Building Resilient Communities: A Moral Responsibility | Nick Tilsen | TEDxRapidCity
Summary
TLDRNick Tilson, a father and citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, shares his community's struggle with poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He emphasizes the importance of understanding their history, reconnection with culture, and leadership to build sustainable communities. The script highlights a transformative movement among the youth, focusing on healing, responsibility, and community engagement to combat challenges like unemployment and low life expectancy. Tilson discusses an ambitious vision for a planned community with high sustainability goals, breaking ground in Thunder Valley, aiming to inspire and improve the lives of indigenous people and beyond.
Takeaways
- π° Nick Tilson is a citizen of the Oceti Sakowin Nation and a father of four, emphasizing the importance of understanding history for building resilient communities.
- π Coming from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, he highlights the area's struggle and poverty, noting it didn't happen by accident and is part of a history that needs acknowledgment.
- πΏ The speaker recalls the sustainable communities and economies of the past, particularly the reliance on the buffalo for sustenance, shelter, and societal roles.
- π₯ The leadership of indigenous peoples from the Great Plains is identified as a crucial element for the resilience and sustainability of their communities.
- π€ The speaker discusses the conflict between indigenous views of resources and the industrialization of America, which has led to disconnection between people and the environment.
- ποΈ The importance of the land to indigenous identity is underscored, with the speaker noting that land loss and assimilation policies have had profound impacts on indigenous communities.
- π The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation faces extreme challenges, including 80% unemployment, low life expectancy, and conditions akin to third-world poverty.
- π A movement of young indigenous people reconnecting with their culture, spirituality, and identity is described as a source of hope and empowerment.
- π± The process of community engagement and healing is presented as essential for taking responsibility and solving the problems faced by indigenous communities.
- ποΈ A vision for a planned community on Pine Ridge with the highest goals of sustainability is shared, including 100% water reclamation and energy generation.
- π The speaker calls for a collective moral responsibility to address poverty and support indigenous communities, emphasizing the need for change in philanthropy and policy.
Q & A
Who is Nick Tilson and what is his primary role?
-Nick Tilson is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a father of four children. His primary role is to be an advocate for his community, focusing on understanding history, building resilient communities, and addressing the poverty and challenges faced by his people.
What is the significance of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Nick's narrative?
-The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is significant as it is where Nick comes from and represents a place of struggle and poverty. It is also a place that holds historical context for the challenges faced by indigenous peoples and serves as a starting point for discussions on building sustainable communities.
How did the lifestyle of the indigenous people on the Great Plains contribute to a sustainable economy?
-The lifestyle of the indigenous people on the Great Plains was centered around the buffalo, which provided food, shelter, and societal roles. This reliance on a single, abundant resource allowed for a sustainable economy and a way of life that was deeply connected to the environment and its resources.
What is the historical policy that impacted the indigenous identity in America?
-The historical policy that impacted the indigenous identity in America was the assimilation policy, which aimed to integrate American Indians into mainstream society. This policy led to the suppression of indigenous culture and identity, causing a disconnect between indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of life.
What are some of the current challenges faced by the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?
-The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation faces numerous challenges, including an 80% unemployment rate, a low life expectancy for males (48 years) and females (52 years), and third-world poverty conditions. These issues are exacerbated by the lack of resources and opportunities within the community.
What role did the movement of reconnecting to culture, spirituality, and identity play in the Pine Ridge community?
-The movement of reconnecting to culture, spirituality, and identity played a crucial role in empowering the Pine Ridge community. It led to a sense of responsibility and self-reliance, motivating the community to take charge of their future and address the challenges they face.
How did the community engagement process impact the vision for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?
-The community engagement process allowed for the inclusion of diverse perspectives, from young people to elders. This inclusive approach led to a vision for a planned community with high sustainability goals, such as 100% water reclamation and energy generation, which was designed to transform not only Pine Ridge but also to serve as a model for the world.
What is the significance of the phrase 'kill the Indian, but save the man' in the script?
-The phrase 'kill the Indian, but save the man' reflects the historical assimilation policies that aimed to eradicate indigenous culture while preserving the individual as a member of mainstream society. This approach was damaging to the indigenous identity and spirit, leading to a need for cultural reclamation and healing.
How does Nick Tilson view the role of leadership in addressing the challenges faced by indigenous communities?
-Nick Tilson views leadership as essential in addressing the challenges faced by indigenous communities. He emphasizes the need for the same kind of leadership that existed long ago, which was capable of navigating difficult circumstances and making decisions for the collective good of the community.
What is the significance of the groundbreaking for the Thunder Valley development mentioned in the script?
