The concept of moral injury is helpful for me in the context of the tragedies of the Indian boarding schools and my relationship with my Quaker community.
Here is the link to today’s post about this on LANDBACK Friends
I recently wrote Spiritual discernment to leave Quakers. After that, though, I admit I thought, ‘what have I done? What now?’
I am a bit off balance. Writing helps me find my way through things I don’t have a good understanding of. I try to be spiritually aware as I write. But especially in this case, what follows is definitely work in progress.
It’s a paradox to distance myself from Quakers while at the same time wanting to continue to work with Friends to disavow capitalism, white supremacy and the vast tapestry of damage that comes from them. When I need spiritual support.
Recently I became aware I have a spiritual community with my Native friends, too.
In 2016, I felt an immediate spiritual connection the first time a group of Native people joined a gathering in downtown Indianapolis, to bring attention to the dangers of the Dakota Access pipeline.
Retiring to Iowa in 2017, I was led to a number of opportunities to form friendships with Native people. In the years since, these friendships have deepened. There have been numerous occasions for us to work together. Get to know each other. The photo below is from the beginning of the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March in the fall of 2018. A small group of about 30 Native and non-native people walked and camped together over eight days, for 94 miles along the path of the Dakota Access pipeline. The intention of this sacred journey came to fruition as we shared our stories, walking down empty gravel roads through rural Iowa. We began to know each other, to establish trust. Along the way my friend Donnielle Wanatee said, “we are a tribe.” Many blog posts, photos and videos of the March can be found here
First Nation-Farmer Unity – First Nation peoples and farmers working together (firstnationfarmer.com)
This quote by some of my friends speaks to storytelling and Mutual Aid.
Truthsgiving is an ideology that must be enacted through truth telling and mutual aid to discourage colonized ideas about the thanksgiving mythology—not a name switch so we can keep doing the same thing. It’s about telling and doing the truth on this day so we can stop dangerous stereotypes and whitewashed history from continuing to harm Indigenous lands and Peoples, as well as Black, Latinx, Asian-American and all oppressed folks on Turtle Island.
Truthsgiving
One way I have continued to learn about Native peoples has been becoming involved in Mutual Aid, which includes Indigenous people. One of the basic tenants of Mutual Aid is everyone comes together to work on the needs of the community. I am so grateful to have become part of Des Moines Mutual Aid. One of the many things I love about my Mutual Aid community is how our spirituality is fundamental to the work we do together, even if the words aren’t spoken.
Those who know me are probably surprised not to see photos of my Mutual Aid friends. That is because police scan social media photos and videos to identify people to subsequently arrest. Not that Mutual Aid is illegal. But Des Moines Mutual Aid folks work closely with Des Moines Black Liberation, and show up at public events. There has been a great deal of unrest in a few cities in Iowa related to George Floyed and police violence.
I admit there have been times when I wished our Quaker communities did more work like my Mutual Aid group. This diverse group of friends embrace the idea of a horizontal hierarchy where everyone has a voice. And are so gracious with those who come in need of food, for example. We know this hunger is the result of the capitalist economy, not the fault of the people needing food. And know we may at some point find ourselves in need of food. We look forward to being together each week. And to be doing work to immediately address survival needs. Something is right when such a diverse group works with such enthusiasm. Several people have told me our Saturday mornings are the highlight of their week. Mine, too.
See: “mutual aid” | Quakers, social justice and revolution (jeffkisling.com)
Over the past several years the horrors of the Native residential schools have become more widely known in White communities, and among white Quakers. My Friend Paula Palmer’s ministry about this has been teaching Quakers about the forced assimilation of Native children. Her research into Quakers’ role in this can be found in her article in Friends Journal, which has a telling title. Quaker Indian Boarding Schools. Facing our History and Ourselves – Friends Journal And is the best resource I have found on this subject.
I can not feel the depths of the trauma of my Native friends, which has been triggered yet again, this time with the verification of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school in British Columbia.
But I do see, hear, sense the signs of their utter devastation. Up close and personal as they say. Our spiritual connection is one dimension of this. One of my best friends told me, “I’m trying not to be enraged in my mourning”.
So we have this situation where both my Native friends and I know of this terrible history, and Quakers having some part in it. I’ve written a lot about talking about the residential schools with my Native friends. Spiritual discernment to leave Quakers | Quakers, social justice and revolution (jeffkisling.com)
I didn’t know if I could face my friends after this latest atrocity, and had been writing about it on my blog.
When I shared some of this on social media, including stepping away from Quakers, some people talked about it being a privilege to walk away. I responded, “reading the comments on walking away, I have a different perspective. What caused me to, at least temporarily, disengage from Quakers was when I saw how traumatized my Native friends were about the remains of Native children at the residential school in Canada. I didn’t feel I could continue working with them, and I see them every week, if I didn’t do something beyond just words, to indicate I recognized their pain, and acknowledged my ancestors’ role in those schools. In any case, I was following a strong spiritual leading I was given.”
One of the many gifts my indigenous friends have given me, is to read some of what I write. So they can continue to talk with, mentor me. A close friend had read of my outrage and sorrow about this latest atrocity. About my turmoil of continuing to work with Mutual Aid. So, even in the midst of his mourning about the children, he took the time and effort to help me.
“Thank you friend. I don’t know what you can do. The church is the church’s past, which is its future. It continues to see my people as obstacles in its endless conquest.
You’re a good relative Jeff. To be blunt, there is too much damage that the church profits from and needs to protect to have any future there.
I wish you the best. I imagine its a hard struggle.”
