Love on the Land

Being Diné means living with and deeply caring for your homeland. It is vital for our healing and liberation to actively reconnect with the land, its abundant life, and to restore our essential survival skills that have been passed down through generations. We return to our roots and traditions, just as our ancestors did, who relied heavily on and respected the land that sustained them. Indigenous mutual aid involves not only sharing valuable resources but also redistributing knowledge and power to help revive our ancestral ways and heal our communities in meaningful ways.

We rely on the land that has supported us for thousands of years. Our ancestors understood that if we care for the land, it will care for us. They created sacred roles to nurture the land. We strive to follow their teachings by caring for the land and the life it supports. Mutual aid with the land means reconnecting and being part of its natural systems. We focus on healing the land rather than controlling it. Our local efforts include cleaning up illegal landfills, detoxifying areas with native plants, restoring watersheds, reducing erosion, planting native plants, creating natural water catchments, and building healing spaces with natural materials. This mutual aid involves learning about the abundance the land offers. Through this ancestral stewardship, we recognize our duty to protect the land and its life for future generations.