RIGHTS FOR OUR WATER RELATIVES

We kicked off an 8 day Water Rights Caravan in Sioux City, Iowa and ended in Davenport, Iowa. The caravan was lead by 9 women and femme folks that followed the Missouri River south through reservations and cities all the way to the confluence of Mississippi River and then go north back into Iowa. Our goal was to bring BIPOC folks that are at the frontlines of the water crisis together to share knowledge about issues that they face in their communities surrounding water health. At this point of the climate emergency, the rights of our water relatives has never been more important, especially since Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri face some of the worst water quality in the country and all those toxins and silt eventually make their way to the Gulf South. We stopped in Sioux City, Winnebago Nation, Omaha, Ioway Nation, Kansas City, St. Louis and the Quad Cities. The wonderful women and Femme folks that are hosted this caravan are listed below along with pictures from the events.

Check out the events below on our Great Plains Action Society Facebook or Instagram Pages.

Monday, November 11 @ 12 - 1:30 PM

Farmers Market

Winnebago Nation

515 Buffalo Trail,Winnebago, NE

Monday, November 11 @ 5 - 6 PM

Terrace ballroom

Marriott Riverfront

385 E 4th St, South Sioux City, IA

Tuesday November 12

Water Ceremony @ 4 - 5 PM

Dinner and Lecture @ 5 - 6:30 PM

The Greenhouse Apartments, 1st floor

900 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE

Wednesday, November 13 @ 1 - 2:30 PM

Baxoje Woshkaci

Ioway Nation

2338 330th Ave White Cloud, KS

Thursday, November 14 @ 3 - 4 PM

1739 Gallery

1739 Walnut Street

Kansas City, MO

Friday, November 15 @ 3 - 6 PM

Rustic Roots Farm

11735 Eckert Lane

St. Louis, MO

Sunday, November 17 @ 1 - 4 PM

Grand Lobby

Putnam Museum

1717 West 12th Street

Davenport, IA

We carried out these events with other organizations along the way such as Rise for EJ, Project Beacon - Omaha, Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition, Young Lions Roar, 1739 Gallery, COYA'S CAFE, Rustic Roots Sanctuary, R-EATZ, Angel De Cora Museum and Research Center, The CREW and Lance Foster.⁣ Funded by the Clean River Advisory Council through the Quad Cities Community Foundation and the Midwest Environmental Justice Network.

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Thank you to Aissa Dearing, Pascale Nobiss and Sikowis Nobiss for the pictures.

Caravan Participants

We are very grateful to all our participants who worked so hard and are so dedicated to the water and the health of all living things on our Earth Mother. Women, girls and femme folks joined from across Iowa, Nebraska, Minneapolis, the Gulf South and the Southwest representing tribal and BIPOC communities.

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Great Plains Action Society has been fighting for the Rights of Nature for all living things since our inception. Rights of Nature “is the recognition that our ecosystems – including trees, oceans, animals, mountains – have rights just as human beings have rights. Rather than treating nature as property under the law, rights of nature acknowledges that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles.” (GARN.com) This is nothing new to us. From our Indigenous perspective this is how all such entities must be treated and were treated by our ancestors before invasion by colonizers.

Iowa is the only state whose borders on the East and West are made up of the MIssissippi and Missouri Rivers. Iowa is also the number one contributor to the

Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico due to colonial-capitalist farming practices and home to themajority of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which cuts diagonally across the state. This is why we started fighting for the water in Iowa and it is our home base for building a Water Rights Coalition in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. They are states where Indigenous genocide and colonization of the land was very intentional for colonial-capitalist farming purposes. Our goal is to protect, conserve, and restore the water systems linked to Missouri and Mississippi river basins in these states.

Gaining Rights of Nature means building power. We are carrying out cutting edge ReMatriation, land stewardship, and healing justice work for Indigenous Peoples across Iowa and Eastern Nebraska.

PAST EVENTS

Mississippi River Summit - May 11-14, 2023

From May 11-14, 2023 in the Quad Cities of IA and IL, Great Plains Action Society hosted the first BIPOC centered Mississippi River Summit in Iowa. We brought 40 leaders and specialists from the Headwaters of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico to talk and network about their respective fights to keep the water safe and healthy. We have delved deep into our networks and invited amazing leaders and changemakers from Indigenous, Black, Latino/Latina, and Migrant communities. The time was utilized for grassroots assessments, specialist lectures, a tour of the Mississippi, and community-building exercises.

Water knows no borders but colonial governments and greedy corporations refuse to stop the horrific practices taking place in Iowa that is affecting all living things downstream. This is why grassroots folks must do the necessary work to ensure the health and safety of the Mighty Mississippi and all that rely on clean water.

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Summit Attendees

Meet the leaders that attended the Mississippi River summit, which was focused on centering and advancing the leadership of BIPOC organizers from racially marginalized communities working to protect water, natural places, and sacred spaces.

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Thank you to the Walton Family Foundation for believing in the Mississippi River Summit and giving us the capacity to make it a reality. Thank you to the The Joyce & Tony Singh Family Foundation and Prairie Oaks LLC for additional support and help with on-the-ground organizing.

A very special thank you goes out to Moselle Singh, the amazing artist and organizer behind Drawn From Water. Moselle's artistic talent and dedication to a job well done is what truly elevated this event from an everyday convening to a beautiful experience.

Walk for River Rights - May 13, 2023

On May 13th at 11:30 AM at the Schwiebert Riverfront Park, Mississippi River Rights Summit attendees joined the Quad Cities community for a Walk for River Rights in solidarity as one River community advocating for Rights of Nature for the Mississippi River and for the rights of all communities whose lives are supported by the waters. If you’d like to learn more, visit our event page on Facebook or Instagram.