From Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs, re-posted from Facebook (9/10/2021).
Before you post that #neverforget sentiment tomorrow, ask yourself; in the last 20 years have I told any Black or Indigenous person that they need to “get over it” “move on” “forgive and forget” when they posted about historical trauma? I know for a fact that some of you have. You no longer get to choose what is preserved as collective memory.
An excerpt from Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs’ powerful Thursday morning sermon at the February 2019 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute on Chumash land (“Oak View, CA”). Listen to all 40 minutes of challenge and inspiration here.
The principle of non-Indigenous environmental justice work could be summarized like this:
The earth is our greatest natural resource and it is incumbent upon us to protect it.
Sounds good, but it is wrong. Because when viewed from an Indigenous perspective, we would state it like this:
The earth is our most sacred relative and it is incumbent upon us to protect her.
The Earth has an identity. The Earth lives. She breathes. She moves. She thunders. She nourishes.
