Cultural Conflicts: Shifting Paradigms

Worldwide, indigenous peoples’ struggle is to get national governments to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; which calls for support, protection, and restoration of indigenous traditional knowledge, culture, and spirituality. As a major religious institution, the Catholic Church (Pope Francis) has issued its Laudato Si encyclical, challenging the Catholic community to treat the world as a sacred creation of god, and acknowledging church failure to teach this the past two millenniums. Like an earthquake, paradigms are being shaken and indigenous views have renewed meaning. As Lummis, we pray it is not to late!” About the Lecturer: Jewell Praying Wolf James is a member of the Lummi Nation and was raised on the Reservation by his grandparents. He is currently the director of the Lummi Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office and has been a forceful advocate for worldwide environmental restoration and protection. He is a lifelong activist in efforts to protect forests, rivers and the Salish Sea and salmon habitat. After the 9/11 attacks, he carved three totem poles to honor the victims and these are now stand in Sterling Forest north of Manhattan, in Shanksville, PA, and in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He is the subject of the documentary, “Jewell James: Walking in Two Worlds,” which focuses on his commitment to building bridges of understanding between tribes, and between tribes and the federal government and state agencies dedicated to environmental preservation and restoration. Jewell James is the head of the House of Tears Carvers and a long-time leader of the Lummi Indian Nation. In the past two years, he organized two totem pole journeys to bring attention to the shipping of coal and new oil pipelines that would endanger the land and people along the pathways. In 2013, the journey was 1,700 miles to Wyoming and British Columbia. In 2014, the journey went from South Dakota to the Salish Sea and north to Alberta. The purposes are many: to give people hope, to provide a focus for media attention, to provide a symbol of courage and standing up for our rights, and to honor and support other tribes and organizations who are working to protect the environment