native american coalition essays

native american coalition essays Its difficult to draw a comparison between an article about persons in opposition to dam construction in western United States and another article about trends in American consumerism. However, there is an underlying message created in both articles about the current habits of American culture and society. Both articles (Mik Moore's "Coalition Building Between Native American and Environmental Organizations In Opposition to Development" and Juliet Schors "Cleaning the Closet: Toward a New Fashion Ethic"), discuss the publics ignorance to our cultures disassociation from the environment and how groups of people, an awareness of unique beliefs, and ways of life can bring about a social change. Mik Moore discusses the coalition between the Native Americans tribe of Esselen and environmental organizations in opposition to the New Los Padres Dam, which had been planned for the Carmel River in California. He focuses on the importance of the Native American philosophy as a symbolic resource for activism as well as the different strategies between native and non-native activists to stop the building of the dam. Many organizations and others protested against dam construction in California for reasons that the building of the dam would flood places considered sacred and significant in the Esselen Tribe. However, their movement ran into many problems with the town water board and other supporters. They were not recognized as true Indian tribe organizations, which rendered their claims insignificant and invalid, and though groups like the American Indian Movement (AIM) have initiated cultural revitalization programs on the central coast, Native Americans still found themselves co nstantly having to prove their authenticity. The claims they made were that the supporters of the dam were about to destroy a sacred and symbolic site for the tribe. The tribesmen felt that "outsiders" could not grasp the tremendous value the ...