0:00:00.000,0:00:03.106 There are very inspiring and exciting 0:00:03.106,0:00:04.891 things happening at the Pine Ridge 0:00:04.891,0:00:06.925 Reservation, which is home to the Oglala 0:00:06.925,0:00:09.879 Sioux in South Dakota. This video is going 0:00:09.879,0:00:12.000 to introduce you to what they are doing 0:00:12.000,0:00:14.169 to restore resilience, economic 0:00:14.169,0:00:17.129 independence, self-sufficiency and 0:00:17.129,0:00:19.981 cultural revival among the Lakota people. 0:00:20.846,0:00:23.952 Being in alliance is about being in 0:00:23.952,0:00:26.054 service to each other, and when you are in 0:00:26.054,0:00:30.225 service, it's about, attitude, being an 0:00:30.225,0:00:33.912 ally also means that because I am 0:00:33.912,0:00:35.930 committed I am going to explore further, 0:00:35.930,0:00:38.812 dig deeper, and see where the growth 0:00:38.812,0:00:41.565 opportunities are for me, and if I can 0:00:41.565,0:00:45.438 actually add value. 0:00:52.500,0:00:55.702 Everybody loves the cultural native, 0:00:55.702,0:00:58.755 everybody loves the ceremonies we share. 0:00:58.755,0:01:01.391 But when it comes to talking about the 0:01:01.391,0:01:05.278 hardships and injustices and the reality 0:01:05.278,0:01:07.318 of what native people deal with on a day 0:01:07.318,0:01:09.262 to day basis, that native is not so 0:01:09.262,0:01:11.803 popular. So being willing to stand next 0:01:11.803,0:01:15.485 to that outspoken native who is not always 0:01:15.485,0:01:18.005 talking about the most popular topics, I 0:01:18.005,0:01:20.406 think that is what makes a good ally. 0:01:31.352,0:01:33.354 I think showing up as an ally star starts 0:01:33.354,0:01:36.055 with contextual understanding of not only 0:01:36.055,0:01:37.795 what has happened, but also what is 0:01:37.795,0:01:39.760 happening. I think it is important to 0:01:39.760,0:01:41.979 remember that this is not past tense, and 0:01:41.979,0:01:44.432 these injustices are happening everday, 0:01:44.432,0:01:46.850 and we are actually seeing them unfold for 0:01:46.850,0:01:48.719 people. We are seeing this healing 0:01:48.719,0:01:51.088 happen for people within a camp, to this 0:01:51.088,0:01:52.423 very day. 0:01:52.644,0:01:54.785 People don't have clean water, they don't 0:01:54.785,0:01:56.865 have running water, they don't have good 0:01:56.865,0:01:59.347 food, they don't have housing, so they are 0:01:59.347,0:02:01.532 just in this mode where they can't think 0:02:01.532,0:02:03.583 about intergenerational trauma and 0:02:03.583,0:02:05.651 epigenetics, and it is really hard to 0:02:05.651,0:02:07.671 heal something when you get a wound 0:02:07.671,0:02:09.720 and it scabs up and someone keeps coming, 0:02:09.720,0:02:12.288 ripping it off. It is ongoing, It has not 0:02:12.288,0:02:14.595 stopped yet, it has been going on for like 0:02:14.595,0:02:16.831 500 years. Since then we have been in 0:02:16.831,0:02:20.117 survival mode, trying to just survive, and 0:02:20.117,0:02:22.868 it is hard to really focus on anything 0:02:22.868,0:02:25.204 else, like building happy communities and 0:02:25.204,0:02:27.308 having healthy relationships with your 0:02:27.308,0:02:28.542 children. 0:02:28.620,0:02:31.212 It's just the willingness to help, 0:02:31.212,0:02:33.148 the willingness to ask questions when it 0:02:33.148,0:02:35.283 is appropriate, showing respect for the 0:02:35.283,0:02:36.999 culture, for the land, for the 0:02:36.999,0:02:39.871 spirituality, for the people. If you treat 0:02:39.871,0:02:41.805 the earth in a good way, the earth will 0:02:41.805,0:02:44.192 treat you in a good way. It is just a 0:02:44.192,0:02:46.894 mutual respect, is what it is, really. 