By Megan Hayhurst, Contributing Writer
The Sixth Annual Peace and Justice week at Gettysburg College began on March 21. This year’s theme is decoloniality. Featured keynote speaker Dina Gilio-Whitaker discussed the links between environmental justice and Indigenous tribes.
Whitaker is a Native American descendant from the Colville Confederacy tribe. She is an author, educator, and public speaker who realized her passion for environmental justice and Indigenous tribes while writing her graduate thesis. Whitaker explains that this passion eventually led to her book As Long as Grass Grows. The impact of environmental injustices on Native American culture was highlighted throughout the lecture.
Whitaker said, “Environmental injustice for American Indians is different from all other populations… It begins with invasion, genocide, and land theft.”
Whitaker examined the history of settler colonialism within the United States and the subsequent oppression of Native peoples as ethnic minorities. She spoke on how throughout history there has been an innate entitlement to the taking of land from Indigenous tribes. As a result of this, Whitaker states that there has been a cultural death to Native tribes as their land is taken by American expansionists who claim it for “progress” and “modernity.” She explained the subsequent destruction of land by highlighting the difference between modernity and ecocide.
Whitaker stated that the American acts of “modernity,” such as building dams, have been destructive to Native American communities and culture. She used the case study of Celilo Falls to support this. In the 1930s, the Dalles Dam was an American industrial achievement. However, the dam destroyed a site previously used for tribal fishing and social gatherings.
Whitaker then examined modern connections between environmental justice and Indigenous tribes.
“An entire legal structure maintains the paternalism and hegemonic relationship between the U.S. and Indian Nations,” said Whitaker. She explained that the 1823 case of Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Doctrine of Discovery are core pieces of American Indian law today.
Whitaker stated that for environmental justice to truly happen, there must be recognition of Indigenous knowledge. She stated that Tribal Indigenous knowledge has been undermined in the past through forced religious conversions and boarding schools for Indigenous groups.
“There is not just one monolithic Indigenous knowledge,” said Whitaker. “It is not just theoretical – it is applied knowledge.”
As she concluded the lecture, Whitaker encouraged students to look to research on a subject that has been done in order to enlighten the world with missed truths.
“If you’re an aspiring writer, find what you’re passionate about and work to fill the gaps in the literature.”
