Native Justice Coalition - Outreach & Research Intern

MISSION

The Native Justice Coalition was formed in 2016 with the intent of being a platform for healing, social, and racial justice for all Native American people. We seek to provide a safe and nurturing platform for Native people based in an anti-oppression framework. We seek to collaborate first and foremost with tribal governments, Native American non-profits, and other Native American led community organizations. Our goal is to bring resources, initiatives, and programming into our tribal communities that are creative, engaging, and transformative. 

PROGRAMS

Anishinaabe Racial Justice Conference- We are proud to announce our inaugural conference taking place in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community on April 13th - 15th 2018. This conference will offer workshops, presentations, and coalition building on racial justice. We are working in collaboration with the following organizations: Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, Red Circle Consulting, Native Justice Coalition, Northern Michigan University - Center for Native American Studies, Michigan Technological University, Showing Up For Racial Justice - Keweenaw Chapter, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. 

Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice - Public story sharing events on racism to bring voice and visibility to our people and communities. We plan to digitally record all the stories into short documentaries for community resources. Concurrently, if requested by the community we will offer private story sharing opportunities as some people may not feel safe to share publicly. To be culturally sensitive we will also offer traditional talking circles if requested by the community.

Anishinaabe Environmental Justice Project - This project provides tools, resources, and a platform to speak about environmental justice in our communities. We will work with tribal communities to provide activities such as: presentations, workshops, and other forms of community action. For this project we want to center and emphasize the Anishinaabe youth voice in our communities. 

Talking Circles - We will provide a safe, confidential, and cultural specific space on subjects including: decolonization, lateral violence, Two-Spirit identity, and racism. 

Four Key Foundations of Our Work

1. Healing Justice – Providing a safe space for healing to occur in Native communities. We believe that in order for Native people to heal from historical trauma and racism, it is important to create this space and provide the resources for our people to heal. Some forms of healing justice may come in storytelling, which is something we want to practice and emphasize through this organization. Similarly, healing justice can address multiple issues; including racism, sexism, addiction, abuse, gender violence, and historical trauma.

2. Racial Justice – In our work we will center Native American people in racial justice and equity work. So often in anti-racism initiatives Native people have been left out of the conversations. In the United States the Black and White racial binary has not only ignored other groups but ignores settler colonialism on Native lands. We seek to change this narrative around and center our people in our work. Addressing current traumas, disparities, historical and generational trauma is a key part of our work.

3. Restorative Justice – Addressing the root cause of historical trauma. Restorative justice emphasizes healing the harm done by the offense and rehabilitating the offender to avoid future harms. Such processes are in line with traditional Aboriginal views of justice. In a sense this work is about returning to the teachings and decolonization. This is an example of restorative justice in a remote Ojibway community - Hollow Water First Nation.

4. Gender Justice – We seek to redefine what gender justice means based on decolonizing gender roles and identities. Gender justice is about decolonizing and also embracing modern times in the many identities we share.