0:02:47.829,0:03:06.095 [Flute playing] 0:03:09.967,0:03:12.233 Right now, we have got the second annual 0:03:12.233,0:03:15.771 IWPS Convergence. We had one last year. 0:03:15.771,0:03:18.959 The convergence is really our event to 0:03:18.959,0:03:21.211 bring together folks who are working on 0:03:21.211,0:03:23.413 these different projects, who have these 0:03:23.413,0:03:26.599 skills in natural building, gardening, and 0:03:26.599,0:03:29.150 to just come together in community to 0:03:29.150,0:03:31.272 really show the power of community and 0:03:31.272,0:03:33.392 what the interrelationships can create. 0:03:33.392,0:03:36.995 We have people from all over the world. 0:03:36.995,0:03:40.298 All nations converge on Pine Ridge, and 0:03:40.298,0:03:42.501 then we have community-based projects 0:03:42.501,0:03:46.472 that they help to implement on Pine Ridge. 0:03:46.472,0:03:49.524 I would say that this year, we are really 0:03:49.524,0:03:51.658 deepening our relationships, and we are 0:03:51.658,0:03:54.712 also spreading to support these food 0:03:54.712,0:03:56.964 distribution networks across the 0:03:56.964,0:03:59.218 reservations, so this is not just one site 0:03:59.218,0:04:01.885 anymore. This has now become the toolhub 0:04:01.885,0:04:04.402 for the reservation, and we also have other 0:04:04.402,0:04:07.907 places where they are creating gardens to 0:04:07.907,0:04:10.340 heal emotional trauma. 0:04:10.340,0:04:12.894 There are a lot of residents who come over, 0:04:12.894,0:04:14.814 folks from other residences, and we make it 0:04:14.814,0:04:16.976 very accessible. We will cover fuel costs, 0:04:16.976,0:04:19.059 whatever it takes, it is free for all 0:04:19.059,0:04:21.156 native folk, to really showcase what is 0:04:21.156,0:04:26.045 happening, to use this energy to activate 0:04:26.045,0:04:28.385 and mobilize our projects moving forward 0:04:28.385,0:04:30.144 as well. 0:04:30.683,0:04:34.236 We work on low cost, alternative, replicable 0:04:34.236,0:04:37.772 models that any family can implement 0:04:37.772,0:04:39.591 with a little bit of help across 0:04:39.591,0:04:42.593 reservations. We build with tyres, and 0:04:42.593,0:04:46.580 a lot of industrial cast off. Junk, 0:04:46.580,0:04:49.134 basically. People will approach us and 0:04:49.134,0:04:51.367 say, "We have a piece of land and we want 0:04:51.367,0:04:53.554 to do this for a family", and then we go 0:04:53.554,0:04:55.922 and take a look and if it is within our 0:04:55.922,0:04:58.275 ability to help them to do their project, 0:04:58.275,0:05:01.077 then we partner up on it and figure out a 0:05:01.077,0:05:03.097 way to get the funds necessary to get 0:05:03.097,0:05:05.566 things together. This is our experiential 0:05:05.566,0:05:09.234 farm or place to build experiments and see 0:05:09.234,0:05:11.237 if they are replicable, if they are 0:05:11.237,0:05:13.157 economic enough to be used here on 0:05:13.157,0:05:15.727 Pine Ridge, and we are all food producers. 0:05:15.727,0:05:18.145 The hope being that we can put a dent in 0:05:18.145,0:05:20.230 our food desert here. 0:05:44.660,0:05:46.676 When I heard the term "permaculture", 0:05:46.676,0:05:48.643 and that was many years ago, I said, 0:05:48.643,0:05:51.096 "What the hell, it is nothing but white 0:05:51.096,0:05:53.133 people, and they are going around the 0:05:53.133,0:05:55.616 world and they are taking the best 0:05:55.616,0:05:58.070 practices of all the indigenous nations, 0:05:58.070,0:06:00.206 and they are putting it in packages and 0:06:00.206,0:06:02.475 say, "Oh, look what we have invented, 0:06:02.475,0:06:05.294 permaculture, look at this". But as my 0:06:05.294,0:06:08.130 brothers here mentioned, it is something 0:06:08.130,0:06:10.384 that the indigenous people have been doing 0:06:10.384,0:06:12.550 for thousands of years! 