 around the world on Think Tech Live, broadcasting from our downtown studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Moana, Nuiakea. I'm your host, Joshua Cooper. And today we're looking at the UN experts examining racial discrimination with Sir, the committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, hosting a multiple day review of the rights of all peoples in the US. And of course, we're focusing on indigenous rights and we're here with Valerie. Valerie, thank you for joining us today. Hello. Thanks for having me. The United States recently went through its review, a six hour review with the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination. What was it like to be there in Geneva and why was it so important for you to go and attend? It was really amazing just learning from all the different organizations that were there. Also it's just inspiring to be there because there were so many intelligent, like articulate, amazing advocates and activists and organizers that were working on whatever many different causes they were working on because there's so many. And I feel like it was so important to go to just express the actual concerns of the people on the land in the places that we're representing. And that's just a few things. No, no, it was amazing to have you there with the Western Shoshone Defense Project. But as you said, it was also so inspiring to meet all of the leaders from all of the different movements, from reparations focusing on the importance as well of the various indigenous peoples' rights from the right of self-determination to free prior informed consent, all the way to looking at the various impacts on youth and I'll never forget your great presentation at the Thursday breakfast briefing focusing on voting rights as well. Yeah, definitely. That was an important session there because we got to express all of our concerns and elaborate on them. And I feel like the dialogue in that meeting was very educating for the CERD experts because they don't necessarily hear the personal stories that we shared with them that day, or the day before too, but mostly that day because we got to talk about all the indigenous issues, missing murdered indigenous women, education systems and how education systems are just promoting colonization and trying to erase our history as indigenous people. No, we really did provide a great moment there before the speaking because if we step back a bit what's exciting is everyone shows up in Geneva and everyone who shows up in Geneva had spent years really working on these important issues in their community at home. And then we have this process where people come together in civil society and indigenous nations to then be able to be a true partners and be able to promote specific recommendations that would hopefully change public policy in the United States. And I remember meeting then on that Sunday we had everyone come together at civil society to sit in a circle and to share and begin talking about what was most important to them and why they came to Geneva on this important time in August. Yeah, I definitely feel like that Sunday was important because it joined us all together. But Thursday's prayer before the session after the breakfast meeting was the most important thing of the whole meeting. I feel like because it just brought that spirituality aspect back to the whole CERD committee, the US delegates that were there, the US experts and departments that were there. And I think it really impacted everybody on a major level because their anxieties melted away, their stress was kind of lowered and it just really opened their eyes to native spirituality and how well we could do if we practiced more of that. Now that was a great point. I remember when we had the idea on Sunday when we first began to meet we broke into our smaller working groups and as indigenous peoples, one of the main things that we addressed was that every meeting that indigenous people participate in around the world always begins with prayer. Yeah, we looked also at the structure of what the committee of CERD, how it usually functions. And I believe it was on that Sunday when we first began to come together to share what was going on with the different indigenous peoples from around the country and the nation, what was most important, how we could then begin to shape it so that it reflected indigenous values. Yeah, first day of that Sunday meeting really helped us mold the whole week to basically form around our spirituality. And I think that connected everything together in the way that it was supposed to be without forcing too much on anybody or making anybody do anything they didn't wanna do. There you go. No, I think if you look throughout the week it was really, it was those shorter meetings with the larger civil society coming together and sharing how we felt going through the process but then also how we could be more strategic to then be able to have a greater impact on the 18 CERD members so that they were able to make the strong statements, also issue specific questions and then most importantly, come up with recommendations that would then be beneficial to you bringing that language back home to them be able to change what's going on at the local and state level but also at the federal level with the policies that have denied indigenous rights. Right. And I think that's the best part about going there is realizing that the work you do there and the things you learn there are things that people back home don't necessarily realize. And so sharing that information and expanding that information to go to different like senators or congressional candidates or congressional actually elected people who represent us in the government so that they can really understand what they need to do to push people to basically end racial discrimination