The Soul of Nations Foundation is a for-purpose 501(c)3 organization that aims to uplift Indigenous peoples through various forms of media, innovative strategy, and youth-led initiatives. Our mission is to progress Indigenous and Black communities through the arts, research, and scholarship. We envision a world where all people of color are respected as contemporary societies and have greater access to equal opportunities in the following sectors: social, creative, academic, and economic.
COMMITMENT TO AFRO-INDIGENEITY
NYC— November 24, 2022
Strengthening Tribal Intellectual Capacity and Solidarity
Since inception, the Soul of Nations Foundation has faced community struggles when attempting to include Afro-Indigenous and Black community members in Indigenous-serving programming that would intend to strengthen synergies between the two racial groups. Our vision is to help build cultural bridges by providing humanities and research programming that promotes cultural diversity, Indigenous life-ways and shared practices, equity, and inclusion.
This endeavor would help to bolster protective measures for Afro-Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Indigenous relatives of Freedman status and lineage, and enrolled and non-enrolled Tribal citizens; and establish archives and support mechanisms for the youth of Indigenous communities, Afro-Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Indigenous relatives of Freedman status and lineage, and enrolled and non-enrolled Tribal citizens.
Needs Assessment
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the apparent undertones of anti-blackness within Native American communities reached the center stage when Freedmen Tribal members, and Afro-Indigenous descendants were denied health rights and legal precautions under Tribal and Federal law.
Although African American, Afro-indigenous, and Native American communities share a similar historical plight under the social sphere of settler colonialism in the United States, there is a starkly inherent divide within these minority groups at the sociopolitical level that is rooted in misunderstanding and fear of the possible loss of wealth, privilege, and sovereignty. This issue has caused Black and Native communities to distance themselves in regards to establishing a joint wealth-building strategy, land allocation, and collective ceremony. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s 2022 report, Native American households have attained 8.5% more wealth than African American and Afro-Indigenous households.
The percentage gap has grown due to Federal regulation and historical bureaucracy that prohibited Blacks and Natives from coexisting. However, when one observes the historical land map of states like Oklahoma, where Blacks and Natives established utopian societies cohesively, it causes researchers to wonder how such a successful societal concept can be reintroduced in modern time. The Soul of Nations Foundation believes that through intensive community planning, Indigenous land expansion, and parcel allotment to Black communities, safer community structures can be cultivated to produce joint wealth among Black and Indigenous civil society members throughout the country.
Call to Action
The Soul of Nations Foundation would like to assist Federal and State-Tribal Leaders, Afro-Indigenous Tribal Leaders, and Freedmen Tribal community members across Turtle Island (the United States) to bridge the divide between Indigenous and Black communities in the United States by providing humanities and research programming that promotes cultural diversity, Indigenous life-ways and shared practices, equity, and inclusion; bolster protective measures for Afro-Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Indigenous relatives of Freedman status and lineage, and enrolled and non-enrolled Tribal citizens; and establishing archives and support mechanisms for the youth of Indigenous communities, Afro-Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Indigenous relatives of Freedman status and lineage, and enrolled and non-enrolled Tribal citizens.
If you would like to be added to the Soul of Nations Foundation’s advisory network or ask our team any pertinent questions, please feel free to contact us at team@soulofnations.org
We understand that the road toward harmonious Pan-Indigenous unity will not be easy and will involve much listening, convening, and liaising. Therefore, we truly need Tribal Leadership support. Your input and consideration will be invaluable to this manner of discourse and we sincerely hope that you will be able to join our efforts toward fostering true kinship.
Partnerships help to ensure the stability and expansion of our work toward fostering art and research programming rooted in contemporaneous and sociocultural empathetic themes.
The Soul of Nations Foundation respectfully acknowledges that we currently operate on the ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape, Piscataway, and Anacostan peoples, which have not been ceded. Thank you for your commitment to Indigenous and Black communities. Please, share our organization’s work with those in your network who are just as invested in BIPOC progression as we are.