That is just one of many examples of how my friends have supported me. I am realizing as I work through this, I am truly blessed to be part of the spiritual communities of both Quakers and Native peoples. What a blessing!
So, rather than completely leave Quakers, I am now feeling I can continue to work with Friends to the extent I maintain my spiritual integrity with myself and my Native friends. That means I must conscientiously object to any practice of Friends that continues to support colonial capitalism and white supremacy and all the evil manifestations of them.
Of course I am living within systems of colonial capitalism and white supremacy. It will take time to extricate from that. But what I have done and practice is to begin to intentionally extricate myself. You can begin to do so now as well.
I will continue to work with my Mutual Aid friends. And as my Native friends have asked, teach others about the concept of LANDBACK, and find ways to support that. I will seek to find ways to continue to work with Quakers.
To begin that work, I recently created the WordPress site LANDBACK Friends. And the associated Facebook group, LANDBACK Friends.
On the LANDBACK Friends website is an Epistle to Friends Regarding Community, Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. You can begin your LANDBACK journey by signing that epistle if so led. And if you would like to join the email group related to LANDBACK Friends, you can enter your email address at the bottom of the letter.
It matters little what people say they believe when their actions are inconsistent with their words. Thus, we Friends may say there should not be hunger and poverty, but as long as Friends continue to collaborate in a system that leaves many without basic necessities and violently enforces white supremacy, our example will fail to speak to mankind.
Let our lives speak for our convictions. Let our lives show that we oppose the capitalist system and white supremacy, and the damages that result. We can engage in efforts, such as Mutual Aid and LANDBACK, to build Beloved community. To reach out to our neighbors to join us.
We must begin by changing our own lives if we hope to make a real testimony for peace and justice.
Read and sign the Epistle – LANDBACK Friends
As my focus changes to the concepts of Mutual Aid and LANDBACK, I just launched a new website related to these concepts. LANDBACK Friends
There you can read “An Epistle to Friends Regarding Community, Mutual Aid and LANDBACK” And can add your signature to the letter. In addition, there is the option to submit your email if you want to receive updates.
I plan to keep the Quakers, Social Justice and Revolution blog site active. Some material will be added there, but things related to LANDBACK and Mutual Aid will be posted on the new LANDBACK Friends website.
Yesterday I wrote at length why I’ve been led to leave Quakers for the time being. This morning I’m feeling a bit like “what have I done?” And what does that mean? Buried so deep in that lengthy article that few probably managed to read all the way through, was the following epistle. Recently a number of Friends have told me they have similar thoughts about Quakers today.
So what comes to me this morning are two things. If you would like to be a signatory of the epistle, let me know. I plan to have the epistle posted online, and updated with any other signatures that might come in.
Secondly, if you are interest in engaging with me, and hopefully other like-minded Friends, you can send me an email at jakislin@outlook.com. I’m not sure if there will be an email list, or Facebook group or what. If you have suggestions along those lines, let me know.
An Epistle to Friends Regarding Community, Mutual Aid and LANDBACK
Dear Friends,
The measure of a community is how the needs of its people are met. No one should go hungry, or without shelter or healthcare. Yet in this country known as the United States millions struggle to survive. The capitalist economic system creates hunger, houselessness, illness that is preventable and despair. A system that requires money for goods and services denies basic needs to anyone who does not have money. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) are disproportionately affected. Systemic racism. The capitalist system that supports the white materialistic lifestyle is built on stolen land and genocide of Indigenous peoples, and the labor of those who were enslaved in the past or are forced to live on poverty wages today.
Capitalism is revealed as an unjust, untenable system, when there is plenty of food in the grocery stores, but men, women and children are going hungry, living on the streets outside. White supremacy violently enforces the will of wealthy white people on the rest of us.
It has become clear to some of us who are called Friends that the colonial capitalist economic system and white supremacy are contrary to the Spirit and we must find a better way. We conscientiously object to and resist capitalism and white supremacy.
capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.
in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices.
Des Moines Black Liberation Movement
Mutual Aid
How do we resist? We rebuild our communities in ways not based upon money. Such communities thrive all over the world. Indigenous peoples have always lived this way. Generations of white people once did so in this country. Mutual Aid is a framework that can help us do this today.
The concept of Mutual Aid is simple to explain but can result in transformative change. Mutual Aid involves everyone coming together to find a solution for problems we all face. This is a radical departure from “us” helping “them”. Instead, we all work together to find and implement solutions. To work together means we must be physically present with each other. Mutual Aid cannot be done by committee or donations. We build Beloved communities as we get to know each other. Build solidarity. An important part of Mutual Aid is creating these networks of people who know and trust each other. When new challenges arise, these networks are in place, ready to meet them.
Another important part of Mutual Aid is the transformation of those involved. This means both those who are providing help, and those receiving it.
With Mutual Aid, people learn to live in a community where there is no vertical hierarchy. A community where everyone has a voice. A model that results in enthusiastic participation. A model that makes the vertical hierarchy required for white supremacy impossible.
Commonly there are several Mutual Aid projects in a community. The initial projects usually relate to survival needs. One might be a food giveaway. Another helping those who need shelter. Many Mutual Aid groups often have a bail fund, to support those arrested for agitating for change. And accompany those arrested when they go to court.
LANDBACK
The other component necessary to move away from colonial capitalism and white supremacy is LANDBACK.
But the idea of “landback” — returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples — has existed in different forms since colonial governments seized it in the first place. “Any time an Indigenous person or nation has pushed back against the oppressive state, they are exercising some form of landback,” says Nickita Longman, a community organizer from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The movement goes beyond the transfer of deeds to include respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water. Above all, it is a rallying cry for dismantling white supremacy and the harms of capitalism.
