“Go to the place and sing the songs for the place so the place can hear the words.”
Maya Kawailanaokeawaiki Saffery (my-ah kah-vah-ee-lah-nah-oh-kay-ah-vah-ee-kee saff-er-ee), language keeper
“You only know where you are on the ocean by memorizing where you came from.”
Nainoa Thompson (neye-no-ah tom-sun), master navigator & wayfinder
“The Younger Brother is damaging the world. He must understand and change his ways, or the world will die.”
Mamo Luis Guillermo Izquierdo (mah-moh loo-ees ghee-yair-moh ees-key-air-dough), Arhuaco leader
“We are nature’s guardians. In the Sierra Nevada farming organic is by nature, not because we need a certification.”
Ati Zeygundiba (ah-tee zay-goon-dee-bah), Arhuaco coffee grower
“The Mother is the owner of everything - all the rivers, all the mountains. Without women, daughters, who would guard all of this?”
Sisa Pinto (see-sah pin-tow), Kogi elder
“This is our own place and we are telling you. Not just today, but for 500 years! What are you doing here?”
Mama Jose Luis (mah-mah hoh-zay loo-ees), Kogi spiritual leader
“The earth is a living body. Damaging certain places damages the whole body.”
Mama Pedro Juan (mah-mah pay-drough wahn), Kogi spiritual leader
“To us water is female. Mistreating a woman is mistreating water.”
Saga Narcisa (sah-gah nahr-see-sah), Kogi spiritual leader
“It should be a human right to know the meaning of mother earth.”
Leonor Zalabata (lay-oh-nor sahl-lah-bah-tah), Arhuaco leader
“We see the natural world as a living being with rights. The rights of the natural world—of the air, the water, the moon, the stars—always take precedence.”
Mamo Amado Villafaña (ah-mah-dough vee-yah-fahn-yah), Arhuaco spiritual leader
“In my vision as a Mohawk midwife, reproductive justice and environmental justice intersect at the nexus of woman's blood and voice.”
Katsi Cook (good-gee cook), Mohawk midwife
“We need to identify the processes that so often lead people who are honestly seeking to resist and destroy colonization to unconsciously re-create the elements of their own oppression.”
John Mohawk (jahn mow-hawk), Seneca philosopher and activist
“Because we were sovereign nations we had to start fighting for the land the Creator said was where we were supposed to live.”
Leon Shenandoah (lee-on shen-on-dough-wah), Onondaga chief
“I have come here to deeply listen to what the seeds have to share.”
Rowen White (row-when wite), Mohawk seedkeeper
“Every human being comes from an indigenous people.”
Tom Porter (tahm pour-terr), founder of the Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke (gah-nah-jo-ha-lay-gay)
“We are a people who sat under a tree for a long time…talking about the importance of community.”
Oren Lyons (aw-ren lie-unz), Onondaga faithkeeper
“We are responsible for seven generations, in my tradition, seven generations into the future.”
Audrey Shenandoah (aw-dree shen-on-dough-wah), Onondaga clanmother
“In the old times the people of the tundra used stars for everything… There was no light, so they navigated using stars.”
Zoya Tokareva (zoy-ah toh-kah-ray-vah), Nutendli community member
“I wouldn’t want to live in the village. I’m there for three days and I want to go home. Life is too fast and I soon get fed up.”
Marina Rultina (mah-ree-nah ruhl-tee-nah), Chukchi reindeer herder
“I sang the songs that belong to my tribe. Some of these songs are the relics of the last century... Unfortunately I’m probably the last one to sing the songs of the tribe.”
Larisa Ryskyntonaw (lah-ris-sah riss-kahn-tow-nah), Chukchi journalist and teacher