An Indigenous Perspective on Environmental Justice
By Serina Fast Horse, Co-Director of the Northwest Environmental Justice Center
Serina Fast Horse and her younger sister.
The day I was notified that I would be a Co-Director of the Northwest Environmental Justice Center (NWEJC) and leading the Institute for Tribal Government’s involvement, I felt a spectrum of emotions wash over me. First, I was thoroughly excited. This is a dream job for me. Ever since my early college days I have felt intensely called to work that integrates meaningful recognition of the need to repair the relationship between people and Uŋčí Makhá—our Grandmother Earth. It is my life passion to do my part to help cultivate this vital healing. Being a Co-Director offers the opportunity to further the work I’ve already been involved with in my own community helping with Indigenous-led land restoration and also to have an even greater impact on cultural shifts and systems change that lead to a healthier planet.
My excitement was joined by a warm, humble gratitude with the realization that my esteemed mentors and colleagues whom I look up to had chosen to entrust me with this role. Their belief in me is incredibly meaningful and affirming as a young professional who works hard to share my gifts with the world in a good way and constantly prays that I walk on the right path. I am so very thankful for this opportunity to use and grow my strengths by serving communities and working toward just futures.
The last emotion to wash over me was a veil of fear that wrapped its way around me and settled in. It was a troublesome fear of failure. Of not being enough to help communities in the ways they need and letting this opportunity to create change languish. I sat with that feeling and a squeezing pressure surrounded me. Worried thoughts taunted me until I banished them with grounding reminders of my first feelings of excitement and gratitude and the reasons behind them. Once I could zoom out, I realized that the fear was a good thing; it meant that I cared. I care about doing well in this role for the communities we are serving, to help them dream for and reach their goals of thriving futures. So, I take my newfound responsibilities of this job very seriously. I know that I have a deep responsibility to our regional communities, and I will honor that responsibility with a strong commitment to give the best of myself to this role and to be responsive to what is asked of me.
When I accepted this position, I had many notions of what the NWEJC could accomplish. These ideas are still growing and evolving as the days go by, but one thread lives through them all: a thread of wellness. For too long us humans have been disconnected from the interconnectedness of all things. This has disrupted the balance of our planet’s sublime symbiotic natural cycles to the point of disfunction. I know in my bones that the only way forward is to restore our relationship to Uŋčí Makhá and show our thanks to all she provides with reciprocal care. And I believe that Indigenous sovereignty provides a key to our collective success.
Environmental justice is a term that elicits different imagery and thoughts depending on who is thinking about it. To me, as an Indigenous woman, when I think of the environment and justice together, I can’t help but immediately remember that Indigenous peoples’ environments have been forcibly stripped away from us, the original injustice of the United States still perpetuated today. Our severed land connection has had devasting and lasting effects on our physical, mental, and spiritual health. To me, environmental justice cannot be achieved for Indigenous peoples until we are reunited with our ancestral lands and waters and reunited with the ability to make decisions about how these places we rely on are taken care of. I believe environmental justice for Indigenous peoples is indistinguishable from repairing and strengthening our sovereignty. It’s the work that we are already doing to protect and restore our cultural practices, languages, and natural resources but with accountability in the form of support from those who hold the benefits of our stolen lands.
Being based out of the Institute for Tribal Government, my role in the NWEJC is focused specifically on serving Tribes and Indigenous communities. My vision is to listen and learn from these communities about what is most important to them in this age of seeing and feeling the effects of environmental degradation and then tap into our network of partners and resources to help build the capacity of these communities to create the futures they envision for themselves. I know that Tribes and Indigenous communities have multitudes of strengths and beautiful dreams for our future generations and sometimes just need some nourishment. I see the NWEJC as being at a confluence of collaboration in our region, to bring people together to build collective capacity for our shared futures.
The decisions and efforts that we make today are vital. I have visions of a time when our waters run cool and clear with salmon returning home at rates we haven’t seen in hundreds of years. I dream of a time when our first foods and medicines are thriving and our communities are out on the land together completing our seasonal rounds without worry. I see the animal nations thriving again. I see modern self-sufficient, self-governed communities living in reciprocity with their environments. Healing is possible and it starts with us being willing to come together in a good way and to play our parts in the work that is needed.
I see NWEJC playing a helpful role in that work. I see us leading with Indigenous values to support Indigenous people’s sovereignty and to build the capacity of our region to synergize on creating just futures for all our relations.