 --> 00:04:11,089
to meet their daily needs.

76
00:04:11,113 --> 00:04:13,923
Or even here in the United States,

77
00:04:13,947 --> 00:04:16,469
one of the most developed
nations in the world.

78
00:04:16,493 --> 00:04:20,958
Today, Flint, Michigan
still does not have clean water.

79
00:04:20,982 --> 00:04:24,999
But you are likely unfamiliar
with these water crises,

80
00:04:25,023 --> 00:04:28,326
such as Neskantaga First Nation
in Northern Ontario, Canada,

81
00:04:28,350 --> 00:04:33,285
where residents have been
on a boil water advisory since 1995.

82
00:04:33,309 --> 00:04:35,183
Or Grassy Narrows First Nation,

83
00:04:35,207 --> 00:04:38,619
which for decades has been dealing
with water contamination

84
00:04:38,643 --> 00:04:40,135
from the paper mill industry

85
00:04:40,159 --> 00:04:41,739
and where a recent study found

86
00:04:41,763 --> 00:04:44,818
that nearly 90 percent
of the Indigenous population

87
00:04:44,842 --> 00:04:47,040
has some form of mercury poisoning,

88
00:04:47,064 --> 00:04:49,301
causing severe health complications.

89
00:04:49,745 --> 00:04:52,263
Or even among the Navajo Nation.

90
00:04:52,287 --> 00:04:56,929
Pictured here is the Animas River
on an early morning in 2015,

91
00:04:56,953 --> 00:04:59,122
prior to the Gold King Mine spill.

92
00:04:59,678 --> 00:05:03,568
After the spill leaked millions
of hazardous mine waste

93
00:05:03,592 --> 00:05:05,020
into the river system,

94
00:05:05,044 --> 00:05:07,019
this was it later that day.

95
00:05:07,586 --> 00:05:10,408
Today, the Navajo Nation
and the Diné People

96
00:05:10,432 --> 00:05:15,054
and the river itself are still
trying to recover from contamination.

97
00:05:15,673 --> 00:05:19,380
Or even right here
in Palm Springs, California,

98
00:05:19,404 --> 00:05:21,737
where the Agua Caliente Band
of Cahuilla Indians

99
00:05:21,761 --> 00:05:25,999
has been fighting for decades
to protect groundwater from exploitation

100
00:05:26,023 --> 00:05:27,793
so that future generations

101
00:05:27,817 --> 00:05:31,182
can not only live but thrive
in their homelands,

102
00:05:31,206 --> 00:05:33,562
as they have since time immemorial.

103
00:05:34,202 --> 00:05:38,369
You see, a recent study
by DIGDEEP and the US Water Alliance

104
00:05:38,393 --> 00:05:41,744
found that race, in the United States,

105
00:05:41,768 --> 00:05:45,459
is the strongest predictor
of water and sanitation access,

106
00:05:45,483 --> 00:05:46,634
and that for us,

107
00:05:46,658 --> 00:05:48,348
as Native American people,

108
00:05:48,372 --> 00:05:52,709
we are the group most likely
to have access issues

109
00:05:52,733 --> 00:05:54,893
as it comes to water and sanitation.

110
00:05:55,711 --> 00:05:59,621
So, as an Indigenous
legal scholar and scientist,

111
00:05:59,645 --> 00:06:02,136
I believe that many
of these water injustices

112
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,114
are the result of the Western
legal system's failure to recognize

113
00:06:06,138 --> 00:06:08,070
the legal personhood of water.

114
00:06:08,567 --> 00:06:11,221
And so we must ask ourselves --

115
00:06:11,245 --> 00:06:13,368
who is justice for?

116
00:06:14,249 --> 00:06:15,622
Humanity alone?

117
00:06:16,824 --> 00:06:19,650
We've granted legal personhood
to corporations.

118
00:06:19,674 --> 00:06:22,872
In the US, the Supreme Court
found in "Citizens United"

119
00:06:22,896 --> 00:06:24,582
that a corporation was a person

120
00:06:24,606 --> 00:06:27,074
with similar protections
under the Constitution,

121
00:06:27,098 --> 00:06:28,932
such as freedom of speech,

122
00:06:28,956 --> 00:06:31,623
and applied similar reasoning
in "Hobby Lobby,"

123
00:06:31,647 --> 00:06:34,853
finding that a corporation
had the right to freedom of religion

124
00:06:34,877 --> 00:06:38,020
in defense against the implementation
of the Affordable Care Act

125
00:06:38,044 --> 00:06:39,218
for its employees.

126
00:06:40,004 --> 00:06:43,001
Now, these are controversial cases,

127
00:06:43,025 --> 00:06:46,528
and as a Shinnecock woman
and a legal scholar,

128
00:06:46,552 --> 00:06:50,410
they make me question
the moral compass of the Western world,

129
00:06:50,434 --> 00:06:54,490
where you can grant legal
personhood to a corporation

130
00:06:54,514 --> 00:06:55,664
but not nature.

