Description:

People, Pipelines, and Water Protectors:  “Sacrifice Zones” Across Native America

Abstract

Sacrifice zones are geographic regions that have experienced permanent environmental damage, including poor air quality, undrinkable water, brownfields, and uranium contamination. Disproportionately these are areas populated by people of color, including Native Americans. Dr. Patty Loew, a Medill journalism professor and Director of Northwestern's Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, describes some of the sacrifice zones across Indian Country. A citizen of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Loew discusses the solidarity movement among Indigenous people and their allies sparked by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and the disparities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bio

Patty Loew, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern University and a professor in the Medill School of Journalism. A citizen of Mashkiiziibi  (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), Loew is a former broadcast journalist in public and commercial television and the author of four books. She works extensively with Native youth, teaching digital storytelling as a way to grow the next generation of Native storytellers and land stewards.