Under the tall prairie grass outside this southwestern Minnesota town lies a precious seam of dark red pipestone that, for thousands of years, Native Americans have quarried and carved into pipes essential to prayer and communication with the Creator. Only a dozen Dakota carvers remain.
Indigenous people have a "fundamental role" in protecting the planet from "unprecedented" social and environmental threats, Pope Francis said during a meeting with participants from the Forum of Indigenous Peoples at the Vatican Feb. 10.
Congress approved the transfer of the land at Oak Flat to Resolution Copper in 2014 in exchange for 6,000 acres elsewhere, but the Western Apache claim that the site has unique spiritual meaning.
The prospect of new protected areas in the 30x30 plan raises alarms for many Indigenous communities around the world, who fear they could be barred from their traditional lands in the name of conservation.
About 25-30 million live Christmas trees are purchased in the U.S. each year. That prevalence makes it one of the most widespread — if mostly unrecognized — American ceremonies. And this ceremony is still developing.
In her book Heathen: Religion and Race in American History, Kathryn Gin Lum traces how the othering use of "heathen" has changed through the years to meet the evolving needs and desires of power and whiteness.
Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, archbishop of Manaus, cited the murder of a British journalist and Indigenous expert in Brazil as a consequence of commercial activity encroaching on Indigenous lands.
Colonialism, attempted cultural genocide and the specific evils of the boarding schools are facts of history. But Pope Francis modeled authentic attempts at reconciliation.
While visiting a remote community in the Arctic, the pope addressed environmental concerns. "This land, like every individual and every people, is also fragile, and needs to be cared for," Francis said.