especially towards indigenous. It's true. And what was so exciting was the US delegation this time did include a mayor from Atlanta as well as the representatives from the attorney general of California so that we could look at it that way but then I know we also began strategizing what we could do on Capitol Hill afterwards noting of course that Senator Schatz is chairing the Indian Affairs Committee. Yeah, for sure. And I think that the different ways that you can contact and be in touch writing letters and sending letters to follow up with them to make sure that they actually do follow through with cert suggestions and recommendations in their report because I feel like a lot of times it gets lost in translation along the way and these United States officials don't actually do what they are recommended to do by cert and having your constituents the people that we represent actually send letters to representatives helps them really understand that there are more people back home than just the activists overseas fighting for rights. And it was amazing though how many activists that were from all over the country demanding justice and focusing on the human rights-based approach which of the people that you met do you think had the biggest impact on you when we look at the different people we met from around the United States to bring their issues forward? I feel like everybody equally had a good impact on me but I would say especially Shia and Nicole they really are like champions in the work that they do for birth rights for Indigenous people and just their passion and energy and anger even when things weren't going right or the United States wasn't giving us what we wanted and we knew they were just trying to like put their rose-covered glasses on and make us all see rose-colored, you know and so I feel like that whole they were really inspiring. Stephanie from UCLA she was summer was so awesome I loved her and her activist Tay or Ty from the Taino tribe in Puerto Rico she was really just so great at everything and I loved her comments on the reports the follow-up reports in the emails and she's just sticking to basically Indigenous rights, Indigenous wants and Indigenous needs and not allowing any type of colonization and the fact that free, prior and informed consent is a thing it's just another way for them to colonize us and keep us under their thumb and so the fact that she pointed that out I felt like was really good thing. No, I agree with you many of the people that we met there in Geneva I think really as you mentioned starting from the womb until the whole aspect of the colonized world it was such an amazing aspect to see the midwifery leadership to talk about how really from the beginning of how we all start our life all the way until the end when we talked about the remains or the EV as we say in Hawaii that we covered all of those issues regarding racial justice and as you said, I thought our Toyota colleague had a great quote I remember the Thursday breakfast briefing she said, we know that CERD is the committee that has the really sort of the reputation for having their teeth really sharp and ready to be involved with holding governments accountable and she said, we've provided you this week with enough calcium so you can really clench your jaws and I think the Western Shoshone Defense Project probably was one of the best prepared to give them that calcium because even on our first day you hosted an event at the lunchtime briefing to begin to educate the secretary of the CERD committee and also the CERD members could you share with us a bit about that first lunch briefing that you hosted and what was so important to show the movies featuring Carrie and Mary Dan who had both visited Hawaii but then also to be able to share with people directly what's going on with the Western Shoshone land these days? Yeah, definitely we had those breakfast briefings on Monday and Wednesday and Mondays was good because it was a bunch of different NGOs who didn't get too many experts but there were a few experts that showed up and so I was told the reason that NGOs host these breakfast or lunch sessions is to just get more time with the experts to express what's really going on because at the end of the day the experts are the ones who come up with the recommendations for the United States and so the fact that all these NGOs especially Indigenous NGOs showed up to support our issues and really learn about what we are going through and what we have been going through since the 70s and it was just showcasing Mary and Carrie Dan's struggle against the government and that documentary American Outrage is what we showed we actually showed our land, our life on YouTube and on Wednesday we showed American Outrage and we took questions from everyone that was in attendance and it was just a great way to get our message across and get feedback to what we were really trying to get and gain from meeting with CERD and also writing shadow reports and follow-up reports and stuff like that. It's true, I remember being the first one and then of course delivering the food on the second one but what was so exciting was in that second one it seemed you had really a chance to show the map to be able to educate the CERD member who was on the task force specifically from Germany about the specificity of the situation for the Western Shoshone and you could see then when the questions came during the actual review on Thursday but more importantly Friday morning that he was able to then talk about indigenous people's rights on behalf of all indigenous that were present but also specifically sharing the legal questions that were being raised in those deeper conversations during the lunch time that happened on Wednesday specifically. Yeah, it was really important just to have that time that extra few