Returning the Land. Four Indigenous leaders share insights about the growing landback movement and what it means for the planet, by Claire Elise Thompson, Grist, February 25, 2020
What will Friends do?
It matters little what people say they believe when their actions are inconsistent with their words. Thus, we Friends may say there should not be hunger and poverty, but as long as Friends continue to collaborate in a system that leaves many without basic necessities and violently enforces white supremacy, our example will fail to speak to mankind.
Let our lives speak for our convictions. Let our lives show that we oppose the capitalist system and white supremacy, and the damages that result. We can engage in efforts, such as Mutual Aid and LANDBACK, to build Beloved community. To reach out to our neighbors to join us.
We must begin by changing our own lives if we hope to make a real testimony for peace and justice.
We remain, in love of the Spirit, your Friends and sisters and brothers,
Jeff Kisling (and, soon, hopefully, others)
Note: Modeled from ‘An Epistle to Friends Concerning Military Conscription’
For months I’ve been in significant spiritual distress. I’ve been learning a great deal from my Native friends, and working with them on Mutual Aid projects. And they tell me the way white people can best support them is by embracing and teaching others about LANDBACK.
I caused conflicts in my Quaker meeting because I wanted them to join me in the work of Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. Despite my efforts to explain this, they haven’t had the time or the experiences that would make them understand all of this, yet.
At the same time I felt I was letting my Native friends down, because I wasn’t making some of the changes I wanted to make in my life. Which could be an example of how white people can join their work with Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. This happened because I let myself be constrained by my Quaker community.
The solution the Spirit led me to was to leave my Quaker community, at least temporarily. That would remove the conflicts I am causing there. I hope and pray, with time, my Quaker friends will come to see the path forward is Mutual Aid and LANDBACK.
As environmental chaos deepens, with the resulting collapse of the colonial capitalist economic system and the political systems propping up white supremacy, we will have no choice but to find alternatives. Ideally those would be Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. This is powerful incentive to embrace these concepts now.
As I began to write this article several days ago, I wrote “its been a long time since I’ve felt this lost.” I’ve been struggling with Quaker history and present related to black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC). Miraculously, praying since then and spending yet another Saturday morning with my Mutual Aid family at our food giveaway, a clear vision of what I am being led to do has emerged. As is often the case, the answer seems so obvious I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before.
What I’m about to do is step away from my Quaker meeting, for reasons I’ll try to explain here.
Since moving to Iowa three years ago I’ve been blessed to become good friends with a number of Native people. It was transformative to walk and camp for a week, 94 miles along the path of the Dakota Access pipeline with a small group of Native and non-native people. About 25 of us. Someone pointed out it was a sacred journey. One purpose of the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March was for the group to begin to get to know each other. Begin to build trust so we could work together on things of common concern going forward. This succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
See: First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March (firstnationfarmer.com)
Since then, we would come together for various actions. For example to lobby Senator Grassley’s staff about legislation that would affect Native peoples. And for Indigenous People’s Day, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, to get rid of racist statues, support the black liberation movement.
As I was preparing to go on that March in 2018, I thought a lot about Quakers’ participation in the Native residential schools in the late 1800’s. When I first heard about this, I assumed the Quakers involved were doing a good thing, as they helped the Native children learn how to live in the white culture that was beginning to envelop them.
So much for assumptions. I am not judging those Quakers. What I am judging is the very idea that white settlers thought they had to try to forcibly assimilate Native children. The very idea that Native culture needed to be replaced, erased. Very recently what I learned was even worse. That cruelty was to crush the resistance of Natives peoples as they were forced off their lands. The more I learned about this, the more distraught I became.
Of course the children’s parents, their whole tribe, suffered immeasurably as well. Every child subsequently born into these Native communities grew up and became aware of these tragedies, and were thus traumatized themselves. Native people alive today are suffering. In numerous ways I’ve seen that suffering of my Native friends.
Returning to the Climate Unity March, I wondered if and how I should bring up the subject of the residential schools. People on the March became aware that I am a Quaker, as was my friend Peter Clay who also participated on the March. I wondered if bringing up the schools would add to the trauma of the Native folks I was beginning to know.
The biggest reason for my hesitation was fear of their reaction if I did bring it up. Of perhaps anger and/or condemnation.
Walking and camping together over eight days afforded opportunities to share our stories with each other. As we got to know each other, we shared more intimate stories. Early in our time together, I began to feel very uncomfortable about not bringing up the subject of the Indian Boarding Schools. Not doing so felt like an act of omission. Felt dishonest. I did not think it would not be possible for trust to be built without somehow addressing this history. Following is the story of how sharing that history came about, and the reaction to it.
It didn’t take too many hours of getting to know Matthew when the Spirit led me to say to him, “I know about Quakers’ involvement in the Indian boarding schools. I’m sorry they did that.” I was apprehensive about whether I should have said that, whether that was appropriate or could pull up bad memories. We continued to walk side by side. All I noticed was a slight nod of his head. He always smiles, and that didn’t change.
But as we walked together a little later, Matthew shared a story with me. He had been living at Standing Rock for about six months. When he learned a new rope was needed to ferry people back and forth across a narrow channel of water, he offered his rope so the ferry’s operation could continue. He went on to say his mother called him after she recognized the rope while watching a TV news story. She was very upset because that brought back terrifying memories of how the Native families would try to help their children escape when white men came to kidnap them and take them to a boarding school.
Later that day he was shooting a video, and as I came into the picture he waved and said, “hi buddy”, and we both laughed. Every time we saw each other after that, we would say “hi buddy” and laugh. We have kept in touch and maintained our friendship since.
