Russell Eagle Bear (Lakota) and Ben Rhodd (Potawatomi) will lead an all-day Lakota Seminar benefitting the “Shield the People” Spiritual Camp. Both are Native activists involved in numerous energy related issues on the Northern Plains who work for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in the Cultural Resource Management Historic Preservation Office.
Shield the People is a community movement of the Rosebud Tribe in South Dakota organized to protect the rights of the people, the land, and the water. The organization’s current focus is stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline and other issues devastating our environment and affecting the global community. In March 2014, Shield the People constructed the Spiritual Camp, Sicangu Wicoti Iyuksa, as a symbol of resistance in the direct path of the proposed pipeline.
The seminar will explore topics including oral history, spirituality, star knowledge, customs and laws, Lakota thought and philosophy, plants and animals, and life way of Native society. They will address and assess energy-driven projects such as oil development, pipelines, rare-element extraction and mining, along with direct and indirect effects to the land and water.
General admission is $45 and $20 for students. More information and tickets online. All funds raised will go to supporting the Spiritual Camp.
Location: Dougherty Arts Center Theater, 1110 Barton Springs Road, Austin, 78704
Note: Russell Eagle Bear and Ben Rhodd also will speak at the University of Texas on Friday, November 21, from 3-6 pm in the Glickman Conference Area, CLA 1.302D.