hours with him because he had his interns with him and his interns are at the end of the day people who write the reports for him and so they all were just totally moved on Wednesday by the video because at one point it showed Clifford Dan who was the brother of Mary and Kerry Dan pouring gas all over himself because he thought that he was gonna get shot by these federal agents with AK-47s and Humvees who just pulled up to take all his cattle or whatever they were doing and he was afraid he was gonna get shot and so it was the tactic so he wouldn't get shot and then he ended up getting caught on fire and it was just so emotionally heartbreaking for not just the Western Shoshone that were there but also the interns and they were crying watching the film and I feel like that's what helped the experts actually write questions that were really concerning and really moving for our case at least for the Western Shoshone case and like you said all Indigenous cases because he didn't single out Western Shoshone he included all Indigenous people too. Yeah and I'll never forget the first day and the second day when you see those clips you see these two grandmothers who are trying to take care of their animals that has been taken care of for generations and you see also the brutality and the lack of humanity by the US government and there they are putting that pole up talking about is it straight, look straight and there's these two women who are there taking care of Mother Earth and then come in all these militarized forces to try to take away their livelihood and she brought it up that this is our right to food this is our spiritual right to take care of our land and you're coming in with no reason for these actions and then the consequences of the animals dying because of the way that Bureau of Indian Affairs actually approached the situation just shows that this is a life and death situation that we're talking about self-determination but that the US government in the end is really committing a cultural genocide as was being brought up. Right and not just a cultural genocide but environmental genocide and animals are getting extinct and even not even cared for well because they're putting them in places where they can't find food and so it was it is pretty devastating learning all that stuff but it's necessary to inform them so we can inform our people too because a lot of our own people are ignorant to the ideas that we're being taken advantage of by the government. And that's I think probably you bring up one of the most powerful points of the third process for the people who are on the ground in Geneva is it's a giant teaching where everyone is learning from each other about the struggles happening across the country and around the world and there you see the levels of respect for each other really develop. For sure and that's what I think is the most moving part about going there is just joining forces and the intersectionality that happens but also I really feel like being there and just learning from everybody else and knowing that there's such a big issue with every community across the world that it's not we're not alone in our struggles and that there's a lot of different communities and places that aren't recognized as communities that are struggling just to have clean air and clean water and clean soil, ground and earth. No, it reminds me so much of the cancer alley people who we met who were saying I buried my brother, I buried my sister and how many people are dying due to the poisoning of our mother earth and I'll never forget the other speech really that happened right after your second lunch briefing when we went up to the US mission because we were there just doing our best to tolerate the first two hours that was scheduled from three to five and then it seemed like it all shifted with the speeches by Erica from Chicago when she said the caskets are getting smaller and smaller talking about gun violence and then we're able to shift really the whole week to then have even the US government with its two dozen representatives from the Housing and Urban Development from Health and Human Services from Department of Justice from the State Department all begin to realize that it's more than a job what they're doing, we're really talking about the future of humanity and more importantly also making sure that we have a human rights-based approach where we're leading by our actions and not just by rhetoric that has been happening for too long. Right, I feel like they were trying to just create this idea in our heads that they're doing everything they're supposed to do and that they're making so much progress on all of our issues when the reality is they really aren't and they're just completely ignoring us and so it was a really moving idea because a lot of NGOs that were there weren't given the previous opportunity to submit questions and so when they were passing around the microphone I remember Joe Kennedy had the microphone to speak and he and one of the experts from one of the United States moderators told him they weren't taking questions at that time they were just going through their 40 stack list of previously submitted questions and just lumping them together without even really answering any of them and so I was just really upset until finally luckily Jamal from the ACLU got him in and got him a chance to speak and he talked about how he's just trying to give them the gift of the knowledge that if we don't take care of our land we're all gonna suffer it's not an Indian problem or a black problem or a Mexican it's a whole humanity problem and we all need to realize that gift that we have as humans to choose to support our mother and take care of the land and the air and the water and our spirit and the sun and then that sparked the whole movement of everyone just taking