-The groundbreaking for the Thunder Valley development is significant as it represents the realization of the community's vision for a sustainable and resilient future. It is a tangible step towards creating a planned community with the highest goals of sustainability, marking a new chapter in the history of Pine Ridge.
What is the broader message that Nick Tilson hopes to convey to the audience?
-The broader message that Nick Tilson hopes to convey is the importance of understanding history, reclaiming cultural identity, and taking collective responsibility for addressing the challenges faced by indigenous communities. He emphasizes the need for a bottom-up approach to community development, where solutions are designed and implemented by the community itself.
Outlines
ποΈ Historical Struggles and Sustainable Communities
Nick Tilson introduces himself as a citizen of the Oglala Nation and a father, emphasizing the importance of understanding history to build resilient communities. He hails from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a place of significant struggle and poverty, which he attributes to historical events rather than mere accidents. Tilson highlights the once sustainable economies and communities of the indigenous people, particularly their reliance on buffalo for sustenance and societal structure. He also touches on the leadership qualities of his ancestors and the need for similar leadership today. The narrative discusses the conflict over resources and the differing views of indigenous people, which have contributed to the challenges faced by Native Americans. Tilson stresses the importance of the connection to land for indigenous identity and the devastating effects of land theft and industrialization on their communities. He concludes by describing the current dire situation at Pine Ridge, with high unemployment, low life expectancy, and third-world poverty conditions existing within America.
π± Cultural Reconnection and Community Empowerment
This paragraph delves into the transformative movement among the youth at Pine Ridge, who are reconnecting with their culture, spirituality, and identity. Tilson shares personal anecdotes of community engagement and the awakening of a sense of responsibility among the people. He recounts a pivotal moment in 2006 when a group of young people were challenged during a ceremonial gathering to stop complaining and start taking action. This led to the creation of an organization focused on addressing the root causes of poverty and taking full responsibility for solving community problems. Tilson emphasizes the importance of healing and the role of cultural identity and ceremonies in that process. He also discusses the community's vision for a sustainable and planned community with ambitious goals, including 100% water reclamation and energy generation, aiming to be a model for the rest of America. The narrative includes a touching story of a 92-year-old woman expressing her appreciation for being asked about her desires for the future, highlighting the shift from a top-down approach to a community-driven one.
π Breaking Ground on a Visionary Sustainable Development
In the final paragraph, Tilson shares the exciting news of the groundbreaking for a new development project at Thunder Valley, set to take place on June 22nd. This project represents a commitment to a community-driven process and a solution to the community's challenges. He explains that the vision for this development is not just big but necessary, given the scale of the problems faced. The development is designed to be a model for sustainability and is the result of collaboration between community members, young and old, and designers. Tilson stresses that this is not an end but a beginning, a pathway for the community to take charge of its future and to address climate change through design. The project aims to consider people, planet, and prosperity in every decision, focusing on energy, water, and material cycles to build communities in harmony with their beliefs. He concludes by emphasizing the moral obligation to address poverty and the need for collective wisdom to ensure a sustainable future for all, highlighting the importance of community engagement and the potential for this project to inspire even greater achievements in the future.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
π‘Sustainable Communities
π‘Cultural Identity
π‘Assimilation
π‘Leadership
π‘Healing
π‘Resilience
π‘Regeneration
π‘One Planet Living
π‘Community Engagement
π‘Indigenous Peoples
Highlights
Nick Tilson, a citizen of the Oglala Nation and father of four, emphasizes the importance of understanding history to build resilient communities.
Tilson hails from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the poorest places in America, with historical struggles not by accident.
The speaker acknowledges the need to look to the past to find solutions for poverty and build sustainable communities.
Sustainable economies of the past, such as those of the Great Plains Indians, are highlighted as a model for current community building.
Leadership from the past is identified as essential for addressing current challenges and building a better future.
The conflict over resources and differing views of indigenous peoples versus the West is discussed as a historical challenge.
Indigenous peoples' deep connection to the land and its impact on their identity and struggles is emphasized.
The historical policy of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream society and its effects on the human spirit is critiqued.
Land loss and its ongoing impact on indigenous communities, including the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is discussed.
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation faces extreme challenges, including 80% unemployment and very low life expectancy.
A movement among young indigenous people to reconnect with culture, spirituality, and identity is described as a source of hope.
The importance of taking responsibility for solving community problems and the role of healing in this process is highlighted.
The need for a bottom-up approach to community development, involving all stakeholders, is advocated.
A vision for a planned community on Pine Ridge with high sustainability goals, including 100% water reclamation and energy generation, is presented.
The process of community engagement leading to a shared vision for the future is detailed, emphasizing the importance of including all voices.
The groundbreaking for the Thunder Valley development, a significant step towards the community's vision, is announced.
The importance of a collective approach to solving problems, focusing on people helping people, is underscored.
