“I am the river and the river is me.” This Maori saying gained worldwide attention in 2018 when the legal rights of the Whanganui River in Aotearoa were recognized by the Crown government of New Zealand. The River now has a Maori Guardian and a Crown Guardian. This quote has carried me through the journey of learning my place in the Rights of Nature movement including supporting the younger generations who are taking their places and following their original instructions.
There are amazing human beings that are putting their words to action in a number of ways that have been shifting the paradigm in communities that are initiating it. The movement for Rights of Nature has grown exponentially all around the world and is being led by Indigenous people from the Maori to the Mashpee Wampanoag, the tribe of first colonial contact on Turtle Island, also known as the People of the First Light. The Indigenous and youth-led Mashpee Native Environmental Ambassadors (MashpeeNEA) group has shed light to the inspiring pathway for more Emerging Leaders to pursue Rights of Nature initiatives in their communities.
Our first invitation to Mashpee Wampanoag lands was in July 2023, just three months after the tribe’s youth brought Rights of Nature to their tribal council who had unanimously recognized the Rights of Herring.Herring are vital to the Mashpee peoples culturally, spiritually and economically. MashpeeNEA members—ranging in ages from teens to young adults—have become fixtures in the Rights of Nature and Climate Justice spaces demonstrating the power of youth leadership. Movement Rights has been honored to support them on their inspiring journey. This summer we received an invitation to return to their lands for the first ever Indigenous youth-led Rights of Nature Symposium August 12th, 13th and 14th. You can read more about MashpeeNEA and their ongoing achievements here.
Rights of Nature Symposium
“Our ancestors could walk across the Mashpee River on the backs of herring, they were once so abundant. We need to bring them back to thriving.” spoken by Mashpee NEA Youth
The name Mashpee Wampanoag translates to the “People of the First Light” as they are among the first peoples to welcome the sun each morning. They were also the tribe of first colonial contact by the English Pilgrims. For the MashpeeNEA, hosting a Symposium meant getting the chance to share their traditional way of life and their balanced responsibilities as original stewards of the lands of the People of the First Light. Today their coastal Massachusetts territory is a tourist destination, fraught with colonial developments and settlements. Here, Mashpee youth invited guests to their homelands to show others how Rights of Nature is being practiced and how this framework is working for them. Matriarchal Clan Mothers, the Chief, tribal council members, elders and so forth bore witness to the leadership of the Mashpee Ambassadors. Their attendance alone showed a true testament that their teachings are carrying through to the next generations.
Close to 100 participants attended the three day Rights of Nature Symposium. Two of those days were intentionally coordinated to be all Indigenous and one day was open to the public. Folks traveled from Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Carolina and locally. Nearly half of the participants were Emerging Leaders. Emerging Leaders are more than the term “youth” who are normally categorized in age groups, they are the next wave of mentors, educators, wisdom keepers, water protectors and land defenders who are in a transitional phase of receiving support and taking opportunities to use their knowledge and their thinking confidently. Some of these Emerging Leaders attended our past Convenings of the 4 Winds in Oklahoma and Nebraska and have been meeting on a bi-weekly basis sharing space with one another on what it means to them to be part of the Rights of Nature movement.
Cultural Exchanges and Moving Moments of Rights of Nature in Action
My spirit was moved to joyful tears on the final day of the Symposium as we witnessed one of the most profound honorings of the next generations. Amongst the crowd was Climate Warrior and Alaskan herring protector, Louise Brady and a small delegation of Alaska Native people. The evening prior, she shared a film called Herring Protectors, based in her homelands of Sitka, Alaska. Before the screening, she exclaimed that she didn’t know there were other herring fish outside of Alaska, or that the Mashpee herring were fresh water fish. She shared stories about her tribal relationship to the herring from their songs, traditional dances, regalia, jewelry, and how the herring brings their community together.
Large suitcases traveled up and down the hill following Louise wherever she went. Right before the community potluck, those suitcases opened up and revealed commissioned robes that are traditional to the Tlingit Nation. She shared their story about how the Herring Woman was drawn to the water to be with the herring, to fulfill a responsibility that was beyond her life’s wishes. As her story went on, each robe was displayed for the participants and wrapped over the shoulders honoring 5 MashpeeNEA members and mentors. As they turned around, the story was revealed of the herring woman protecting the journey of the herring on the backs of the next generation of herring protectors. She shared a traditional song as the women danced embodying the story and honoring of the deep relationship to the herring.
We are all part of an interdependent system of Mother Earth. A young Eastern Band Cherokee Emerging Leader from NAIWA Daughters, an all young native women’s group approached Louise Brady and gifted her a handwoven keychain. She was again caught by surprise because in Sitka, they too practice hand weaving and she showed a traditional marking on her arm that showed it. The patterns were almost identical from the keychain to her tattoo.
Bartering and trading were actively happening and added another layer into the practice of Rights of Nature. Conversations throughout the Symposium talked about trade routes amongst Native people never ending. Rights of Nature is helping shift the dominant narrative and acknowledging that these practices have been passed down for generations and will continue. Laughter, happiness, stories and instructions were shared during the exchanges that capitalism could never fulfill. Smoked Salmon from California were traded for pickled Herring and canned Quahoggs from Massachusetts, Manoomin Rice from Minnesota, handmade leather pouches, Wampum shell earrings and homegrown seeds were additional trades during our gathering.
An Emerging Leaders and Elders session took place outside at the Mashpee ceremony grounds. It brought back the moment when I was first inspired by the Whanganui River, when I was 23 years old. Although there weren’t groups my age to relay this moving story with, I was honored to have facilitated the importance of this work in the ceremonial grounds lodge where two dozen Emerging Leaders and elders sat.
One Emerging Leader shared their reflections with me who wrote down this quote from Sammy Gensaw:
“They don’t want you to see the beauty in the land that you live.”
This quote spoken during the Symposium was mentioned several times with participants speaking about it and writing it down. It was a reminder for us all that the conditioning by the dominant culture imposes a colonial lens and that as Indigenous people we know our ways will remain. We understand we are in balance and aspects of the beauty of Mother Earth.
Through the MashpeeNEA’s youth-led Symposium we recognize the balanced relationship between the Mashpee Wampanoag and Herring. Their leadership is one that motivates Movement Rights to connect the dots to and for Emerging Leaders all across Turtle Island who are actively developing their skillsets to further the perspective of Rights of Nature.
Movement Rights seeks out existing opportunities like in-person workshops, Rights of Nature webinars, grassroots-led gatherings or conferences for Emerging Leaders. Their participation in these spaces are vital to the movement and will further encourage their experiences as upcoming organizers, mentors, educators and so forth. We have prioritized their attendance supporting them through Native youth scholarships that cover any costs of travel or lodging so they can attend our events with ease. We are currently curating a cohort series for Emerging Leaders who are active in Rights of Nature and want to expand their community organizing efforts, public speaking confidence and Intertribal Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Support Movement Rights Emerging Leaders program that seeks future cohort training for existing or emerging youth groups in Rights of Nature by donating to Movement Rights today!
We are in the streets, in the news and in the courts, providing research and reports, convening strategic gatherings, speaking at the UN, community meetings, regulatory hearings, and more. We work with national and global climate allies, sovereign Indigenous Nations and communities. We have helped thousands of people connect the dots between the critical time we find ourselves in and the solutions that Indigenous people have always known: human activity must take place within the natural system of laws that govern life on Earth. We sit on the steering committee for People Vs Fossil Fuels coalition, and are a co-founder and Executive Committee member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Movement Rights works for climate justice, the rights of Indigenous peoples and the Rights of Nature. Consider making a donation today to support our work.
