Sunday Service Notes - Claiming Place and Claiming Space: a Perspective from the Indigenous People’s Movement - October 13, 2019

​From the Program: Crystal Cavalier, a member of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, is an active member of the Indigenous People’s Movement in the Americas engaging in broader discussions and activities as well as being a strong voice in North Carolina. She is a keen advocate for indigenous communities and will share her perspective on historical ties as well as current and crucial issues in our region and country, including her work around Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s March. Her service will celebrate the women who have carried us, and those who will continue to carry and guide us, while also honoring those who have been taken.

Service Leader: Rachel McKinney

Visit Crystal Cavalier's website at http://www.crystalcavalier.com/.

Support the Notes from the Service:

• Crystal and her husband, Jason Crazy Bear Keck​​, presented a traditional introduction, discussed the oppression and trafficking of humans, particularly indigenous women and children in NC, talked about their participation in the spring Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s March and issues related to pipeline construction, and offered opportunities to help with these important causes, among other topics. They finished with a traditional song then questions and answers which included a discussion regarding tri-racial experiences. 
• for indigenous communities, specifically, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.  Across the country, and in the Piedmont of North Carolina, we can see evidence of explicit attempts to take and control both land and people and there is a growing need to stand up for our neighbors and the land that sustains all of us. Crystal emphasizes that the construction man camps that the pipelines bring into the affected communities has a link between missing murdered and indigenous women. These camps are everywhere around where oil or coal or mines. Also a draw for drugs and human trafficking. The cause for this is the camps of thousands of male workers who have come to their territory to profit from the pipelines, settling into what are commonly called “man camps”, and more than doubling the population with an influx of workers not from the community.  Women are the creators of life. We carry that water that creates life just as Mother Earth carries the water that maintains our life. So I’m happy to see our people standing here but remind you that when you stand for one, you must stand for the other.\
  
• Opportunities for Extension and Service:
  • Crystal extended an invite to tomorrow (Oct. 14th) Indigenous People's Day 2019 in Burlington, and suggested that there may be similar event closer nearby.
  • Read more about Indigenous Peoples' Day as a replacement for Columbus Day from Smithsonian
  • Visit and get involved in the 24th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration held this year on Saturday, November 23, 2019 from 11am-4pm at the North Carolina Museum of History.
  • Participate in the April 25, 2020 Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s March (link to 2019 event)
  • Support The REDress Project.

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