On Indigenous Peoples Day, Let's Discuss Big Oil's War on Native Rights

This summer, Anishinaabe Tribal Nations throughout the Great Lakes celebrated an achievement: Wild rice, called manoomin in our language, was growing in thick and golden clumps from the lake bottom. Using push-poles and traditional bundling to re-seed the waters, we have long tried to revive this aquatic plant from habitat loss and climate change. Manoomin to us is more than just a nutritious food or commodity; it's a sacred gift that brought our people to settle these shores. It is the keeper of a culture. To this day, manoomin plays a significant role in our traditions. But to protect our manoomin, we must protect our own existence here, and across the country we call Turtle Island. To do so, we need to win a war waged by the fossil fuel industry—the war against tribal sovereignty.