As we greet springtime on Turtle Island, and the birds begin to sing as snow transforms into flowing streams, we take inspiration from the lessons that water offers to us about renewal. In her writings about water as a teacher, Nishnaabeg Author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson asks us, “How do we renew ourselves? How do we renew our communities? How do we create life that brings forth more life rather than ending it?”
Here at NDN Collective, the start of spring brought a renewal to our spirits, both in big, collective moments, like when the politically motivated charges against our CEO and Founder were dropped, and in quiet, solitary moments, like the offerings made to welcome spring back to the land in a good way. We also welcomed our new cohort of Radical Imagination Artists and are excited to support these storytellers, truth-tellers, and visionaries who help our communities see beyond colonial limits and envision a pathway to another world.
These wins, rituals, and reminders renew us for the collective fights that we see on the path ahead. One such fight is Pe’Sla, a sacred site where mining companies threaten to drill. The US Forest Service issued a permit for this desecration that threatens not only the land but the watershed as well. It is in these times that we are called into reciprocity, to defend the land and water that provide us and future generations with life.
