The ongoing struggles of the Standing Rock Sioux community and the multitudinous tribes that have joined in protest in North Dakota has inspired Apogee Journal to facilitate and curate a folio about dispossession, resistance to dispossession, erasure, alienation and other forms of state-sanctioned violence against indigenous peoples.
The struggle of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota is unique yet shared among American Indian tribes in the United States, all of whom are intimate with the experience and consequences of dispossession of land, culture, and life. In an interview with Amy Goodman, Ojibwe activist Winona LaDuke passionately reiterated:
“…what you get is intergenerational trauma, is what it is known as, historic trauma. And other people have it. … You look out there, and you see—every day you wake up, and you see that your land was flooded. And that big power line that runs through this land, that doesn’t benefit you. You still have to—you know, everything that is out here was done at your expense, but you still have to pay for it. And every day you go out there, and some—you know, you got a roadblock, that the white people put up, coming into your reservation. And every day you go out there, and you look at your houses, and you see that you’ve got crumbling infrastructure, and nobody cares about it. And you’ve got a meth epidemic, and you’ve got the highest suicide rates in the country, but nobody pays attention. You know, and so you just try to survive. That’s what you’re trying to do. Like 90 percent of my community, generally, I would say, is just trying to survive.”
Apogee Journal invites you to share your poetry, prose, ephemera, visual art, photos, videos, and experimental media with us for the curation of this folio. We will consider all mediums and formats. We will publish works in an effort to strengthen a sense of community, inspire dialogue, and amplify the spirit and demands of those who have been and continue to be violated. This folio is to be a space for marginalized voices.
Please share your experience with us by emailing joey@apogeejournal.org by October 31st.
