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- By Judith LeBlanc
Guest Opinion. While this isn’t the outcome we were hoping for, we know that an election is just one part of our democracy. As we have in the past, we will continue to fight to protect all that is sacred to us as Native peoples and sovereign Tribal nations.
During his last four years in office, Trump worked to dismantle essential protections to Tribal sovereignty and sacred places. In his first few days, he worked to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Defying the will of Tribal nations, he fast-tracked the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. His running mate has called Indigenous Peoples Day a “fake holiday” and denigrated our two-spirit ancestors. His Project 2025 plans will centralize power in the executive office, an extreme threat to Tribal-federal relations and our rights as sovereign nations to make decisions about policies that impact our lands, resources, and people.
Trump has proposed seizing federal lands to address the housing crisis. This is another extreme risk to our rights as sovereign nations to make decisions about our ancestral homelands. We have a unique and special relationship to the land and all of the natural world. We see these lands — and the entire planet — not as an empty lot to be developed or exploited, but a sacred landscape to manage and protect for the benefit of all future generations.
As we have before, we are poised to fight to protect all that is sacred to us — our sovereignty, our lands, our waters, our resources, and our ways of life as Native peoples. We are prepared to meet the challenges of a second Trump presidency and won’t back down. We will continue to grow our movement and defend democracy, our lands, and our rights as Native peoples.
Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund, whixh is a partner to Native Organizers Alliance.
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