I don’t believe that would have happened if we had not shared our stories about the residential schools. I didn’t bring up the subject with anyone else during the March. But over the next few years, when it seemed an appropriate time, I brought this up with each of my friends. One shared this was a good first step. Several told me briefly of their family’s experiences. Their hurt was palpable as they spoke.
My friend Paula Palmer wrote an excellent article for Friends Journal, Oct 1, 2016. “Quaker Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves”.
In the same way I couldn’t understand the involvement of so many Quakers in the slave trade, and having enslaved people, I couldn’t understand Quaker’s involvement with forced assimilation.
Some Quakers were involved in the Underground Railroad, to help people who had been enslaved escape from the South. Many Friends today bring up those stories in an attempt to indicate Quakers did some good related to enslavement and racial justice. It appears not that many Quakers were actually involved in the Underground Railroad. And in any case, people should not take credit for things they themselves didn’t do.
But there aren’t even such stories of Quakers’ work regarding the Native residential schools.
What does this mean for Quakers today?
First, there is very little diversity in most Quaker meetings in the country called the United States. Do white Friends think about this in relation to our history?
In the past Friends were sometimes called peculiar people as a result of public examples of their faith. For an example, Quakers would not do things like remove their hats when approaching others, or use titles to address people, such as “your highness” because they did not believe certain people were better than others. Many Friends were imprisoned for such actions.
Today most Friends are so integrated into society you don’t know they are Quakers. This begins to explain why I feel I need to distance myself from Friends. We need to make our lives reflect our concerns, to be public examples of our support for BIPOC folks. We can say we are for racial justice and Indigenous rights, but how do we actually do that? Especially when our daily lives benefit from the labor of enslaved people, and lands stolen from Native peoples. Every day. My BIPOC friends don’t care about what I say, but do care about what I do.
We can choose how much we engage with the culture of white supremacy. The culture behind the idea of forced assimilation of Native children. A culture that feels it does not have to honor treaties with tribal nations. A culture that feels it can pollute and otherwise destroy the water, land and air Native people try to protect, for the benefit of us all.
And there is the white, mainstream economic system of colonial capitalism Quakers are living in. A system that puts a price on everything, including what is priceless. A system of economic servitude that requires money for any commodity or service. That doesn’t care if people are hungry or living on the street if they don’t have money.
So no matter what we say about justice for BIPOC folks, those words are empty as long as we continue to take advantage of colonial capitalism and white supremacy.
It has been traumatic to find my Quaker community, which is nearly entirely white, has not had the understanding, yet, to break free from capitalism and white supremacy. People who have in many ways inspired me by their concerns for peace and justice. But, as with all white communities, no progress toward justice occurs when we are afraid to leave the frameworks that cause the injustice. It should be no surprise that few BIPOC people join us, much as we appreciate those who do.
The recent news of 215 Kamloops Native children buried on the grounds of a residential school has shocked non-native people, who did not know how many of these residential schools existed in the lands called the United States and Canada. Did not know tens of thousands of Native children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to these institutions where thousands were abused in many ways. Thousands killed or died. Though the stated reason for doing this was to assimilate Native children into white society for their benefit, the real intent was to quell Indigenous resistance to the theft of their land by white settler colonists.
The news has re-opened deep wounds in Native communities. Many have been triggered by this atrocity. One of my Native friends wrote that she was NOT OK. Another told me, “I’m trying not to be enraged in my mourning.”
One of my Native friends also told me, “The church is the church’s past, which is its future. It continues to see my people as obstacles in its endless conquest. To be blunt, there is too much damage that the church profits from and needs to protect to have any future there.” Vigorous attempts are made to hide it, but history does not lie. He also told me, regarding what I had been telling him about my efforts with Quakers, “I wish you the best. I imagine its a hard struggle.”
I cannot face my BIPOC friends if I don’t continue to seek the Spirit, and act on the leadings I am given.
“Don’t make orphans stand here covered in the blood of our parents and explain to you how this all came to be without doing something about it.“
The Tragedy of 215. Without truth, there can be no healing, by Sarah Rose Harper, Lakota People’s Law Project, 6/2/2021
I am so grateful to my BIPOC friends for teaching me that Mutual Aid and LANDBACK are alternatives to colonial capitalism and white superiority. LANDBACK is how to restore Native lands and leadership.
As environmental chaos deepens, with the resulting collapse of the colonial capitalist economic system and the political systems propping up white supremacy, we will have no choice but to find alternatives. Ideally those would be Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. This is powerful incentive to embrace these concepts now.
An Epistle to Friends Regarding Community, Mutual Aid and LANDBACK
Dear Friends,
The measure of a community is how the needs of its people are met. No one should go hungry, or without shelter or healthcare. Yet in this country known as the United States millions struggle to survive. The capitalist economic system creates hunger, houselessness, illness that is preventable and despair. A system that requires money for goods and services denies basic needs to anyone who does not have money. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) are disproportionately affected. Systemic racism. The capitalist system that supports the white materialistic lifestyle is built on stolen land and genocide of Indigenous peoples, and the labor of those who were enslaved in the past or are forced to live on poverty wages today.
Capitalism is revealed as an unjust, untenable system, when there is plenty of food in the grocery stores, but men, women and children are going hungry, living on the streets outside. White supremacy violently enforces the will of wealthy white people on the rest of us.
It has become clear to some of us who are called Friends that the colonial capitalist economic system and white supremacy are contrary to the Spirit and we must find a better way. We conscientiously object to and resist capitalism and white supremacy.
capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.
in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices.
