Hi John,
We all need clean water – it is vital to maintaining our health, natural surroundings, and our culture. Every living person depends on clean water.
For many Native people here in Wisconsin, water is sacred and provides life to wild rice. The Anishinaabe people were forced to move from their homeland to their current tribal lands in the Midwest region. “That’s why we come here,” says Myron Burns of the Bad River Tribe, “because the prophecy said that we were gonna find a place…where food grows on water.”
Wild rice and water is more than just a resource, it holds spirit, tradition, and culture that tribal people can pass on to future generations.
“If we don’t take the necessary steps to protect that, we won’t have our wild rice,” says Clarissa Bresette of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Our water in Wisconsin is under threat by corporate polluters like Enbridge and their backers like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). It is our responsibility to honor Native culture, protect the water, our health, and most importantly, our future generations.
