Environmental justice & indigenous resistance focus of Niagara University's 'Transformative Visions' presidential series

By Niagara University

Niagara University will present the third in its “Transformative Visions” presidential speaker series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. Dina Gilio-Whitaker, policy director and a senior research associate at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, will discuss environmental justice and indigenous resistance.

The presentation will be accessible to the community through Zoom at www.niagara.edu/speakerseries102720.

Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) will discuss the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in the centuries-long struggle involving environmental justice activism and policy. The author of “As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock” and co-author of “All the Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans” advocates for modern environmentalists to look to the history of Indigenous resistance for wisdom and inspiration in our common fight for a just and sustainable future.

“As the 2020 U.S. presidential election approaches, the major party candidates have attempted to define the issues and, for better or worse, to offer a vision of how they would seek to transform America and the world,” said the series organizers, Kevin Hinkley assistant professor of political science, and Dr. Dave Reilly, chair of political science. “As Election Day approaches, we can expect to see and hear bold statements about the defining issues of our time and the power of the people to chart our future course. We believe that a fundamentally different approach is needed. The challenges facing America and the world are complex, magnitudinous, and recalcitrant to simple solutions. Niagara University’s ‘Transformative Visions’ series is intended to offer our students a model of inquiry, discourse, imagination and action.”

The next presentation in the series takes place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17. Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of the Alliance of Families of Justice and the first Black woman to serve as executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, will address “Criminal Justice, Policing, and Prisons.”

For more information about the series, contact Hinkley ([email protected]) or Reilly ([email protected]).