By Danny Beaton
 
In Memory of Alicja Rozanska
 
There are old ones who still communicate with stones, bones, skulls, feathers, plants, and know the songs to honour the natural world and spirits. Our ancestors worked with the spirits, water, fire, air, earth, the drum, prayers, and songs for harmony and fertility. They walked the Earth in harmony and respect for the Universe and Creation/Great Mystery.

Since 1970, every year on April 22, people across the globe join together to celebrate Mother Earth. In 2009, the UN General Assembly proclaimed April 22 as  International Mother Earth Day . For many Indigenous Peoples, we celebrate this gratitude every day. "As our bodies originated of her, we properly regard her as our Earth Mother. Her life is our life.

On April 22-24, 2020, Native rock musician Robby Romero (Apache) will be one of the headliners of Mother Earth Day Live, a three-day livestream commemorating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, to be held this year as part of efforts to promote social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo: Sign warning "Use of PPE is obligatory" by oil well sites in Nuevo Andoas, Peru. Photo by Danielle DeLuca

Resguardo Indígena Inga San Miguel de la Castellana aims to strengthen the Inga language among youth in the Villagarzón municipality of Colombia.  They have seen much success since benefitting from a grant from Cultural Survival’s Keepers of the Earth Fund.

On March 27, 2020, in the midst of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell was informed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the Tribe’s reservation will be “disestablished” as ordered by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt.
 

Securing Indigenous Land Titles 

By Octaviana Trujillo, Laurie Smith Monti, and Gary Paul Nabhan
 

Jerhy Rivera Rivera (Brörán), un líder Indígena costarricense, fue asesinado en la noche del 24 de febrero de 2020, en la comunidad de Mano de Tigre, San Antonio, en el territorio Indígena de Térraba, Puntarenas. Esta fue la segunda muerte de un defensor Indígena en Costa Rica en menos de un año. Su muerte ocurrió dos semanas después de que el líder Bribri Mainor Ortiz Delgado sobrevivió a un disparo en el muslo derecho en la comunidad de Río Azul de Térraba. 
 

El 9 de febrero de 2020, un intruso le disparó a Mainor Ortiz Delgado, un miembro del clan Indígena Bribri Tubolwak, en su granja el Río Azul de Salitre en el suroeste de Costa Rica.

By Ajkej Tezulutlan (Melvin Picón)

Uniting Rural and Urban Indigenous Communities in Peru

Centro Sapichay is working to unite the rural and urban Indigenous communities of the Wanka, Chanka, Ashaninka, Ya’nesha, Awajun, Kana and Quechua Peoples in Peru through an Indigenous-led rapid response network, AWAY (Quechua for “to weave”).  AWAY draws upon shared value systems to support rural communities and facilitate communication between urban and rural members.