0:06:12.550,0:06:14.745 All this permaculture knowledge that we 0:06:14.745,0:06:16.718 have, we are just trying to reiterate all 0:06:16.718,0:06:18.831 of it, because like most of you know our 0:06:18.831,0:06:20.241 ancestors have been doing it for thousands 0:06:20.241,0:06:21.762 of years. 0:06:22.262,0:06:24.431 My family, we used to cultivate, and we 0:06:24.431,0:06:27.383 used to plant, and it was communal. It was 0:06:27.383,0:06:29.920 huge! Practically the whole community came 0:06:29.920,0:06:33.079 to plant these enormous fields. We 0:06:33.079,0:06:35.548 practiced crop rotating, everything. 0:06:35.548,0:06:37.698 We had more than four corn fields, and 0:06:37.698,0:06:40.219 we would plant these fields in three days. 0:06:40.219,0:06:42.520 Then of course during harvest that was 0:06:42.520,0:06:45.240 distributed to everyone. When we plant 0:06:45.240,0:06:48.744 corn, we plant seven seeds. One is for us, 0:06:48.744,0:06:51.262 one is for family, one is for the animals, 0:06:51.262,0:06:54.300 one is for the birds, one is for everyone, 0:06:54.300,0:06:57.552 one is for the earth. That is how we plant. 0:06:57.552,0:07:01.350 As we move from this egocentric, 0:07:01.350,0:07:05.355 colonialist ideology back towards this 0:07:05.355,0:07:09.258 indigenous ancestral knowledge that is 0:07:09.258,0:07:13.385 ecocentric, as we move through that 0:07:13.385,0:07:16.617 transition, we all recognize and forgive 0:07:16.617,0:07:18.635 our part in the equation and then we 0:07:18.635,0:07:21.556 actively work towards embracing our 0:07:21.556,0:07:24.726 humanity, reaching out to each other and 0:07:24.726,0:07:27.577 recognizing that we are all part of the 0:07:27.577,0:07:30.031 same tribe humankind. 0:07:30.247,0:07:32.299 I did not want anything to do with it 0:07:32.299,0:07:35.535 until I came here and I saw how lovingly 0:07:35.535,0:07:39.707 this permaculture crew touches the ground. 0:07:39.707,0:07:41.893 But you know, the important thing among 0:07:41.893,0:07:44.444 our people is to show up, and to show that 0:07:44.444,0:07:46.930 you mean what you are saying, and that you 0:07:46.930,0:07:49.233 are going to walk your talk. 0:07:49.867,0:08:10.320 (Native American music playing) 0:08:10.320,0:08:14.580 I am so thoroughly impressed and inspired 0:08:14.580,0:08:16.857 by the incredible work of everyone at the 0:08:16.857,0:08:19.477 Pine Ridge reservation, and I hope you are 0:08:19.477,0:08:22.362 as well. I would love to see you support 0:08:22.362,0:08:24.932 them in their mission. There are links in 0:08:24.932,0:08:27.151 the description to learn more, to get 0:08:27.151,0:08:29.555 involved and support them, so make sure 0:08:29.555,0:08:32.473 that you do that. If you want people to 0:08:32.473,0:08:34.992 see this and be inspired by it, make sure 0:08:34.992,0:08:37.862 to like, comment and share this video, and 0:08:37.862,0:08:39.897 if you have not already, make sure to 0:08:39.897,0:08:42.016 subscribe to this channel, where there 0:08:42.016,0:08:43.884 will be many more videos to come. 0:08:43.884,0:08:45.969 I love you all very much, and I hope that 0:08:45.969,0:08:48.106 you will go out there and make positive 0:08:48.106,0:08:50.523 change and be a part of this movement 0:08:50.523,0:08:53.107 for a better world.