[♪♪♪]
[bird tweeting]
-Our next speaker
is a woman whose dedication
to the sacredness of life
and re-weaving Indigeneity
into community
is legendary.
There is a saying
in Iroquois country,
"If you want something done,
get a Mohawk to do it."
-[laughter]
-There is no better
living proof of this
than Katsi Cook.
Katsi is indeed a member
of the Mohawk Nation,
one of the Six Nations
of the Haudenosaunee,
or Iroquois Six Nations
Confederacy.
Her community of Akwesasne
straddles northern New York,
southwestern Quebec,
and southeastern Ontario.
This is an important
but little-known fact--
In the mid-1800s,
when early suffragettes
in upstate New York
looked for examples
of where women's perspectives
were valued,
they found their inspiration
in the Haudenosaunee,
or Iroquois Six Nations.
In Sisters in Spirit,
Sally Roesch Wagner
describes many of the ways
that Haudenosaunee culture
is designed
to maintain
a balance of equality
between women and men.
In their culture,
the women of the longhouse
are responsible
for selecting their chiefs,
after observing the boys
carefully
through their young lives,
to see which of them embodies
the characteristics needed
for leadership.
The women also have the power
to revoke the chief's title
and authority
if they feel
he's not serving the community
well.
-[applause and cheering]
-[Nina chuckles]
Seems like a good idea
to me.
Unleashing the potential
that exists
within the North American
Indigenous world
is the impetus
behind
Katsi Cook's lifelong work.
After decades
of connecting people, purpose,
and initiatives,
she is renowned especially
for two related reasons--
she has been the most important
visionary leader
in the revitalization
of traditional
Native American midwifery,
and is one of the earliest
and most influential researchers
on environmental health impacts
on Indigenous people.
Among other achievements
in the realm of childbirth,
Katsi, who is herself
the mother of five
and grandmother of 11,
co-founded the National
Aboriginal Council of Midwives
of the Canadian Association
of Midwives of Canada.
She was
the Founding Aboriginal Midwife
of the Six Nations
Birthing Centre
in Ontario
and has been honored
by her colleagues
to present
the North American keynote
for the June 2017
International
Confederation of Midwives
conference
in Toronto, Canada.
Katsi has also long been
a leading local, national,
and international activist
working at the intersections
of environmental health
and justice
and reproductive health
and justice
at the tribal
and federal levels.
Katsi brings
a unique perspective
to environmental justice,
drawing
from her people's
longhouse tradition,
which views the woman
as the first environment.
In 1981, she initiated
the famous
Akwesasne Mother's Milk Project,
which launched groundbreaking,
highly influential studies
on PCB and heavy metals
contamination
in her community.
But we've invited Katsi here
this year
to talk
about a major new chapter
in her already illustrious
career.
Katsi is currently
a program director
at NoVo Foundation,
where she has been charged
with designing
and operationalizing a program
to support the leadership
of North American
Indigenous girls and women.
This is part
of NoVo's Indigenous
Communities Initiative
that exists to support
Indigenous community-led work
in exploring the relationship
between and among five things--
harm to Mother Earth
and violence
against women and girls.
That's one.
Indigenous cultural expression,
Indigenous education
and language immersion,
healing from historical trauma
and the oppressions
of the boarding school era,
and the leadership
of North American
Indigenous women and girls.
These priority areas
are congruent
to the calls to action
delineated by Canada's Truth
and Reconciliation Commission,
on which Katsi currently serves
as a member
of their elder advisory
committee.
-[applause]
-Yeah. Really.
And founded
by Jennifer and Peter Buffett,
NoVo Foundation
is a philanthropic organization
dedicated
to catalyzing a transformation
in global society,
moving from a culture
of domination and exploitation
to one of collaboration
and partnership,
investing in women and girls
as the primary agents of change.
-[cheering and applause]
-It's hard to imagine
more timely and important work
or a better person
to take it on.
Please join me
in welcoming the legendary,
the amazing Katsi Cook.
-[cheering and applause]
-This painted and beaded hide
that appears in the background
of this frame
embodies the spiritual power
of maize, or O:nenste,
what is commonly called corn.