Des Moines Black Liberation Movement
Mutual Aid
How do we resist? We rebuild our communities in ways not based upon money. Such communities thrive all over the world. Indigenous peoples have always lived this way. Generations of white people once did so in this country. Mutual Aid is a framework that can help us do this today.
The concept of Mutual Aid is simple to explain but can result in transformative change. Mutual Aid involves everyone coming together to find a solution for problems we all face. This is a radical departure from “us” helping “them”. Instead, we all work together to find and implement solutions. To work together means we must be physically present with each other. Mutual Aid cannot be done by committee or donations. We build Beloved communities as we get to know each other. Build solidarity. An important part of Mutual Aid is creating these networks of people who know and trust each other. When new challenges arise, these networks are in place, ready to meet them.
Another important part of Mutual Aid is the transformation of those involved. This means both those who are providing help, and those receiving it.
With Mutual Aid, people learn to live in a community where there is no vertical hierarchy. A community where everyone has a voice. A model that results in enthusiastic participation. A model that makes the vertical hierarchy required for white supremacy impossible.
Commonly there are several Mutual Aid projects in a community. The initial projects usually relate to survival needs. One might be a food giveaway. Another helping those who need shelter. Many Mutual Aid groups often have a bail fund, to support those arrested for agitating for change. And accompany those arrested when they go to court.
LANDBACK
The other component necessary to move away from colonial capitalism and white supremacy is LANDBACK.
But the idea of “landback” — returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples — has existed in different forms since colonial governments seized it in the first place. “Any time an Indigenous person or nation has pushed back against the oppressive state, they are exercising some form of landback,” says Nickita Longman, a community organizer from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The movement goes beyond the transfer of deeds to include respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water. Above all, it is a rallying cry for dismantling white supremacy and the harms of capitalism.
Returning the Land. Four Indigenous leaders share insights about the growing landback movement and what it means for the planet, by Claire Elise Thompson, Grist, February 25, 2020
What will Friends do?
It matters little what people say they believe when their actions are inconsistent with their words. Thus, we Friends may say there should not be hunger and poverty, but as long as Friends continue to collaborate in a system that leaves many without basic necessities and violently enforces white supremacy, our example will fail to speak to mankind.
Let our lives speak for our convictions. Let our lives show that we oppose the capitalist system and white supremacy, and the damages that result. We can engage in efforts, such as Mutual Aid and LANDBACK, to build Beloved community. To reach out to our neighbors to join us.
We must begin by changing our own lives if we hope to make a real testimony for peace and justice.
We remain, in love of the Spirit, your Friends and sisters and brothers,
Jeff Kisling (and, soon, others)
Note: Modeled from ‘An Epistle to Friends Concerning Military Conscription’
We are moving further into chaotic times. I started to list all the ways, but there are so many, and you know what they are. People seem paralyzed by the destruction of our environment, and collapse of political and economic systems.
Quakers were once known for our work for peace and justice. Despite the hard work of many, there have been few successes for decades. Many Friends are as overwhelmed as the general public. I’ve become increasingly aware of the problems old, white males such as myself inherently, negatively have on injustices. And similarly the more general injustices of white supremacy.
Added to that are the foundational injustices related to enslavement and continue oppression of black people, and genocide and theft of land from indigenous peoples. Of colonial capitalism. In hindsight, we white people should have recognized the futility of attempts to create change within the context of these underlying, unjust systems.
Increasingly, black, indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) are rightfully demanding accountability for these damages. Which includes replacing colonial capitalism, and the insidious influence of white supremacy,
BIPOC and a few white folks are building alternatives now.
Mutual Aid is a way for people to work together to solve problems that affect everyone in local communities. One of the keys of Mutual Aid is everyone has a say in what is done. This intentional flat, or horizontal hierarchy is the way white supremacy, which is by definition a vertical hierarchy, is defeated. It can’t be both.
The other problem with vertical hierarchies is those on the bottom are waiting for help from above. Help that rarely comes and is always inadequate.
Yet another great thing about Mutual Aid is changing the dynamics from one group helping another, to all of us being in this together. When I participate in the food giveaway, everyone helping distribute the food is always very friendly and respectful to those who find themselves needing the food. They shouldn’t be blamed for the failure of the system. We know we may well find ourselves needing food in the future.
Following is the best description of LANDBACK that I’ve found so far.
But the idea of “landback” — returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples — has existed in different forms since colonial governments seized it in the first place. “Any time an Indigenous person or nation has pushed back against the oppressive state, they are exercising some form of landback,” says Nickita Longman, a community organizer from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The movement goes beyond the transfer of deeds to include respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water. Above all, it is a rallying cry for dismantling white supremacy and the harms of capitalism.
Returning the Land. Four Indigenous leaders share insights about the growing landback movement and what it means for the planet, by Claire Elise Thompson, Grist, February 25, 2020
There are several reasons I’ve been praying, studying, and writing about LANDBACK. Most importantly my Native friends have told me the best way to support them is by doing so. Those who work for justice hear we need to follow the leadership of the communities impacted by injustice.
To summarize, I think Quakers should do the following:
I would also encourage Friends to stop trying to tweak inherently unjust systems.
There are a number of reasons why this is urgent.
It is becoming increasing clear how quickly and deeply we are moving into greater environmental chaos. Indigenous peoples have the knowledge and Spirit to do the best that can be done in these increasingly dire circumstances.
And white people need to do our part to accept our accountability for the grievous damage done to indigenous peoples. The recent confirmation of the remains of native children at a Canadian residential schools has devastated my indigenous friends and me. In part because this is a reminder of the tens of thousands of native children forced to attend such schools in the United States as well as Canada. Of thousands of those children subjected to all kinds of abuse. Thousands who died.