The concept of designing communities with respect for natural cycles and one-planet living is introduced.
The moral obligation to address poverty and support indigenous communities is discussed, calling for a change in philanthropic focus.
The collective wisdom of meeting present needs without compromising future generations is presented as a guiding principle.
Transcripts
[Applause]
Nickson my name is Nick Tilson I'm a
citizen of theota nation um most
importantly a father of four
children um in order to really
understand the history or to understand
building resilient community
we have to understand the history uh I
come from the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation it's a place of struggle
it's one of the poorest places in
America uh but it it didn't happen by
accident the Pine Ridge Indian
reservation and the poverty that exist
year um didn't didn't happen just we
didn't stumble upon this problem and uh
and so it's part of the history that we
we needed to acknowledge and as a as a
community in order for us to figure out
how we get out of poverty as a people
and how we're going to build sustainable
communities we look to our past and
realize that we lived in sustainable
communities built around sustainable
economies not that long ago in fact
Indian people living on the great PLS
were sustainable economies we had a
whole lifestyle that was surrounded
around the Buffalo it provided food it
provided shelter it provided a societal
roles for people and we built cultural
and governance structures around it this
wasn't that long ago that we did that
it's also really really important to
understand that we came from a people of
leaders who took leadership that living
on the Great Plains in the way that we
did a long time ago although it's
romanticized by Hollywood and other
places it was a hard lifestyle it was a
really hard way to live but we had
leadership that same leadership that
existed long ago go is the kind of
leadership that we need to that we need
to have
today we're in a place where conflict
and a view of different resources
created a challenging history for
America where we believed as indigenous
peoples our our view of resources was
very
different and that that led to
challenges for for the West it led for
challenges of how this country was built
and led a lot of Disconnect between
people in the in the natural
environment to really understand the
challenges that exist in Indian country
today you have to
really understand our connection to land
indigenous peoples have connection to
all surrounding especially land so the
steing of our land and the
industrialization of America was
directly related to the plight of
indigenous peoples in America America
the other part of that is our whole
entire identity as indigenous people was
connected to the land our identity was
really built around internal Foundation
of who we are and at one time in history
there was this saying uh kill the Indian
but save the man it was just the whole
idea to assimilate the American Indian
into mainstream society and policies
were created around that entire policies
were created of assimilating Native
Americans into mainstream society and
what that did to our human spirit in in
the history of this country and the
history of American Indian people that
led us to a place of Revolution it led
us to a place of of basically denying
that basically saying that the fact of
us living and moving forward as a people
we're going to have to do that the exact
opposite of what was done to us we need
to reclaim who we
are the land land loss that happened to
us as a people really continues to have
impact on us today the most important
thing about all this is today the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation located in
Western South Dakota about 80 mi from
where we're at has some of the toughest
challenges facing anybody in
America 80% unemployment exist on Pine
Ridge over half of the young people are
under the age of
26 um life expectancy for males on Pine
Ridge is 48 years old 52 for women it's
actually the lowest life expectancy of
any community in the entire Western
Hemisphere with the exception of Haiti
and this is third world poverty
conditions right here smack dab in the
middle of America 80 mil south of
here but what's happening there right
now and the movement that I've been able
to be a part of is really really
exciting over the past 10 or 15 years
there's been a movement of us young
people that begin to reconnect to our
culture to our spirituality to our
identity all those statistics that you
that you sometimes read and hear about
Pine Ridge we are of th of those
statistics we are of those places and
through through our work we've been able
to reconnect to our culture and our
spirituality and in that a sense a whole
entire sense of uh responsibility has
come from that when we look at the
challenges that we're faced with we
recognize that the answers to the
solving these problems Is Us in fact we
used to sit around and complain about
the challenges that we have um as a
tribe and as a community in fact in
2006 there was a group of us probably
about 20 or 30 young people that were
sitting around a sweat lodge or in an
nepi and we were complaining about the
way that the re is the challenges that
we're faced with we went into that sweat
lodge and went into that inipi and the
in the through through through through
our ceremonial way of life a question
was posed to us as a group of young
people from our ancestors and the
question was how long are you going to
let other people decide the future for
your children are you not
Warriors and they said it's time to stop
talking and start doing to not come from
a place of fear but to come from a place
of
hope that motivated us that made us
realize yeah who are we waiting for and
although I'm talking about Pine Ridge
what I'm what I'm the message that I'm
saying is relevant
everywhere that led us to create an
organization that says okay we're going
to we're going to grab the problem by
the horns we're going to look at the
reasons why poverty is persistent in our
communities and we're going to take
full-on responsibility for solving the
problem but we also recognize that in
order for us to come to a place to do
that we had to get to a place of healing
and that's what this when we talk about
culture identity ceremonies these things
created healing for us to then take