And the standing stalk,
or the spine
running down the center,
represents the spine
of leadership in balance.
I begin with this image
because it serves
as a visual prayer
and acknowledgement
of the renewal
of our communities
through the life and spirit
of the maize,
which in Mohawk
is called O:nenste,
the sacred covering
of the male and female presence,
from whose spirit
we learn the art of reproduction
of bodies and culture
and the art of midwifery.
This quote from Yvette Collin,
president
of the sacred healing circle
that works to preserve
the ancient
Native American Horse
through its Spirit Horse
Preservation Program.
Along my journey,
I realized that the world
has done a great deal
to separate women
from one another,
so much
that the healing occurs
when opportunities
are presented,
that helps us to see
that we're not isolated,
and that women
share the same experiences
and feel similarly
about them.
Once we realize this,
we can decide to make changes,
demand changes.
The leadership program
aims to strengthen the capacity
of Indigenous communities
to address
pressing systemic problems
and oppressions
through investing in
and elevating
the inherent power
of the undervalued assets
of North American
Indigenous women and girls.
This patterned flight behavior
of starlings
reveals
that individual birds in flight
coordinate their movements
based on observations
of the six to seven birds
around them,
calling to mind
Malcolm Gladwell's
six degrees of separation
elucidated in his book,
The Tipping Point.
Bioneers loves biomimicry,
but these patterns are based
in physical laws,
not biology.
At a recent visit
to Matho Thipila, Bear's Lodge,
I learned
that the six-sided columns
created by natural forces
working on this sacred site
are the strongest structures
in nature.
And here are more examples
in nature
of this preference
for the six-sided structure.
Darwin, in the 1800s,
wrote about the bees
and their hexagons
as the most efficient
use of resources
in storage.
And so this model
of community health governance
is one of the literatures
on which we base our thinking
in establishing the design
of the leadership program,
because it speaks
to the extent
to which people in a community
are able to realize
their aspirations,
satisfy their needs,
and cope
with their environment.
Beginning in August of 2016,
we worked with an outfit
called Netcentric Campaigns
in Washington, D.C.
because they have
more than 15 years' experience
in building advocacy networks.
They believe
that there are seven elements
that make networks powerful,
and that the fundamental
first step
to building a network
poised for action
is building strong bonds
between the people
in the network.
And, in fact,
that is the underpinning
of the community health
governance model
of individual empowerment,
building social ties,
and, in that context,
synergy emerges.
Before we could build a network
for the leadership program,
we knew
we needed to better understand
the universe
of existing connections
between Indigenous women.
The wisdom and energy
for a movement is at the edges,
so we needed to push
to figure out
where the edge of activists are,
how they're connected
to each other,
and how we could support them.
So in two national gatherings
held in the past year,
we put out
a request for names
to a cohort of about 43 women,
asking each of them
to submit the names
and contact information
for 10 of their most trusted
connections,
much like the starlings
and the strength
of the six or seven.
And so the deeper inquiry
into those-- next surface
of 10 connections
times 43 initial contacts,
we began to deepen our inquiry
into the landscape
of Indigenous women and girls.
And so it was also partnered
by a digital scan
of social media sites
like Facebook, Tumblr,
and others.
What do these connections
look like?
Netcentrics
did a digital scan
that looked at content
across Websites supporting
Indigenous women's movement.
And here's
a different type of map
that you likely can't read,
but the story
that this reflects
is the connection
between Websites
of organizations serving
Indigenous women and children.
Of the Websites shared,
we analyzed which sites
linked to others.
The largest cluster found
was around
the National Indigenous Women's
Resource Center
in Lame Deer, Montana,
with 55 other people
linked to this site.
Some sites are isolated,
like LittleWound.us
and bia.gov.
No surprise with bia.gov.
And finally,
we looked at conversations
across social media,
the social media connections.
Where are North American
Indigenous people
going to talk
about topics related
to violence around women
and violence against the Earth,
as well as cultural expression,
Indigenous language immersion,
historic trauma
and intergenerational
transmission
of that trauma
from the boarding school era,
and other dominations
and oppressions
against Indigenous peoples
of North America.
A lot of recent conversation
emerged
around Standing Rock,
which has drawn
international media attention.
