Internationally renowned indigenous leaders Sachem Hawk Storm and Kasike Roberto Múkaro Borrero will share their perspectives on the Indigenous Peoples Rights Movement, environmental stewardship, racial justice, climate change, and how indigenous and non-indigenous peoples can move forward in solidarity with the future generations in mind. The presentation will be followed by a Q & A.
About the speakers...
Roberto Múkaro Borrero has a distinguished and diverse background in policy & program development and human rights advocacy, including a specialization on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. He retains over 20 years of experience engaging the United Nations system in thematic areas such as Sustainable Development; Climate Change; the Information Society; and the Organization of American States; among others. He has served on the staff of the International Indian Treaty Council and the American Museum of Natural History, as well as an independent contracting consultant for UNESCO, PBS, and other notable institutions. A published writer, an accomplished artist, and musician, Borrero is a member of the Taíno Tribal Nation, an Indigenous Peoples whose traditional homelands extend through the Greater Antilles to the Southern tip of Florida in the U.S. In 2012, he was traditionally sanctioned a kasike (chief) of the Guainía Taíno tribal community. He has an educational background in communications and cultural studies. In 2013, Borrero was awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree, Philosophy in Humanities, from Kayiwa International University, Kampala, Uganda.
Sachem Hawk Storm is the chief of the Schaghticoke First Nations, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, promote and enrich the Schaghticoke peoples’ heritage; provide a safe learning environment for Schaghticoke descendants in their search for direction; and whenever possible, support those seeking harmony and a greater understanding of our collective responsibility as human beings. The word “Schaghticoke” means “the Mingling of Waters,” and signifies the merging of what remained of the Algonquin Nations in the Eastern Woodlands in 1676. Sachem Hawk Storm is a direct descendant of the great Wampanoag Chief Wasanegin Massasoit and a hereditary leader of one of the three remaining tribes of the Schaghticoke Nation. Like so many of his people, Sachem Hawk Storm was taken from his parents and raised in a family unfamiliar with his heritage. Emancipated at 15, his life’s journey has been one of reclamation, re-indigenization, and reconnection to the land. Since 2012, Hawk Storm has actively advocated for the implementation of the United Nations Rights of Indigenous Peoples and is the Schaghticoke’s main representative at United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Under Sachem Hawk Storm's leadership, Schaghticoke First Nations is in the formative stages of reacquiring land in the Schaghticoke ancestral territory to establish a Conservation and Cultural Center that will also promote decolonization and ago- forestry. Under the leadership of Sachem Hawk Storm, Schaghticoke First Nations works in close partnership with local indigenous communities throughout the northeastern U.S., as well as with other Indigenous Peoples from around the world.