Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change Workshop: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Paula Palmer and Jerilyn DeCoteau, Virtual event, Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m. CT

In this 2-hour participatory program, participants will experience the history of the colonization of Turtle Island, the land that is now known as the United States. The story will be told through the words of Indigenous leaders, European/American leaders, and Western historians. Participants will engage with this history through experiential exercises and small group discussions and be invited to consider how we can build relationships with Indigenous peoples based on truth, respect, justice, and shared humanity. Limited to 60 participants, registration required.

This workshop is part of the Center for Great Plains Studies’ year-long series of events: “A Year of Reckoning and Reconciliation: Conversation, Learning, and Connecting” at the University of Nebraska.
See all the events and sign up for the series at go.unl.edu/gp2022

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Jerilyn DeCoteau, is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She currently serves as Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso and has helped them create and develop a Judicial Branch under their new constitution. As a lawyer, she has pressed for the rights of Indian tribes to govern themselves, control their resources and insure human rights for their members. She has worked at the Native American Rights Fund and the U.S. Department of Justice, litigating treaty, fishing, land and water rights. She served as Director of the Indian Law Clinic for the University of Colorado law school, as counsel for her tribe and has taught law courses at the University of Denver and Yale law schools and at the Turtle Mountain Tribal Community College.

Jerilyn is a founding member and past president of the Board of Directors of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. She was instrumental in establishing Indigenous Peoples Day in Boulder, Colorado, and is a co-founder of a local grass roots group, Right Relationship Boulder, which has several projects designed to build relationships with Indigenous people and tribes. She is Co-director for Toward Right Relationship, a national project that offers workshops and presentations on the impacts of colonization.

Paula Palmer is a sociologist, writer, and activist for human rights, social justice, and environmental protection. She co-directs Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, a program of Friends Peace Teams. With guidance from Native American educators, Paula created workshops titled, “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples” (for adults) and “Re-Discovering America: Understanding Colonization” (for middle schools and high schools). She coordinates the work of Native and non-Native facilitators who present these workshops nationwide.

In 2017, Paula co-founded Right Relationship Boulder, a community group that works with local governments and organizations to lift up the history, presence, and contributions of Indigenous peoples in the Boulder Valley. As the 2016 Pendle Hill Cadbury Scholar, she conducted research and produced articles and videos about the role Quakers played during the era of the Indian Boarding Schools.