Conversations primarily
on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter
were documented.
In one 24-hour period,
there were 14,000 conversations
related to Standing Stone Camp
to the topic on Facebook,
compared to about 500
on all other
social media outlets combined
in the same 24-hour period.
Here is a first glimpse
of the universe of connections
among Indigenous women
across the United States
and Canada.
We asked the women
to share the names of people
they lean on for support
in the areas
of violence against women
and the priority areas
of NoVo's Indigenous
Communities Initiative.
We really only expected
to get around 100,
but in total we were connected
to almost 400 women,
so we know that the universe
is much bigger, deeper,
and more connected
than we can see today,
much like the stars
in the universe.
However, our original suspicion
that there are a lot
of small clusters
and a lack
of strong connections
was confirmed
by these initial results.
From this information,
we see
that there is a relatively low
degree of connectedness
across the movement.
Only 43 women were named
more than once
out of nearly 400 women.
Relationships are fluid
and can never be fully expressed
by a straight line.
The goal of this work
was to be intentional
in the way
we strengthen a network
that empowers women
at the edges,
to open new connections
for them,
and to do things
to build a movement.
So we know that leadership
is an emergent property
of a network in balance.
This is a quote
that was taken from a newsletter
by Rockwood Institute,
and the author I couldn't cite,
so I urge you to dig in
to Rockwood Leadership
Institute's materials online.
But this notion
of the charismatic leader
is something
that is an essential
understanding and practice
that we need
to build into movement,
that this idea
like the starlings
and the connections
of the six
immediately around you
are the real source
of leadership,
and certainly
in my own life cycle,
my accomplishments depended
on many such connections.
And I acknowledge them,
among them,
all of my relatives.
Wahtehkehnowehraton ne akwahtsi:re.
So opportunities
to join together
without judgment
to do good things
are only helpful.
Those leaders
who have learned to walk
in a good way
need help to get in front
of these women and girls
to offer their wisdom
and support,
and so here's an example
of some of the work
that we look forward to
in supporting the work
of Indigenous women and girls.
Here is a scene
from the culminating moment
of a puberty rite
in my community
called Ohero:kon,
where we ritualize our youth
in a four-year cycle
that can go beyond
as they come back
to the first year of initiates
and support them
in their development
and their growth.
We provide, like the corn,
the husk, layers of protection,
education, information,
safety,
thinking
as our co-president at NoVo,
Jennifer Buffett,
has expressed,
that children
need to feel safe,
to feel acknowledged,
and to be celebrated,
and so, in order
for these teachings,
these learnings,
these experiences,
these connections
that you're feeling here
as a participant
in Bioneers--
maybe it's your first time here,
maybe you've been here
every year
since the beginning--
I want to ask you
to participate with me
in an exercise
so that these things
can take blossom, take root
in your heart
and in your spirit.
And so, like the previous elder
of this morning,
I ask you to relax in your seat
where you are,
fix that wedgie.
-[laughter]
-Get comfortable.
You might want to take
four deep breaths
into your belly.
[breathing deeply]
Centering yourself
inside of your own spirit...
Inside of the four directions
of your own being.
Closing your eyes,
knowing that I'm not here
to entertain you,
but to guide you
to the sacred space
in each and every one of us.
I'm going to share with you
a song
that is sung
at the American Horse/
Afraid of Bear Sundance,
when the morning star rises
on the horizon
about 3:30, 4:00 in the morning,
the most sacred moment
when all of the Earth
stands still.
These words sung in Lakota--
and these words and this song
come from
our Uncle Laru Afraid of Bear--
are to acknowledge
the sacredness
of that moment
where anything is possible.
And so the words mean
a vision of the morning star,
the morning star
standing on the horizon,
all over the world.
Look at it.
Hold this morning close.
[singing]
[song ends]
Niawen ohontsia,
tsi saterientere tsi niiot
Niawen Karakwa,
tsi sehnorohnkwa neh onkwehonwe
Thank you,
Grandmother, the Earth.
You love the people.
Thank you, Grandfathers,
the Sun and the Rock.
You know the way.
You love the people.
[speaking her native language]
Thank you.
-[applause]
