Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.
For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature and movement strategy, and to stay updated on our work.
In this episode, we speak with Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. She teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization.
As a public intellectual, Dina brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets including Indian Country Today, the Los Angeles Times, High Country News and many more.
Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of “All the Real Indians Died Off” And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, author of As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock and author of her newest book, Who Gets to Be Indian?: Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity. She’s also part of CELDF’s partner-advisor committee.
In this conversation, we discuss Dina’s two most recent books and their implications for community organizing, solidarity work, and indigenous resistance today. This is a great conversation and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing from Dina on these topics.
The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:
Links and Resources
Dina’s previous book, “As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock”
Dina’s latest book, “Who Gets to Be Indian? Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity”
“You’re No Indian” documentary film
White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men (YouTube video)
About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast
In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.
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About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.
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