Menominee Sustainability Institute, N172 HWY 47/55, Keshena, WI
Learn Menominee Sustainable Ways that can be applied across ecosystems and cultures. Visit Sustainable Development Institute, Logging Museum, and Heritage Museum on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena, WI.
Lunch will be available for individual purchase at Farmers Market
First Congregational U.C.C., 724 E South River St, Appleton
You are invited to participate in an impactful, experiential activity called the Blanket Exercise at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Appleton, on Tuesday, April 12 at 5:00 PM. This activity will foster truth, deeper understandings, and mutual respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. We will learn about the original inhabitants of this area, the U.S. Doctrine of Discovery, and the lasting repercussions that the Indian Boarding Schools have had upon Native Peoples into the present. This is an event you won’t want to miss!
There will be an optional meal at 5:00 PM in Fellowship Hall before the event. The activity itself will begin promptly at 6:00 PM.
The meal will be traditional indigenous food catered by Waqsecewan Indigenous Catering, a Native-owned business. For those who attend the meal, please consider providing a freewill donation to offset the cost of the food and to invest in this important work (see below). However, persons unable to contribute monetarily are still invited and encouraged to attend this powerful activity.
Please be aware that you do not need to attend the meal in order to participate in the Blanket Exercise. We hope you can join us!
Waking Women Healing Institute, Inc. and ESTHER held an important event in Houdini Plaza in Appleton on February 14, bringing awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls and 2-Spirits (MMIWG2S). We heard from family members and leaders who are working to create change and healing.
Thank you to everybody who showed up on this cold day to show support. If you were not able to attend and are interested, Waking Women Healing Institute Inc. live-streamed the event from Houdini Plaza and from other locations. You can watch the recording, which is available on Facebook:
First Congregational UCC, Appleton, an ESTHER member, invites you to
Save What You Love!
Zoom Webinar on Monday, February 14, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
This one-hour webinar explains the likely environmental and social impact of the proposed rerouting of Enbridge Line 5 in the Upper Peninsula near Bad River and describes how to register your opinion with the Wisconsin DNR. The program features a professor of environmental sciences and geology from Lawrence University and an Indigenous activist and Ashland County Supervisor from the Bad River Reservation.
You will learn:
What is included and what was omitted in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed re-routing of Enbridge Line 5
What to highlight in written responses to the WI DNR within the public response period (closing on March 4, 2022)
Resources and toolkits for effective letters to the WI DNR and government leaders
No charge. All are welcome. Advance registration required:
“Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water” is the name for our upcoming 3rd annual vigil in Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton on February 14th. If you are interested in this hybrid (live and live-streamed) event, here is the ESTHER link: Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water. The vigil is co-hosted by Kristin Welch’s Waking Women Healing Institute (WWHI) and ESTHER.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirits (MMIWG2S) is an epidemic across North America, which is known as Turtle Island to Indigenous people. Indigenous people want an end to molestation, rape, trafficking, and murder. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are 2.5x as likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2x more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes compared to all other races. In the United States and Canada, an average of 40% of the women who were victims of sex trafficking identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native. About 85% of Indigenous women experience violence in their lifetime and more than 55% of Indigenous women experience sexual violence in their lifetime.
This recent ESTHER blog post describes the epidemic of Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-Spirits in this region and shares background on ESTHER’s efforts to be in solidarity with indigenous peoples on this issue and others.
Join ESTHER’s Equity and Racial Justice Committee for a public conversation (on Zoom) with David J. O’Connor, American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin DPI. He consults with and supports school districts in providing instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations and tribal communities, and about the education of Native American students under Wisconsin’s Act 31.
The conversation will occur on Zoom, and advance registration is required. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants before the meeting.
David is originally from and is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) in northern Wisconsin. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, he join the DPI staff in 2012. In October 2021, O’Connor received the National Indian Education Association’s (NIEA) Educator of the Year award at the organization’s 52nd Annual Convention and Trade Show in Omaha, Nebraska. The organization presented the award to O’Connor for his work in changing the landscape for all students, with an emphasis on Native American studies and education, in Wisconsin and across the Midwest.
First Congregational UCC, 724 E South River St, Appleton (River Room)
Please join us to view and discuss Sisters Rising. This documentary is an urgent call to action, a stunning portrait of women acting in solidarity, and a demand for tribal sovereignty and self-determination as the necessary step towards ending violence against Indigenous women in the United States.
The film follows six women who refuse to let this pattern of violence continue in the shadows: a tribal cop in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom, an attorney fighting to overturn restrictions on tribal sovereignty, a teacher of Indigenous women’s self-defense, grassroots advocates working to influence legislative change, and the author of the first anti-sex trafficking code to be introduced to a reservation’s tribal court. Their stories shine an unflinching light on righting injustice on both individual and systemic levels.
Discussion will follow, led by Cecilia LaPointe of the Native Justice Coalition.
No charge. All are welcome. This is an indoor, in-person event. Participants are asked to follow COVID-safe protocols, including masking and maintaining social distance. Donations will be accepted at the event for the work of the Native Justice Coalition.
From accessibility of public lands to health impacts of burning fossil fuels, examples of environmental injustice are deeply woven into each of the issues that we organize around. To examine these connections, many parts of the Sierra Club in Wisconsin are coming together to organize an Environmental Justice Event Series beginning in the fall of 2021.
We hope that these events can provide an opportunity to explore the inequities rooted within these issues and help shine a light on the critical environmental justice components that exist in our work. Register to receive the link to the Zoom event.
Sponsored by Grass Roots North Shore, Sierra Club Great Waters Group, Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, Fox Valley Sierra Group, First Unitarian Society of Madison, 350 Madison Climate Action Team, Wisconsin Interfaith Power and Light, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, ESTHER, Peace Action of Wisconsin, Nearby Nature Milwaukee, Sierra Club Wisconsin
Learn Menominee Sustainable Ways that can be applied across ecosystems and cultures. Visit Sustainable Development Institute, Logging Museum, and Heritage Museum on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena, WI.
This one-hour webinar explains the likely environmental and social impact of the proposed rerouting of Enbridge Line 5 in the Upper Peninsula near Bad River and describes how to register your opinion with the Wisconsin DNR. The program features a professor of environmental sciences and geology from Lawrence University and an Indigenous activist and Ashland County Supervisor from the Bad River Reservation.
Plan to Attend This Powerful Event
Join ESTHER’s Equity and Racial Justice Committee for a public conversation (on Zoom) with David J. O’Connor, American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin DPI. He consults with and supports school districts in providing instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations and tribal communities, and about the education of Native American students under Wisconsin’s Act 31.
David is originally from and is a member of the 
Please join us to view and discuss Sisters Rising. This documentary is an urgent call to action, a stunning portrait of women acting in solidarity, and a demand for tribal sovereignty and self-determination as the necessary step towards ending violence against Indigenous women in the United States.
