Attending: Jim Bigelow, Nona Rae, Joan Williams, Tom Neale,  Debbie Foster
Agenda:

• Opening words :
  • “European colonizers found in the Americas thousands of complex, sophisticated, and sovereign Tribal Nations, each with millennia of distinct cultural, spiritual and technological development. Over millennia, they bred, cultivated and showed the world how to utilize such plants as cotton, rubber, chocolate, corn, potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco.” — NCAI President Fern Sharp
  • We acknowledge the past and present genocidal actions against the Tribal  Nations by  European colonizers and the citizens and government of the United States.
  • We also acknowledge that we who are not a member of a Tribal Nation are the beneficiaries of the genocidal occupation of the  lands claimed by the United States.
  • Locally, we the non-native residents of the Boise valley acknowledge that before the discovery of gold and the genocidal occupation, this was the Peace Valley were native people of the Shoshone, Bannock an Nez Perce met peacefully.
• Introductions & a brief reason for being here
  • Jim Bigelow –  honoring the UUA 8th principle  and the UUA AIW: Addressing 400 yrs of White Supremacist Colonialism
  • Nona Rae – interested in what we have done the Indigenous Peoples
  • Joan Williams — looking for other ways to interact with Indigenous peoples
  • Tom Neale – want to find ways to interact with our Indigenous neighbors with respect, equality,
  • Don Stepich — here to find out where this might go from .  Would like to partner with the Keesler-Keener foundation,
  • Debbie Foster: felt  that the  March workshop was great and wants to continue
• Next steps following the Toward Right Relations with Indigenous People workshop. Possibilities:
  • forming  a BUUF ministry for working on Indigenous Relations or
  • continuing as part of the Racial Justice Ministry
  • individual rather than group efforts
    • Joan want to learn how to respect and support indigenous people and
    • Tom: we should move slowly and cautiously, learning.  Tune into legal needs and expenses and offer support.  very much in a learning process.  We have a beginning relationship with the Duck Valley community.  Still under covid restrictions.  When things open up, visiting people in the reservations.  Try to be a good neighbor with the Tribal Nations
    • Nona: it’s good that we’ve made a start with the Duck Valley people.  Stay within the Racial Justice Ministry rather than a new group.
• Tom: to everyone: please be aware through the media of the things going on with the local tribal nations. 
• Joan & Don: let’s work with people who are already working to build relations — Kessler-Keener and Anti-Bias Study Group
• Jim:  Action Item — Connect with the Kessler-Keener people to work with them going forward.
• Next time — send a reminder w/ connection information the day of the next meeting.
• Next meeting date:  5/18 7pm

Supplemental Information for discussion:

• Continued learning  (Learning IS Doing): reading Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
  • Mark Bussolini has a copy to lend and the Boise Public Library has copies
  • Further reading: Reading List from Kessler-Keener Foundation
• Community Partners:
  • Kessler-Keener Foundation: KesslerKeener.org
    • By bringing together peoples of diverse cultural backgrounds we are creating a new story in Idaho of respect, understanding, friendship and change.
    • We expand our reach of cross-cultural education through arts literacy and experiential interaction by hosting Native non-Native conferences and weekend retreats, by bringing together adult mentors and youth to engage in the Mentor Artists Playwrights Project and through the Cultural MAPPing Workshop, a place for safe discussion.
  • Anti-Bias Study Group
    • a small group of retired educators, concerned citizens and members of the Kessler Keener Foundation who have formed an anti-bias study group to expand our understanding of white privilege and structural racism, with particular focus on Native truth, the on-going impacts of colonialization, and the marginalization of Native voices.
    • We are interested not only in our own learning but fostering much needed change locally in the Boise school system, with the long-term goal of developing understanding of Native history and identity, colonialism and white supremacy in Idaho and providing resources to improve the pedagogy surrounding these topics.  To that end, we are currently working on:
      • The Native Voices video series: a small collection of short videos in which members of Idaho tribes share stories about their culture and history that will be made available to fourth grade teachers when they teach Idaho history.
      • The Little Library of Social Justice for Young People: a traveling library that celebrates people that have too often been overlooked and voices that have not been heard with a collection of children’s books about the history, culture, traditions and contemporary challenges of Indigenous peoples and communities of color as told by members of these communities.   We hope to soon have this library ready for loan to classroom teachers or individual families and would love to share it with the BUUF community.
• UUA 2020 Action of Immediate Witness: Address 400 Years of White Supremacist Colonialism
  • Continue to gather in solidarity with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Standing Rock nation, and all Indigenous peoples struggling to preserve their lands, waters, peoples, sacred sites, and sovereignty;
  • Continue to push for release of Indigenous Water Protectors from prisons, end public policies that criminalize resistance to extractive colonialism, and adopt a vision of prison abolition;
  • Work nationally, statewide, and locally on public policy that is decolonizing – such as establishing Indigenous Peoples Day, including Indigenous peoples’ histories in public education curricula, and eliminating racist monuments, flags, and mascots;
  • Work to stop and reverse ecological harm in genuine collaboration with and taking leadership from communities most consistently and harshly impacted by extractive exploitation of land, water, air, and all beings;
  • Research, identify, and acknowledge the Indigenous peoples historically and/or currently connected with the land occupied by congregations, and find ways to act in solidarity with or even partner with those Indigenous peoples; and
  • Examine practices relative to Indigenous peoples, particularly the narratives regarding UU origins and US holidays including Thanksgiving.
• Learning the History of Indigenous Nations v. U.S. of American
  • 1778-1820s: Treaty Era
  • 1820s-1850 Removal era
    • Trail of Tears 1830s (1838)
  • 1850s-1890 Western Expansion Indian Wars, Reservation Era
    • Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868
    • Battle of the Greasy Grass 1876
    • Dawes Allotment Act 1887 (Land Run)
    • Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890
  • 1890-1934 Allotment/Assimilation
    • Carlisle Indian Boarding School 1897-1918
    • Code of Indian Offenses 1883-1934 (Outlawed religions)
    • 1924: Indian Citizenship Act
  • 1934-1953: Self- Government Era
    • 1934: Indian Reorganization Act (tribal self-government)
  • 1953-1968 Termination Era
    • 1952: Urban Indian Relocation Program
    • 1953: Terminated Tribal Status
  • 1968-Present Self-Determination Ear
    • 1969-1971: Occupation of Alcatraz
    • 1972: Trail of Broken Treaties
    • 1973: Wounded Knee Incident
    • 1990: NAGPRA – Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act
    • 2012: Idle No More Movement:  A grassroots movement for indigenous sovereignty, indigenous rights and respect for the treaties. Goals include stopping environmental degradation and economic and social inequality.
    • 2016: #NoDAPL Encampment of Water Protectors
    • 2020; McGirt v. Oklahoma: Much of the eastern portion of the state of Oklahoma remains as Native American lands of the prior Indian reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes,