Off the Bookshelf
by Rosemary Brown
Dina Gilio-Whitaker’s As Long as the
Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization
to Standing Rock, offers a very informative and insightful analysis into
the historical and contemporary relationships between Indigenous peoples,
government, academics, and non- Indigenous activists in the United States.
Gilio-Whitaker is an author, journalist,
and environmental activist who teaches American Indian Studies at the
California State University (San Marcos). She descends from the Colville
Federated Tribes located in the state of Washington and is of Okanagan and
Sinixt heritage.
She begins As Long as the Grass Grows
with an account of the 2016-2017 Dakota Access Pipeline protest led by the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Although the pipeline went through, this protest
involved thousands of participants and drew worldwide attention to the
long-standing Indigenous struggle for environmental justice.
She then discusses the rise of the
environmental justice movement and makes a distinction between it and
Indigenous environmental justice. She argues that governments, scholars, and
non-indigenous activists have failed to understand the long history of injustice
created by colonization and white supremacy, as well as the fact that
Indigenous peoples’ relationship with the land differs significantly from that
of non-Indigenous peoples. It is a relationship based on reciprocity and a web
of responsibilities with the land and the natural world. These in turn are
grounded in ceremony and spiritual beliefs.
Next she traces the historical and
contemporary process of colonization, which includes land dispossession and
forced removals from ancestral lands onto reservations; the disruption of
traditional plant and animal food sources, including the deliberate destruction
of the buffalo; termination policies, and impoverishment; and industrial
pollution and contamination related to uranium, coal, copper mining, and
pipeline development.
Gilio-Whitaker also reviews the usually
inadequate responses by federal and state governments to Indigenous activism
for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. These included the creation of
environmental legislation and bodies. A key piece of legislation that did
result was the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975,
which gave tribes more control over programs. Gilio-Whitaker points out that
while this legislation was a positive step forward, it has also meant that with
more control over natural resources, impoverished tribes have faced the dilemma
of trying to balance economic development through resource extraction with
protecting the environment.
She also addresses the tensions that have
arisen among Indigenous and many non-Indigenous activists which weaken the
struggle for Indigenous environmental justice. These tensions arise from the
lack of understanding of the history of colonization and Indigenous culture and
spirituality. They also reflect individualistic as opposed to collective
approaches to the work.
Of special interest to me was
Gilio-Whitaker’s discussion of the key role played by Indigenous women in
fighting for environmental justice as well as her description of tensions that
arose at Standing Rock among women in the protest camp. Non-Indigenous women
arrived with no understanding of Indigenous protocols related to ceremony. As a
result, they came unprepared to dress appropriately with long skirts, and to
not take part in ceremonies during menstruation. There was a complete lack of
respect not only for protocol but in acknowledging where the leadership lay.
The book ends with some examples of
campaigns in which non-Indigenous people have been willing to re-examine their
world views and to respectfully follow Indigenous leadership. For
Gilio-Whitaker these are signs of hope as strong alliances are needed more than
ever as the Trump administration denies climate change, and environmental
protections are rolled back in the US.
While As Long as the Grass Grows
focuses on the United States, parallels exist with the processes of
colonization in Canada. There are also lessons to learn if we are serious about
building the collaborations among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples that
are necessary to ensure the future of the natural world of which we are an
integral part.
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