White people cannot continue to act as if these things aren’t their problem, especially if we have any hope of working together.
This is a diagram I’ve been working on to try to illustrate these ideas.
This is a link to the PDF version of the LANDBACK case study, Wet’suwet’en and Quakers.
A link to blog posts about Mutual Aid https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=%22mutual+aid%22
And blog posts about LANDBACK https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=LANDBACK
In some ways it feels like more than eight years have passed since I signed the Keystone Pledge of Resistance and was trained as an Action Leader. I learned a great deal, and connected with a large number of people during the years I worked on the Keystone resistance campaign. Things that were invaluable for subsequent fossil fuel resistances, including the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). And were helpful as I made more Native friends, including our walk together on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March in 2018 which was another action against DAPL.
The Keystone Pledge of Resistance
“I pledge, if necessary, to join others in my community, and engage in acts of dignified, peaceful civil disobedience that could result in my arrest in order to send the message to President Obama and his administration that they must reject the Keystone XL pipeline.”
The Pledge was an Internet campaign designed to put pressure on President Obama to deny the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry the thick tar sands oil from Canada to the refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Environmentalists were having a difficult time persuading the public and industry to transition away from fossil fuels. The environmental organizations Rainforest Action Network (RAN), CREDO, and The Other 98% recognized the Keystone decision as an opportunity to both raise awareness about the dangers of tar sands and possibly even stop the construction of the pipeline. 97,236 activists signed the Pledge
One of the things I worked on with my friend Derek Glass, was the following video that we used as an educational tool.
We held multiple public rallies in downtown Indianapolis. When Indiana’s US Senator, Joe Donnelly said Keystone would create many jobs, the Indianapolis Star printed my letter to the editor. He didn’t say anything about jobs after that.
Multiple times it looked as if our efforts would be defeated. The last administration re-approved the pipeline’s permit. I/we are truly thankful President Biden terminated the permit on his first day in office. Finally forcing TC Energy to give up.
The Keystone XL pipeline project is officially terminated, the sponsor company announced Wednesday.
Calgary-based TC Energy is pulling the plug on the project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.
“OMG! It’s official,” Dallas Goldtooth, Mdewakanton Dakota and Diné, wrote on Twitter regarding Keystone XL’s termination. “We took on a multi-billion dollar corporation and we won!!”
Goldtooth is part of the Indigenous Environmental Network. The network said it has been organizing for more than 10 years against the pipeline.
“We are dancing in our hearts because of this victory!” wrote the network in a statement. “From Dene territories in Northern Alberta to Indigenous lands along the Gulf of Mexico, we stood hand-in-hand to protect the next seven generations of life, the water and our communities from this dirty tar sands pipeline. And that struggle is vindicated. This is not the end – but merely the beginning of further victories.”
‘Keystone XL is dead!’ INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY, June 9, 2021
“When this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldn’t be beat,” Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, who led sit-ins against Keystone XL in 2011 at the White House, said in a statement. “But when enough people rise up we’re stronger even than the richest fossil fuel companies.”
Keystone XL pipeline developer pulls plug on controversial project by Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, June 9,2021
Yesterday’s post was the most recent of a series of blog posts I’ve been writing about the concept of LANDBACK. Here is a link to other LANDBACK posts: landback | Search Results | Quakers, social justice and revolution (jeffkisling.com)
You may be familiar with the concept of LANDBACK. I’m learning there is a lot more to it than I had known.
But the idea of “landback” — returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples — has existed in different forms since colonial governments seized it in the first place. “Any time an Indigenous person or nation has pushed back against the oppressive state, they are exercising some form of landback,” says Nickita Longman, a community organizer from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The movement goes beyond the transfer of deeds to include respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water. Above all, it is a rallying cry for dismantling white supremacy and the harms of capitalism. Although these goals are herculean, the landback movement has seen recent successes, including the removal of dams along the Klamath River in Oregon following a long campaign by the Yurok Tribe and other activists, and the return of 1,200 acres in Big Sur, California, to the formerly landless Esselen Tribe.
Returning the Land. Four Indigenous leaders share insights about the growing landback movement and what it means for the planet, by Claire Elise Thompson, Grist, February 25, 2020
There are several reasons I’ve been praying, studying, and writing about LANDBACK. Most importantly my Native friends have told me the best way to support them is by doing so. Those who work for justice often hear we need to follow the leadership of the communities impacted by injustice. It is often not clear how to go about doing that.
I’ve been a bit apprehensive about trying to get Friends involved with LANDBACK because many Friends have trouble dealing with the history of Quakers’ involvement with the forced assimilation of Native children. Many white Friends have trouble dealing with Quakers’ history related to enslavement. Many white Friends are uncomfortable with their white privileges today.
So I was very grateful to receive a response to something I’d written about LANDBACK from my friend and fellow Quaker, Marshall Massey, which you can read here: One Quaker’s Response to LANDBACK | Quakers, social justice and revolution (jeffkisling.com).
I wrote the following case study, hoping to give an example of the implementation of the ideas related to LANDBACK.
This is a link to the PDF version of the LANDBACK case study, Wet’suwet’en and Quakers.
Following is a flip book version of the same material.
Following is the latest version of a diagram I’ve been working on, which tries to show LANDBACK and Mutual Aid are ways to move away from colonial capitalism and white privilege.
The Spirit tells me it is time for a reset.
My whole life I have tried to protect Mother Earth. Live without a car, live in small apartments, protect the water. Protect us from pipelines and other fossil fuel projects. Organize nonviolent direct actions.
