Dear Email, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a grassroots organization dedicated to educating the American public on Palestine and its indigenous heritage honors the indigenous people of North America today. This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the history, the perseverance, and the power of the Indigenous people in North America and around the world. From the Philippines to Hawaii, and the mainland United States to Palestine, the indigenous struggle remains more important than ever. How we react, respond, mobilize, and organize in the face of modern-day colonialism and occupation is what will set us apart in history. White supremacy and the ugliest form of colonialism operate on the misappropriation of land, the abuse and persecution of indigenous populations, and the erasure of indigenous history. To honor truth, we must relearn American history in understanding our role in the movement for collective liberation. To neglect the establishment of America as a settler-colonial project that conducted ethnic cleansing against its native inhabitants is to be dishonest. To misunderstand settler-colonial expansion of Europeans in North America as “Manifest Destiny” is to commit another erasure of native history and struggle. President Joe Biden’s proclamation to commemorate Indigenous People’s Day is not enough to compensate for the centuries of genocide and suffering of the indigenous people of this land. The fact that the President of the United States is making such statements is also a testament to the determination of indigenous communities of this country to continue their struggle and that the fight against colonialism and erasure has never ended. However, one cannot be selective in their moral stance. Biden’s acknowledgment of indigenous suffering at the hands of European colonizers is welcome but dismissal of indigenous Palestinian rights reflects how this administration is selective in their morality as the US continues its complicity in the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their indigenous homeland. Frantz Fanon once said, “For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity." Our connection to the land is essential in the grounding and protection of a nation. When this land, alongside cultural, linguistic, and communal practices is stripped from a people: the colonizer neuters the community and is able to exploit, separate, and harm it. AMP affirms our commitment to the struggle of indigenous people in the US and around the world. As Palestinians, we respect and pledge solidarity with those fighting the same fight for truth, justice, and liberation. |