responsibility because a lot of our
people and Indigenous peoples in America
have been
broken and fact I would actually argue
that a lot of America has been broken
for a long long time not just the
American Indian people and so we started
talking about
regeneration and resilience that doing
work in e iic development based on
regeneration based on resilience is as
much about as healing the human Spirit
as it is as creating green
buildings what this eventually uh led to
is a process a process of engaging our
community members just to give you an
example a few years ago when we were
doing community engagement processes on
Pine Ridge U there's a room probably as
much people that are in here and we had
stakeholders and we had elected
officials and we had Youth and we had
Elders at the end of that session that
we had I had a grandma come up to me 92
years old she shook my hand she said
grandson that was the best meeting I
ever went to in my
life and I said why is that wh why is
that she said my whole entire life
nobody ever asked me what I wanted for
my
future my whole entire life nobody ever
asked me what kind of jobs that I wanted
what kind of housing that I wanted
nobody ever asked me that she was 92
years old lived her entire life on the
pine R inan
reservation that that was shocking to me
because then I really realized what
we're doing what we're basically saying
is a top- down approach that created the
problems that exist in our community
that those days are over that those
solutions they were never Solutions
those strategies created and perpetuated
the problem and and that this movement
of re reclaiming who we are also has
huge ramifications when it comes to
policy the way um resources enter in our
community um and when when we become
empowered and take fullon responsibility
that we change the entire
Dynamic UN in our language means we in
our goal has always been that we are
better
together this process C of engaging the
community has led us to a huge
Vision a vision of creating a planned
community on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation with the highest goals of
sustainability than any other community
in America 100% Water
Reclamation 100% energy generation one
of the first Net Zero communities energy
communities in all of
America at Ground Zero Zero for poverty
in America
this development is about housing
community healing education about
designing the kind of communities that
we want to
live on our ideas of tomorrow being
actually implemented today these ideas
didn't come from Architects they didn't
come from Engineers they came from the
young people on penid they came from the
elders on pin Ridge and by combining
those ideas with our designers we have
created
a a design that we believe is going to
transform not only Pine Ridge but it's
going to transform the world and
throughout this
process so many people told me that's a
great
vision that's a good
idea but your vision's a little too big
Nick you're a little too all over the
place and every single time
100% of the time our answer was that's
just not true that our vision Vision has
to be at least as big as the challenges
that we're faced with at least as big
and that's anywhere in the
world so 3 to four years later I'm happy
to announce that on June 22nd of this
month we're actually breaking ground for
this development at Thunder
[Applause]
Valley
and and it's because our commitment to
process that we have arrived at this
solution that our commitment to that
this development and what we're doing is
not a destination it is absolutely a
pathway it's a pathway for people it's a
pathway to arriving at the solution in
fact we hope that everything that gets
inspired by what we're doing ends up
being 10 times better than where we
started at we hope that the Next
Generation takes it on even
further and this work also is about
human capital it's about people people
it's about people coming together
institutions organizations even
governments aren't going to solve the
problems people helping people is the
solution to solving the problems and
when people come together to build
community from all walks of life putting
in hard work with one another building
whether it be physically building houses
mentally uh building Community with one
another that's when you really see the
the true uh fruit of this process that's
what we're doing on Pine Ridge we really
are a gr a community of young people
that have come together who said that
we're going to take charge of our future
and that we're going to build a
community and we're going to tackle
climate change through design and we're
going to do that because it's simply
what's needed it's a responsibility that
we collectively have as a people and
that when we make our decision-making
processes we're not just going to look
at money we're not just going to look at
the people
we're going to look at people planet and
prosperity through one lens in every
decision that we make we're going to
look at the cycles of energy cycles and
water cycles material Cycles so that we
can actually build our communities by
respecting our
beliefs this is the thing that connects
us all that if everybody lived like an
American it would take six planets to
support life on Earth
that's just not right we have to change
that around we have to get back to One
Planet living and this community is on
its Pathway to becoming a one planet
community that of principles of living
within one planet by Design This isn't
complicated it's really about meeting
the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs this is a collective wisdom that
we must all
have even though Indian country
represents some of the most challenging
statistics in America less than 1% of
all philanthropy in the United States
goes to Indian Community that's wrong
that's another thing that we have to
change we have a moral obligation in
this country to make sure that nobody
suffers like the people on Pine
Ridge and that obligation is all of us
in our language we say
midak that we're all related
just like everybody in this room just
like everybody watching this we have a
collective moral responsibility to
solving poverty in the in the poorest
places in America in honoring the
Innovation that's there and we're
working hard to solve those problems and
we want to share those with the world
thank
[Applause]
you
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