Two Row Wampum Declaration of Intent
Sign the Two Row Declaration of Intent online!
We the People, in the spirit of Truth, Condolence and Healing join with each other in the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign to “polish the silver covenant chain” that ties together the Native Peoples and Nations of Turtle Island (North America) with the people of the United States and Canada in a bond of peace, friendship and environmental responsibility that we intend to honor forever more. We call upon all local, state and federal legislators, executives and judges to honor the spirit and letter of treaties made with Native Nations and peoples on our behalf. We personally and individually promise that we will:
1. Learn about and honor treaties made between Native Nations and European Representatives, commitments inherited later by the United States and Canada that secure for Native and First Nations the right to self-determination and sovereignty to determine their political status and freely choose and pursue their own way of life and; that all problems between our peoples will be resolved by diplomatic means between equals;
2. Correct the one-sided history that inaccurately emphasizes “discovery” and “development” of North America by Europeans while ignoring many thousands of years of accomplishment in governance, agriculture, and arts in the daily life and practices of Native and First Nations peoples;
3. Support full acknowledgement and just amends for deliberate policies to remove Native and First Nations peoples from their lands, destroy the base of their livelihoods, suppress their nations and their governments, undermine and disrespect their cultures, brutalize their children and poison their lands;
4. Work toward fair, just and respectful resolution of outstanding Native and First Nations land disputes which includes the restoration and clean-up of all environmentally damaged lands and waters;
5. Personally care for and respect the natural world on which we all depend and resist energy policies and practices, including hydrofracking, that intensify the looming climate and environmental crises and instead fight for renewable and alternative energy and economic policies that put the well-being of all people and our ecosystems ahead of the accumulation of wealth for the wealthy;
6. Call on the United States and Canada to fully implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Since the beginning of the relations between our peoples, the Two Row Wampum Treaty has been the alternative to removal, assimilation, patronizing (trust/protector) relations and the policies of attempted genocide. We hereby promise to renew the Two Row, to polish the silver chain of friendship between our peoples beginning today and for many generations to come.
Sign the Declaration of Intent online!
Download and print the Declaration of Intent to gather signatures (pdf file).
