FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 14, 2024
Rapid City, SD – Today, NDN Collective and other local Indigenous organizations hosted the second annual all-day march, rally, and community event for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, convening over a thousand people to celebrate with live music, spoken word, speeches, a tipi demonstration, and more.
The day was both a celebration of Indigenous resistance and joy and a power building event, where organizers uplifted ongoing campaigns around #LANDBACK, freedom for Leonard Peltier, fighting and adapting to the climate crisis, freeing Palestine, countering racism in Rapid City, protecting sacred land in the HeSapa (Black Hills), and more.
Performers included Tia Wood, Sebastian Gaskin, Bearhead Sisters, Stella Standing Bear, Nevada Brave, North$ide Baby, Miracle Spotted Bear, Keith Secola, Black Stone Drum Group, Santee, Mic Jordan, Autumn White Eyes, Tanaya Winder, and Pte San Win.
Macklemore (aka Benjamin Haggerty) also made a special surprise appearance. Macklemore was featured on NDN Collective’s podcast in April, speaking about his journey to understand the intertwined nature of white supremacy, colonization, oppression, land theft, and more. Macklemore has been outspoken about his support of the end of the occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinian people since last October.
Full coverage of the event can be viewed here.
High quality photos of the event are available on request – please contact cabot@ndncollective.org.
“Today is a victory for our people – we organized, and we reclaimed this day,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective. “No matter what they have ever done to take our language, our land, our culture, today is a testament that colonizers have failed. We have a responsibility to keep marching, doing our ceremonies, dancing, praying, and speaking truth to power. The colonizer wants us to hang our heads low – on days like this, we remind ourselves to hold our heads high.”
“Today is about celebrating the creativity of Indigenous people — something we don’t always get the chance to do, because we’re always having to resist and fight violent colonial systems,” said Sunny Red Bear, associate director of organizing at NDN Collective. “When I looked around today, all I saw was a giant family connecting with each other and taking up space in our own homelands. I felt so safe today — events like today are part of the foundation for the world we’re building, where all Indigenous people feel safe, all the time.”
“I feel incredibly honored to be on this stage – out of all the stages I’ve been on this year, this is the most important one,” said Macklemore (aka Ben Haggerty). “I watched the film Lakota Nation vs. the United States soon after October 7th of last year. I was moved by this film – what I saw is a story that is happening right now in Palestine, and it happened here. We are being called as a people to rise up against systems of oppression, against white supremacy, rooted in love and community.”
###
NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.