131
00:06:56,037 --> 00:06:59,165
You see, legal personhood
grants us the ability

132
00:06:59,189 --> 00:07:01,668
to be visible in a court of law,

133
00:07:01,692 --> 00:07:05,136
and to have our voices heard
as a person protected under the law.

134
00:07:05,893 --> 00:07:09,056
And so if you can grant that
to a corporation,

135
00:07:10,194 --> 00:07:12,215
why not the Great Lakes?

136
00:07:13,170 --> 00:07:15,487
Why not the Mississippi River?

137
00:07:16,172 --> 00:07:20,767
Why not the many waterways
across our planet

138
00:07:20,791 --> 00:07:23,845
that we all depend on to survive?

139
00:07:25,830 --> 00:07:29,427
We know we are in a global climate crisis,

140
00:07:29,451 --> 00:07:33,015
but globally, our waters
are also threatened,

141
00:07:33,039 --> 00:07:36,279
and we are facing a global water crisis,

142
00:07:36,303 --> 00:07:39,557
and if we want to address
these crises in our lifetime,

143
00:07:39,581 --> 00:07:41,295
we need to change.

144
00:07:41,319 --> 00:07:45,381
We need to fundamentally transform
the way in which we value water.

145
00:07:46,589 --> 00:07:50,654
And this is not something new
for us as Indigenous peoples.

146
00:07:50,678 --> 00:07:54,812
Our Indigenous legal systems
have a foundational principle

147
00:07:54,836 --> 00:07:57,591
of understanding our nonhuman relations

148
00:07:57,615 --> 00:08:01,337
as being living and protected
under our laws.

149
00:08:01,361 --> 00:08:03,376
And even for the Western world,

150
00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:05,067
environmental legal theorists

151
00:08:05,091 --> 00:08:08,318
have argued for the rights of nature
since the 1970s.

152
00:08:09,284 --> 00:08:10,959
But we need to do better.

153
00:08:10,983 --> 00:08:12,972
We need to change.

154
00:08:12,996 --> 00:08:15,555
And we need to grant
legal personhood to water,

155
00:08:15,579 --> 00:08:18,302
because it affords the following
rights and protections.

156
00:08:18,326 --> 00:08:21,206
It grants water the right to exist,

157
00:08:21,230 --> 00:08:23,355
flourish, and naturally evolve,

158
00:08:23,379 --> 00:08:25,872
and most of all,
it protects the water from us,

159
00:08:25,896 --> 00:08:28,546
from human beings that would do it harm,

160
00:08:28,570 --> 00:08:30,714
from human-caused climate-change impacts,

161
00:08:30,738 --> 00:08:31,889
from pollutants,

162
00:08:31,913 --> 00:08:33,880
and from man-made contamination.

163
00:08:34,403 --> 00:08:38,246
Moreover, it reverses
the accepted hierarchy

164
00:08:38,270 --> 00:08:41,158
of humanity's domination over nature.

165
00:08:41,744 --> 00:08:43,308
As human beings on this planet,

166
00:08:43,332 --> 00:08:46,970
we are not superior
to other beings on this planet.

167
00:08:48,222 --> 00:08:51,228
We are not superior to the water itself.

168
00:08:51,780 --> 00:08:55,518
We have to learn
how to be good stewards again.

169
00:08:56,484 --> 00:09:00,724
We often imagine that the world
is filled with infinite water.

170
00:09:01,234 --> 00:09:02,494
In fact, it's not.

171
00:09:02,518 --> 00:09:04,615
This planet, Ohke, Mother Earth,

172
00:09:04,639 --> 00:09:07,639
has very finite freshwater resources.

173
00:09:07,663 --> 00:09:10,592
Currently, nearly two billion people

174
00:09:10,616 --> 00:09:14,165
live in countries experiencing
high water stress.

175
00:09:14,839 --> 00:09:17,901
It is also estimated that by 2030,

176
00:09:17,925 --> 00:09:22,310
up to 700 million people
could be displaced, worldwide,

177
00:09:22,334 --> 00:09:23,854
due to water scarcity.

178
00:09:25,059 --> 00:09:27,122
We have to address this crisis.

179
00:09:27,741 --> 00:09:29,713
And so it's time for us to change.

180
00:09:29,737 --> 00:09:33,101
We have to transform
the way in which we value water.

181
00:09:33,125 --> 00:09:34,276
And we can do that.

182
00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:36,737
We can learn to be good stewards again.

183
00:09:36,761 --> 00:09:41,439
We can create laws through which
we grant legal personhood to water.

184
00:09:41,463 --> 00:09:43,924
We can start to honor
the original treaties

185
00:09:43,948 --> 00:09:46,734
between Indigenous peoples
and non-Indigenous peoples

186
00:09:46,758 --> 00:09:48,406
for water protection.

187
00:09:48,430 --> 00:09:51,420
We can appoint guardians for the water

188
00:09:51,444 --> 00:09:54,739
that ensure the water's rights
are always protected.

