The following is an episode from sourcecode. It’s a half-hour look at 4 ongoing indigenous struggles in North America.
The first clip focuses on the dumping of Nuclear Waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah, and the struggles of the Gwich’in in Alaska; The second clip’s on The Grassy Narrows struggle against Weyerhaeuser, Abitibi, and the Canadian government; and the third and final clip is an intro to the ongoing class action lawsuit against the United States — Cobell vs Kempthorne (previously Cobell vs. Norton)
Gwich’in of Alaska; Skull Valley Goshute
“Most Americans know the story of the Trail of Tears; settlers in the New World felt they had more right to the land than the people who were in fact here first. It seems that this attitude has not quite vanished when it comes to Native American land and resources. SourceCode visits the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah where nuclear waste dumping has caused one Goshute member to stand up for preservation of their land…”
Grassy Narrows
“The Grassy Narrows First Nation has lived self-sustainably on their Northern Ontario land for generations. However, imperialism and enterprise has made their way of life all but impossible. Their land has been leased by the Canadian government to logging giants Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi, who have clearcut the forests and poisoned the water with their paper mills. The Grassy Narrows community has tried nearly every avenue for getting the multinational corporations to leave their land, but all pleas have fallen upon deaf ears.”
Cobell vs. Kempthorne
“At a young age Eloise Cobell realized that she was entitled to much more than she had been given. She began asking why her family’s land, of which the government was supposed to be a steward, was turning so small a profit. After being told she wouldn’t understand the accounting, she got an accounting degree and demanded the records. After finding that many records had been burned, and almost all mismanaged, Eloise embarked upon a lawsuit against the federal government for payment owed to thousands of Indians across the country”
