As an organization devoted to building Indigenous power, the NDN Collective is deeply aware of the social, political, structural, and historical inequities in our world that have created the current realities of Indigenous Peoples throughout the globe. Centuries of settler colonialism have given rise to the current state of Indigenous affairs throughout Turtle Island, where Indigenous Peoples are among the most invisible, the most unrepresented, the most vulnerable, and the most disenfranchised in our own lands. We also understand that, as colonized people, our experience is not entirely unique; therefore, we stand in solidarity with other groups and ethnicities who have experienced marginalization and dehumanization at the hands of oppressive power structures.
The NDN Collective operates with a racial equity lens, paying disciplined attention to race and ethnicity, while analyzing problems, looking for solutions and defining success equitably, according to our unique, lived experiences as Indigenous Peoples. We don’t just identify the problems. We actively seek and create solutions with the knowledge that our liberation is bound up in the liberation of our human and non-human relatives throughout Turtle Island and throughout the world.
Today, we organize for change where Indigenous Peoples are visible, where harmful stereotypes are laid to rest, where our voices are heard and empowered, and where local and national policies reflect our natural rights to our territories, to restore our languages, our cultures and traditions, and our human rights to live upon an Earth that is healthy and protected.
Our racial equity campaigns seek to grow and expand accurate Indigenous representation in mass media and public education, to create policy change in local and national governments, and to defend the dignity and human rights of Indigenous Peoples who are underserved in their respective territories while we continue to suffer the residual effects of colonization. Through our organizing, we support coalition building, advocacy, and we call upon our allies to do the deep and transformative work of organizing for racial equity in order to bring health and wellbeing back to Indigenous Peoples and to our lands. Together, we can build a future where Indigenous Peoples author our own narratives and shape our futures, according to our most cherished values.
