In a lecture Tuesday, two-time vice presidential candidate and founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project Winona LaDuke discussed her motivations for creating change – the cultural teachings of her people and lessons she has learned as a mother.
LaDuke, an Oregon native, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economic development and now lives on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. She ran as the Green Party’s vice presidential candidate in both 1996 and 2000. On Tuesday evening, she spoke about her motivations, her work and ways to effect change to about 200 people in 180 PLC in an event hosted by the ASUO Women’s Center.
As a member of the Anishinabe Native American people, cultural teachings motivate LaDuke’s work.
She said her people’s cultural teachings call for the creation of a society “which is based on a just set of relationships with people, and a just set of relationships with the natural world.”
Motherhood also motivates LaDuke’s political work.
Rules for her kids include: don’t steal, don’t be greedy, clean up one mess before making another and “learn how to say you’re sorry.”
She said society blatantly breaks the standards she sets for her kids. The U.S. government steals land from Native American reservations, American society is obsessed with accumulation, our environment is saturated with nuclear waste and the government is unwilling to be fully accountable for its wrongdoings, she said.
“So the question is… if I tell my children not to steal, should I not tell the government not to steal?” LaDuke said. “I say, ‘Is it wrong to tell my kids not to be greedy?’ No, it is the right thing. But should we not ask the same questions in this larger society?”
She said that despite the challenges society presents, she has seen progress.
She said the Nixon administration planned to expand the production of nuclear power plants to 1,000 sites by the year 2000. Today, she said, thanks to the efforts of committed activists, there are only 109.
She considers the fight against the expansion of nuclear power plants in the United States to have been extremely successful, and added that it’s a vital necessity to cease further production of nuclear energy.
“If you want to know what to do with nuclear waste, first of all you’ve got to quit making it,” LaDuke said. “The bath is flowing over, you’ve got to turn off the faucet.”
Women’s Center Diversity Coordinator Erica Reiko Anderson said she appreciates how LaDuke unites environmental and social issues.
The White Earth Land Recovery Project works for structural change on issues of land, culture and the environment, LaDuke said.
LaDuke did not claim to have a perfect answer – to know The Way to create change – but offered advice based on her experiences. She stressed that change is a gradual process. She’s spent 30 years doing the same political work, she said.
She said that if she were to run for political office again, it would be in Minnesota.
“There’s a lot of things that we have been able to change over the past 30 years,” she said, “but there’s a lot of work to do and that change does not happen overnight. So figure out how to pace yourself.”
The issue of commitment impacted University student Robin Nelson, who attended the lecture.
“If you want results, you must have perseverance and endurance,” Nelson said, who is involved in spreading awareness about genocide in Darfur. “I have to be ready to stick with it.”
LaDuke, who received a standing ovation at the end of her talk, told people to reach outside of their comfort zones and learn how to work with people holding opposing opinions.
“Don’t always say what’s wrong; also say what’s right,” LaDuke said. “Celebrate how much joy there is in life and how much joy there is in movement.”