Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

May 17, 2024

Native Healing at Auraria Campus: Pro-Palestine Solidarity in Denver



Danielle SeeWalker, Standing Rock Lakota, was told by the town of Vail, Colorado, that her artist residency for a mural and workshop was cancelled. SeeWalker said she received a phone call after her artwork, "G is For Genocide," shown here, was printed in a limited edition for support for humanitarian aid to Gaza. Vail's representative called SeeWalker and said, "We don't want to align ourselves with an artist like you, who is too political, and especially somebody who is publicaly aligning themselves with Hamas." During the Healing Event in Denver on Wednesday, SeeWalker said Vail is  silencing artists of color and the freedom to voice opinions. SeeWalker said, "I was extremely shocked," adding that Vail immediately shut down the conversation. "Standing up for our Indigenous Palestinian relatives, that are going through some trauma, that is not us aligning ourselves with terrorism," she said, "Free Palestine." -- Censored News

From Turtle Island to Palestine: Denver Commemorates Nakba

By Alex Binder, Unicorn Riot May 15, 2024

Denver, Colorado — On Wednesday evening, the local Indigenous community hosted a healing event at the Auraria Campus pro-Palestine solidarity encampment. According to a press release for the event, in tandem with the commemoration, the organizers “offered solidarity and healing for the Palestinian community” and also “offered support and encouragement to student protestors at Auraria and Denver University who are demanding institutional divestment from US and international companies that are contributing to the genocide of the Palestinian people.”


Unicorn Riot provided live coverage of the event. Videos Part I and II
Watch:


The Healing Power of the Jingle Dress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufROi8Oq8Zg


Speaking out against ethnic cleansing, and describing the power of the tipi, unified support for Palestine.

The Warrior Society, the Grass Dance, Powerful words from Standing Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufROi8Oq8Zg&t=1446s
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Haskell Indian Nation University students, sisters, read a statement of support from Oyate on the Banks of Wounded Knee Creek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufROi8Oq8Zg&t=1446s


The AIM song. Remembering Troy Lynn Yellow Wood, and the important stance of Red Fawn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufROi8Oq8Zg


Round Dance concludes the Nakba Day Gathering, "From Turtle Island to Palestine"

The Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, happened on May 15, 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution partitioning Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem under a UN administration. The massive displacement and dispossession happened at the hands of Jewish militias, British forces, and then once Israel was established as an independent state, Israeli forces.

“The Native American community acknowledges that Zionism is a racist and colonial ideology that parallels similar ideologies, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny, that resulted in the near total destruction of the Native American population and the near total loss of our homelands.

We urge Indigenous communities around the world to stand in solidarity with pro-Palestinian organizers by supporting the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel and institutions enabling apartheid and settler colonialism.“




Read more:

The Denver Post Editorial -- Vail cancels a Lakota artist for her Palestinian sympathies, chilling her speech

"SeeWalker, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, said she sees many parallels to the genocide faced by the Jews and the killing of her own ancestors in America. She said both people faced massacres and also a cultural genocide. But she also sees parallels with those histories and the plight of the Palestinians."


Videos by Unicorn Riot. Screenshots by Censored News.

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