I learned what I could about the many atrocities related to enslavement, land theft, and cultural genocide here and globally. White people must learn these things, which are not taught in our schools. White people must learn the dynamics of the forces that perpetuate these injustices before we can have meaningful interactions with those subjected to these injustices. Injustices which resulted, and continue to result in all kinds of trauma, genocide, suicide and death.
I followed Spiritual leadings to develop connections to communities of black, indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC).
Time and again, I found progress for justice only happens when white people such as myself spend a great deal of time in the communities where justice is needed. And by listening closely to, following the leadership of the people in those communities. White and BIPOC folks need to get to know each other before trust can begin to be built. That takes a long time of intentional work by all, in the presence of each other. This is not an intellectual exercise. This does not happen remotely.
Time and again, I have learned the root causes of injustice in this country are colonial capitalism and white supremacy. And the reasons I’ve been making changes in my life are because the white communities I have lived in have refused to break free from capitalism and white supremacy. White people are corrupted by the many advantages they enjoy.
It has been traumatic to find even my Quaker community, which is nearly entirely white, has not had the courage to break free from capitalism and white supremacy. People who have in many ways inspired me by their concerns for peace and justice. But, as with all white communities, no progress toward justice occurs when we are afraid to leave the frameworks that cause the injustice. It should be no surprise that few BIPOC people join us, much as we appreciate those who do. I have caused hurt and harm in my interactions with BIPOC Friends. Another reason I’ve been spending time in diverse communities.
The recent news of 215 Kamloops Native children buried on the grounds of a residential school has shocked non-native people, who did not know how many of these residential schools existed in the lands called the United States and Canada. Did not know tens of thousands of Native children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to these institutions where thousands were abused in many ways. Thousands killed or died. Though the stated reason for doing this was to assimilate Native children into white society for their benefit, the real intent was to quell Indigenous resistance to the theft of their land by white settler colonists.
The news has re-opened deep wounds in Native communities. Many have been triggered by this atrocity. One of my Native friends wrote that she was NOT OK. Another told me, “I’m trying not to be enraged in my mourning.”
One of my Native friends also told me, “The church is the church’s past, which is its future. It continues to see my people as obstacles in its endless conquest. To be blunt, there is too much damage that the church profits from and needs to protect to have any future there.” I have come to believe that. Vigorous attempts are made to hide it, but history does not lie. He also told me, “I wish you the best. I imagine its a hard struggle.”
I cannot face my BIPOC friends if I don’t continue to dedicate myself to seek the Spirit, and acting on the leadings I am given. “Don’t make orphans stand here covered in the blood of our parents and explain to you how this all came to be without doing something about it.“
When I ask my Native friends how white people can help them, they say one word, “LANDBACK”. The video below is a very good introduction to that concept. And the diagram below is the current version I’ve been working on to summarize the relationships I see among these concepts.
In that diagram you see Mutual Aid as a branch of a possible way forward. Mutual Aid communities are based on the principle of a horizontal, flat hierarchy, a way that rejects the vertical hierarchy of white societies. There can not be white supremacy if their isn’t a structure of some people somehow being above others. White people who are looking for ways to leave capitalism and white supremacy should look for Mutual Aid communities near them. But only if you have done some research ahead of time. Only if you are determined to not bring the attitude of white supremacy with you. Only if you are prepared to be led by the example of others. Only if you come as a student. Only if you are committed to change in your life. See: “mutual aid” | Search Results | Quakers, social justice and revolution (jeffkisling.com)
I think we all know we live with significant injustices. I believe most white people know we need to change. Unfortunately my observation is most white people are afraid of change. But we don’t have a choice. Significant change is upon us, and will continue to deepen and accelerate, driven by environmental chaos and the economic and political consequences of that. All the more reason to build better, just communities now. As the video below explains, we need Indigenous leadership to guide us through environmental chaos.
I’m not yet sure what the direction of the Spirit might be for me, for us. The Spirit has been and continues to be agitated. The Spirit has shown Mutual Aid is part of the answer for me. I am truly blessed to have Native friends who are teaching me by their example. Neither they, nor I, nor perhaps you, will put up with continued white obstruction.
I’m trying not to be enraged in my mourning
In case you somehow missed the tragic story about the discovery of 215 First Nations children who passed away at the hands of a Canadian “school,” it’s time to wake up. This is our reality. You are shocked; you are heart broken. I wish we could be. This was not shocking — this was known.
Don’t make orphans stand here covered in the blood of our parents and explain to you how this all came to be without doing something about it. Don’t, for one second, think this is over. Remember, this was one chapter in the book. The story continues today in the form of the Department of Social, Family and Child Services. Our children are still being taken away from us, stripped of their identity, their culture and all humanity — and our babies do not always survive this process.
So yes, this latest news means we are acutely hurting. And we are angry. But we will carry on. We are mourning, and asking Creator to watch over those 215 souls. We are trying to take the time to heal the best way we can.
The Tragedy of 215. Without truth, there can be no healing, by Sarah Rose Harper, Lakota People’s Law Project, 6/2/2021
Don’t make orphans stand here covered in the blood of our parents and explain to you how this all came to be without doing something about it
Sarah Rose Harper, Lakota People’s Law Project
I’ve been writing about the Native residential schools for years. The latest, horrible news is the discovery of the remains of 215 Native children at the Kamloops Residential School.
As another example of how much I admire and appreciate my Native friends, in the midst of all they face, in this re-opening of deepwounds, one friend took the time to respond to what I’ve been writing, offering me encouragement. He said “I’m trying not be enraged in my mourning.” And “we’ll figure something out.”