the microphone back and taking their voice back and being heard because it was so powerful there were experts that were up there crying and they thought they were gonna get fired because they're like I believe you guys and I'm trying to do something so it was so good that was a great meeting. It's true on that Wednesday meeting that was supposed to just be two hours it was that last hour as you said where Joe Kendi took the floor and said think of the larger picture I will never forget he said we have to do the right thing and then you had Wade Henderson from the leadership conference saying I gave testimony for the United States to ratify this CERD treaty and he said this was the biggest most important meeting to see a change in the mindsets and also in the dedication of civil society and government to partner together and that was probably really coming together at that spiritual circle that you talked about that happened on Thursday right before the start of the six hour review I'll never forget walking into the circle and you being there to welcome everyone and as you did say it wasn't just civil society members of the department of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of the Interior also the Environmental Protection Agency and a handful of others participated really trying to center ourselves on what was gonna be most important as we did the six hour review for the three hours from three to six PM on Thursday and then the 10 to one AM on Friday. Yeah, I wish we would have done it again on Friday to have more grounding for that day because I feel like Friday was just a devastating day with the United States comments back but it was productive because CERD really gets it and that's why I feel like it's important because CERD does get it and they do provide recommendations for the states whether the states listen and comply is a whole different story but just the fact that they're hearing it from someone who's credible enough for them to see it and actually read it and hear it and understand it and so hopefully it just progresses to them actually following through. No, it's true. You could see that then on Friday when the expert from Germany took the floor he was able to specifically bring up many elements of all the indigenous people's rights that we talked about during his time after the repertoire shared but then you really did see the difficult questions he was posing to the US government and of course as you did say it was disappointing to see the government response in many aspects to the specific aspects of the Western Cheshony case for the right of self-determination. Yeah, they basically just stated they fulfilled all their obligations by compensation. When in reality a lot of states and native tribes don't take compensation and they refuse compensation and so the CERD asked them what do you do when tribes aren't taking consultation or compensation and they didn't really answer so I feel like it's just another way for them to cope out and pop out and just escape reality. And I think that was one of the powerful points that Harry and Mary Dan who have passed but everyone that was also there in the room said we didn't take the money because you cannot compensate you cannot buy land because that spiritual nature of the land that land is there to be protected but then also along the spirituality of Hawaii as well is we take care of the land and the land takes care of us and then as you saw that it was warmer in Geneva than it was in Hawaii or even in the deserts of where many indigenous peoples were from shows that we're really Koyana, Scottsie we're out of balance and that we have to really listen to the indigenous peoples going forward not just at a CERD review but in all aspects of the human rights movement. For sure. And so that's one message I think that our people really back home need to realize and share with each other is that we have to take care of the land. And that's the only reason indigenous people are so adamant in fighting for that because we know at the end of the day the land will take care of us if we take care of it. It's true. And I think that message came through I could see people really being touched throughout the civil society meetings throughout the breakfast briefings and then ultimately when we were concluding we were in the circle on Friday you really did see this solidarity that had been built up that people really joined in as freedom fighters and human rights enforcers and defenders and left as friends who were guaranteeing that they would stand up for each other to make sure the world gets better. Yeah, it was very beautiful. It was a very beautiful connection with everybody especially all the indigenous. Yeah, the indigenous team definitely came together from many different places around the planet but all understanding that it begins and ends with the land and that we have to stand together in solidarity to make sure that during this CERD review as well as future meetings that take place during the Biden administration we have to hold them accountable. Yeah, exactly. And hopefully they will be accountable. Absolutely, that's of course how we'll continue. I wanna thank you so much for sharing about your experience at CERD and we all know to look up for August 30th when the report will be released we'll be able to then focus on picking the three issues that have been prioritized and make sure that we focus on the adoption of the report later this month but also most importantly, the implementation as you pointed out at home that we all have the responsibility to promote and protect human rights of each other. Definitely. Mahalo, thank you again for appearing and it was amazing to organize with you and look forward to doing more in the US but also on the ground in Geneva. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.