189
00:09:55,394 --> 00:09:58,085
We can also develop
water-quality standards

190
00:09:58,109 --> 00:09:59,657
that have a holistic approach,

191
00:09:59,681 --> 00:10:04,454
that ensure the well-being of the water
before our human needs.

192
00:10:04,478 --> 00:10:10,720
And moreover, we can work to dismantle
exclusive property ownership over water.

193
00:10:11,843 --> 00:10:16,620
And there are amazing successful examples
of this around the world.

194
00:10:17,542 --> 00:10:20,103
The Whanganui River in Aotearoa, 
in New Zealand,

195
00:10:20,127 --> 00:10:21,614
and the Ganges River in India

196
00:10:21,638 --> 00:10:24,321
were both granted
legal personhood in 2017.

197
00:10:24,345 --> 00:10:25,947
And even this year,

198
00:10:25,971 --> 00:10:28,202
the residents of the city of Toledo

199
00:10:28,226 --> 00:10:31,400
recognized the legal
personality of Lake Erie.

200
00:10:31,424 --> 00:10:33,858
And right here in California,

201
00:10:33,882 --> 00:10:37,286
the Yurok Tribe granted legal personhood
to the Klamath River.

202
00:10:39,071 --> 00:10:43,103
You see, I imagine a world
where we value water

203
00:10:43,127 --> 00:10:44,923
as a living relation,

204
00:10:45,955 --> 00:10:50,056
where we work to restore
our connection to water.

205
00:10:50,955 --> 00:10:53,712
As women, we are water carriers.

206
00:10:53,736 --> 00:10:56,677
We nurture water
in our wombs for nine months.

207
00:10:56,701 --> 00:11:00,053
It's the first medicine
that each of us as human beings

208
00:11:00,077 --> 00:11:01,370
is exposed to.

209
00:11:01,906 --> 00:11:07,100
See, we are all born as human beings
with a natal connection to water,

210
00:11:07,124 --> 00:11:10,530
but somewhere along the way,
we lost that connection,

211
00:11:10,554 --> 00:11:12,688
and we have to work to restore it.

212
00:11:12,712 --> 00:11:14,800
Because I imagine a world

213
00:11:14,824 --> 00:11:19,077
in which water is healthy
and ecosystems are thriving.

214
00:11:19,854 --> 00:11:21,601
I imagine a world

215
00:11:21,625 --> 00:11:25,196
where each of us takes up
our right of responsibility

216
00:11:25,220 --> 00:11:26,744
as water citizens

217
00:11:26,768 --> 00:11:28,830
and protects water.

218
00:11:29,868 --> 00:11:33,557
So, in the words of Nokomis,

219
00:11:33,581 --> 00:11:35,686
what are you going to do about it?

220
00:11:35,710 --> 00:11:38,844
What are you going to do for the water?

221
00:11:39,933 --> 00:11:42,672
Well, you can call your local politician.

222
00:11:42,696 --> 00:11:44,458
You can go to a town meeting.

223
00:11:44,482 --> 00:11:47,512
You can advocate for granting
legal personhood to water.

224
00:11:48,052 --> 00:11:51,148
You can be like the residents
of the city of Toledo

225
00:11:51,172 --> 00:11:52,775
and build from the grass roots,

226
00:11:52,799 --> 00:11:56,183
and craft your own legislation
if the politicians won't write it,

227
00:11:56,207 --> 00:11:58,948
recognizing legal personality of water.

228
00:11:59,282 --> 00:12:03,666
You can learn about the Indigenous lands
and waters that you now occupy

229
00:12:03,690 --> 00:12:06,728
and the Indigenous legal systems
that still govern them.

230
00:12:07,523 --> 00:12:09,896
And most of all, you can connect to water.

231
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:11,745
You can restore that connection.

232
00:12:11,769 --> 00:12:14,379
Go to the water closest to your home,

233
00:12:14,403 --> 00:12:16,930
and find out why it is threatened.

234
00:12:17,674 --> 00:12:19,783
But most of all, if you do anything,

235
00:12:19,807 --> 00:12:23,375
I ask that you make a promise to yourself,

236
00:12:23,399 --> 00:12:25,738
that each day, you will ask,

237
00:12:25,762 --> 00:12:28,153
"What have I done for the water today?"

238
00:12:29,541 --> 00:12:33,461
If we are able to fulfill that promise,

239
00:12:33,485 --> 00:12:37,718
I believe we can create a bold
and brilliant world

240
00:12:37,742 --> 00:12:41,191
where future generations are able to form

241
00:12:41,215 --> 00:12:46,945
the same relationship to water
that we have been privileged to have,

242
00:12:48,460 --> 00:12:53,777
where all communities
of human and nonhuman relations

243
00:12:53,801 --> 00:12:56,093
have water to live,

244
00:12:56,117 --> 00:12:58,262
because water is life.

245
00:12:58,966 --> 00:13:00,429
Tabutni. Thank you.

246
00:13:00,453 --> 00:13:07,453
(Applause)