In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk with activist, author and Dine leader Mark Charles, who wrote Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery with co-author Soong-Chan Rah.  For two years, Mark led an Indigenous and settler church in Denver before moving to live on the Navajo reservation with his family for 11 years. While on the reservation, Mark became exposed to, began studying and eventually started teaching about the Doctrine of Discovery. But Creator also placed on his heart a desire for truth and conciliation. Six years ago, Mark and his family moved from the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C., and in 2020 he ran as an independent candidate for President of the United States.

For more information:

• Wirelesshogan.com: Mark’s website, with links to his book, videos, podcasts, other writings and Patreon page
• Link to Mark’s Youtube channel, “A Second Cup of Coffee”

In this episode Sarah and Sheri talk about how Indigenous cosmologies have helped form Sarah’s Christian faith and how we both have adopted a creation-centered approach to being an Anabaptist Christian.

Sarah and Sheri talk with Katerina Friesen. Katerina was the lead editor for an educational resource called “Stories of Repair” that provides case studies on how individuals and communities have engaged in restorative justice in response to the Doctrine of Discovery DofD). For anyone who has ever asked “But what do I do?” when hearing about the structural oppression caused by the DoD, this podcast – and the “Stories of Repair” booklet are for you.

For more information:
To learn more about “Stories of Repair” and get a copy, go to https://dofdmenno.org/stories-of-repair/.
https://www.saveoakflatws.com
To learn more about our work, please read Sarah’s book, The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, published by Herald Press in 2021.

In case the links from the previous episode didn’t work here they are one more time.

Sources:
Chapter 7 of Sarah’s book This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.

As always, for more information please consult dofdmenno.org and Sarah’s book.

To make a one-time donation to the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition to fund a full-time salary for Sarah, please go here. Please designate your donation for “Sarah’s salary campaign.”

To find out how much money you make annually from mining, check out this blog post from First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. If you are able to make an annual pledge, email the Coalition with that amount at mennosdismantlingthedofd@gmail.com.

In this episode, Sarah pulls back the curtain to reveal how colonization is continuing — legally — through economic development projects (including “sustainable” development), international aid and through our own financial investments. We also discuss what people of faith can do about this.

Sources:

• Chapter 7 of Sarah’s book This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.
• As always, for more information please consult dofdmenno.org and Sarah’s book.
• To make a one-time donation to the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition to fund a full-time salary for Sarah, please go here. Please designate your donation for “Sarah’s salary campaign.”
• To find out how much money you make annually from mining, check out this blog post from First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. If you are able to make an annual pledge, email the Coalition with that amount at mennosdismantlingthedofd@gmail.com.

Have you ever had a question you wanted to ask a Native American but were too embarrassed to ask? In this recurring episode, Sarah answers your questions. In this episode, questions including:

• What do you think about the movie Pocahontas?
• If a child will be adopted out to a loving family, why doesn’t it matter if the family isn’t Native?
• Aren’t Native Americans immigrants also? They moved around a lot, too.
• Can I become Indigenous to my place by going back to the land or loving the earth or doing ecological restoration?
• My great grandmother was Native American, so I have “Indian blood.” So am I considered Native American?
• Why do so many people claim to be Cherokee, like Elizabeth Warren?
• Is wearing Indian jewelry or hanging a dream catcher, etc. cultural appropriation?

Sources:

• Indian Child Welfare Act: For more information, listen to episode 7 of this podcast, which is all about ICWA.

If you want to submit a question or two for a future episode, please do so at mennosdismantlingthedofd@gmail.com.

Have you ever had a question you wanted to ask a Native American but were too embarrassed to ask? In this recurring episode, Sarah answers your questions. In this episode, questions include:

Do Native calls for land return mean that I have to give up my home?

Doesn’t federal aid form an unhealthy dependency between the government and Indians?

Are casinos bad or good?

A friend has asked me to resist the Line 3 pipeline. But I know Native people who are in favor of the pipeline. Shouldn’t I wait to get involved until all Native people agree?

What about the Cleveland Indians?

Sources:
Shoshone tribe of Death Valley: https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/native-americans-who-found-life-in-death-valley
Lakota land recovery organization: https://makoceikikcupi.com
Chief Wahoo and the Cleveland Indians: https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/07/23/indigenous-groups-respond-indians-name-change/

If you want to submit a question or two for a future episode, please do so at mennosdismantlingthedofd@gmail.com.

Sarah shares with Sheri about her family’s home and their work to be good stewards of the land through conservation and collaboration with the Yakama Nation. It has been a complicated process and they have found it hard because of policies directly tied to the Doctrine of Discovery.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a major piece of civil rights legislation for the Native American community, comparable to Brown vs. Board of Education for African-Americans. But in October 2018, a federal court in Texas struck down ICWA. This important law, passed in 1978, strengthened the legal rights of Indigenous families and specified that when Native children are removed from the care of their families, they will be placed in the care of extended family members, families in their own tribe, or Indigenous families from another tribe. In this episode, Sarah talks about why this legislation is so important and of the special role that Christian organizations have historically played in separating Native children from their families.

As always, for more information please consult dofdmenno.org and Sarah’s book This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.

Sheri talks about how she “discovered” the Doctrine of Discovery and how her family’s history is entwined with the history — and present reality — of colonization. She unpacks the famous “Hochstetler Indian Massacre” story that is well-known in Amish and Mennonite communities. Both Sarah and Sheri address “What is settler colonialism”?

Links to sources for this episode:

• Website of the Jacob Hochstetler Family Association
• Definition of settler colonialism
• Article on Old Colony Mennonites among the Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula
• Article on “The Big Scoop” in Canada

As always, for more information please consult dofdmenno.org and Sarah’s book This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.