ON MOVING FORWARD AND WORKING TOGETHER

SF: “With Standing Rock, I had to remind myself that the battle wasn’t about the pipeline; the battle was about people organizing. When we lost, it felt like even with all the people coming together [it led to] nothing, but the world actually changed a little bit.”

WHM: “Standing Rock stripped away some of the native versus non-native fight that we saw during Oka. Some said, ‘White people aren’t allowed at our solidarity fires,’ but the elders said that there are non-native people who [almost] had their arms blown off at Standing Rock, so there’s space for them. That’s an evolution that I find really important. The indigenous-led environmental fight, but with allies, is the cool thing about Standing Rock, and I think it’s the first of many fights.” SF: “You can’t look to any front line anywhere in North and South America and not see young women leading the charge. I stand in solidarity with natives and non-natives—with everyone who is standing up for the earth.” WHM: “I’ve seen change in the 27 years since the Oka crisis because I’ve been aware and part of this movement for so long. There’s a glimmer of hope that I can grasp onto. Some days I’m more optimistic than others and some days I’m not, but that’s the struggle of making change. I hope at the end of my life, people can say that I made people’s lives better, knowing me and the things that I decided to take on [because] I didn’t want to leave a mess for the people coming after me.”