An article I highly recommend is The Tragedy of 215. Without truth, there can be no healing by Sarah Rose Harper, Lakota People’s Law Project, 06/02/2021 And as stated below from the Lakota People’s Law Project, Please sign and share our petition to Congress and the president. Tell them to form a Truth and Healing Commission today.
As much as I’ve studied the Native residential schools, I hadn’t understood the even more sinister reasons why they were created. It was horrible enough that the schools were created to destroy the children’s culture, and far too often their lives. The justification suggested by the government and churches was that they were attempting to help children adapt to white culture.
But I hadn’t really quite grasped that these atrocities, so cruelly implemented, were to break the resistance of Indigenous peoples. To force them to give up their lands. “Because the children would be hostages for the good behavior of their people.”
During the late 19th century Plains Indian Wars, the Indian boarding school found its primary purchase. The bloody consequences of two bedrock U.S. institutions — African slavery and the killing of Indians — inspired Carlisle’s founder, Richard Henry Pratt, a military man, to embark on a bold experiment to solve the so-called “Indian question,” once outright extermination was no longer palatable. Like many of his peers, Pratt was a Civil War veteran turned Indian fighter. And he came to regard Indian killing as he had slavery — as unsustainable. A radical solution was needed.
As the title of his autobiography — Battlefield and Classroom — suggests, Pratt transposed the Indian wars from the frontier to the boarding school. By removing Native children by the hundreds and then thousands from their families, he thought he could break the resistance of intransigent Native nations. Between 1879-1900, the Bureau of Indian Affairs opened 24 off-reservation schools. By 1900, three-quarters of all Native children had been enrolled in boarding schools, with a third of this number in off-reservation boarding schools like Carlisle.
A U.S. military victory seemed unlikely. Tactics shifted to starving out the militant Lakotas by killing off the remaining buffalo herds, a primary food source, making reservation life not a choice but a necessity for survival. The next step was to undermine customary authority by weaponizing Native kinship systems against reservation leadership. “Carlisle was established to intern, so to speak, the children of leadership,” says Ben Rhodd, “to hold them as hostage, so that their fathers would not be so warlike and resist.”
Pratt’s success at Fort Marion convinced Indian reformers in Congress to authorize the Indian Bureau to turn the old Carlisle cavalry barracks into the first federally run off-reservation boarding school. It was a peculiar assignment: an active military officer overseeing a school administered by the civilian-run Department of the Interior, which itself managed wildlife and Indians. And the first class would be drawn from those most responsible for Custer’s crushing defeat, the Lakotas. In 1879, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Ezra Hayt ordered Pratt to recruit first from Pine Ridge and Rosebud, “because the children would be hostages for the good behavior of their people.”
The U.S. stole generations of Indigenous children to open the West. Indian boarding schools held Native American youth hostage in exchange for land cessions by Nick Estes, High Country News, Oct. 14, 2019
Residential schools were established in an attempt to erase Indigenous people, our culture and our very existence, from our own lands. We lived on these lands long before the arrival of European settlers and well before countries like Canada and the United States existed. Relocating Native nations to remote areas and taking our lands was and is a grave injustice in and of itself. Taking children away from their families and trying to wipe away our native language and our very identity, often by force and violence, is a hate crime. These hate crimes can never and should never be forgotten. There are many Native people around the world, including many Senecas, who still carry the scars and terror of those days. Discoveries like the one at the Kamloops site re-open those wounds.
The terror our people face hasn’t ended. Today, countless Indigenous individuals are murdered or go missing across Indian Country. Our communities have long been the targets of violence, abuse and neglect. It must end.
We pray for the children whose bodies were discovered last week, for their families, and for all Indigenous people who have been the victims of violence and abuse, and for those who remain missing. They will never be forgotten and we will always fight in their memory.”
Seneca Nation statement on discovery of remains of more than 200 Indigenous children at Kamloops Residential School site
Discovery a gruesome reminder of the treatment and terror that generations of Indigenous people suffered at the hands of settlers on our own lands by PRESS POOL, Indian Country Today, June 2, 2021
With a heavy heart but with clear eyes, I write to you today as Lakota Law’s newest team member. Global Indigenous communities are mourning over the recent discovery of a mass grave containing the human remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential school in Canada. This discovery is not the first and will not be the last. Residential and boarding schools occupy a long and bloody, but recent, chapter in the story of Turtle Island’s colonization. The last school didn’t close until 1978.
This reality is not isolated to Canada. America has and will continue to discover similar tragedies. I therefore ask for your solidarity. Please sign and share our petition to Congress and the president. Tell them to form a Truth and Healing Commission today. America must begin to confront its own history of genocide and Indian boarding schools.
We did not stumble upon this undertaking. Our work grew from the same sense of urgency — shown to us by Lakota grandmothers as their grandkids were being stolen by the state — that you are now experiencing as you read about the children found in a mass grave at The Indian Residential School at Kamloops. This “breaking news” is an all-too-familiar reality for Indigenous children and families. Generations of Native communities have suffered from the deadly and traumatizing boarding school experience.
We should not be surprised that countries founded on the ideals of the Doctrine of Discovery — an ideology that supports the dehumanization of those living on the land and their dispossession, murder, and forced assimilation — would have so much to answer for.
I have written an article to attempt to explain this history and its present-day implications for allies. This is not an easy read. It was not an easy write. I wrote it to eliminate the need for any other Native person within our network to suffer by having to explain this senselessness.
Wado — thank you for reckoning with the harsh realities we Indigneous People continue to endure.
Sarah Rose
Social Media Coordinator
The Lakota People’s Law Project
Quakers, social justice and revolution 