
Stand Strong, Stay Rooted: Fighting Displacement In Native Communities
For generations, we have fought to remain on our lands. Displacement isn't a single event; it's an ongoing struggle embedded in systems that threaten our homes, economies, and sovereignty. Today, it takes the form of rising housing costs, land dispossession, and climate crises—disrupting families, disconnecting youth from their heritage, and undermining Tribal Nations' ability to shape their own futures.
During Oweesta's visit to Aloha ʻĀina Poi Company—a farmer-owned initiative committed to strengthening community through kalo farming—the Oweesta team got our hands in the soil: planting 2,000 kalo seeds, harvesting 157 leaves, and processing hundreds of pounds of kalo into poi. In support of their vision to cultivate the next generation of farmers, Oweesta proudly presented Aloha ʻĀina Poi Company with a $250,000 contribution.
We must confront this challenge head-on—not just to protect what's ours, but to reclaim our right to thrive, build wealth, and secure a legacy of self-determination.
As the nation's longest-standing Native CDFI intermediary, Oweesta partners with Indigenous communities to restore economic power. Through access to capital, financial education, and culturally rooted systems, we support Native-led solutions to displacement. When Native people have the resources to lead, they do more than resist—they reclaim, restore, and build lasting models of resilience for generations to come.
The Realities of Displacement in Native Communities
Displacement in Native communities has never been accidental—it has been systemic, sustained, and sanctioned by law. From the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 and the Termination Era policies, federal legislation intentionally fractured Tribal Nations, severing Native peoples from their lands, cultures, and community ties. These policies inflicted generational trauma, dismantled local economies, and imposed structural barriers that continue to shape Indigenous realities today.
But displacement didn't end with those acts - it evolved. Today, Native communities face housing insecurity, economic exclusion, cultural erasure, and climate disruption. These modern forces don't operate in isolation-they layer upon one another, making it increasingly difficult for Native people to remain in, return to, or build thriving futures in their own homelands.
Housing Displacement
Native American homeownership rates remain among the lowest in the United States. This disparity is not due to a lack of interest or capacity among Native families but stems from systemic barriers within financial systems that were not designed to serve them.
One significant challenge is the difficulty in securing lenders willing and equipped to offer mortgages on trust lands. The perceived legal and bureaucratic complexities associated with lending on Tribal lands lead many financial institutions to avoid them entirely, perpetuating exclusion and deepening inequalities. Notably, Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are among the few entities making these mortgages a reality for families.
Oweesta had the honor of visiting a housing encampment near Waiʻanae Small Boat Harbor, led by the inspiring Twinkle Borge. Through her unwavering advocacy with Puʻuhonua o Waiʻanae Mauka, Twinkle has built a powerful movement rooted in dignity and community Today, she and her community support over 200 families in their current location—and they're actively building a permanent, culturally grounded village to call home. In support of this vision, Oweesta proudly contributed $250,000 to help bring Puʻuhonua o Waiʻanae Mauka to life.
Additionally, many Tribal communities are situated in very rural and remote areas, making it challenging to access housing services that are readily available in more urban settings. These areas often face a severe shortage of qualified appraisers, complicating the assessment of home values and the securing of loans. Construction efforts are similarly hindered by a lack of builders willing to work in Tribal areas and the need to develop essential infrastructure such as roads, water systems, and electricity. These factors further drive-up building costs and limit the availability of affordable housing.
Moreover, Tribal lands are under threat from developers and extractive industries seeking to profit from natural resources. Predatory real estate tactics-such as inflated land valuations that push Native families out, coercive buyouts, and exploitative leasing agreements-undermine Tribal sovereignty and destabilize Native economies. Without protective policies and targeted investments, Native communities will continue to be denied access to land, housing, and wealth-building opportunities.
Climate Displacement
Climate change is rapidly driving displacement in Native communities, compounding centuries of struggle to remain on ancestral lands. Rising sea levels, extreme heat, wildfires, and droughts are already forcing Native families to leave the lands they have long fought to protect. Tribal Nations—especially in coastal, forested, and arid regions—are facing these threats first and worst.
Many Native communities, already displaced by federal policy, now face climate-driven relocation. Homes are being lost, sacred sites are disappearing, and the deep cultural ties to place are at risk. In Alaska, the Native Village of Newtok is moving due to coastal erosion and permafrost melt, while in Louisiana, the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw was among the first to receive federal climate relocation funding. Across the Southwest, megadroughts are making traditional agriculture untenable.
Yet, Native communities often lack equitable access to federal climate resources. Planning support, relocation funding, and disaster aid rarely reach Tribal Nations at the scale needed, forcing them to navigate these crises largely alone. Addressing climate displacement in Indian Country requires more than environmental action—it demands policy change, investment in Tribal capacity, and respect for Indigenous sovereignty. Native communities must lead the way in climate resilience, as they have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.
Economic Displacement
Economic displacement remains one of the most enduring impacts of colonization, forcing Native families to leave their homelands—not by choice, but due to economic pressure. Generations of disinvestment, land dispossession, and federal restrictions have left Tribal communities without basic financial infrastructure. Banks are scarce, capital is limited, and Native entrepreneurs face steep barriers to building wealth.
The result is a steady outflow of talent and leadership, weakening intergenerational ties and Tribal economies. In rural areas, lack of broadband, workforce investment, and transportation further hinders economic growth, while outside developers extract value without reinvesting in Native communities.
But Native-led institutions are shifting this narrative. Native CDFIs, Tribally owned businesses, and sovereignty-centered economic development initiatives are reclaiming ground—creating jobs, financing homes, supporting entrepreneurs, and building localized wealth that stays in community. Still, without systemic investment and equitable access to capital, economic displacement will continue—pushing Native families away from the very communities they seek to strengthen.
Cultural Displacement
Displacement is also about losing spaces where languages, ceremonies, and ways of life thrive. Boarding schools, forced relocation, and assimilation policies disrupted the intergenerational transmission of knowledge. Today, cultural displacement continues through language loss, disappearance of communal spaces, and challenges of maintaining traditions in increasingly urbanized settings. This loss severs community bonds and diminishes the presence of Indigenous knowledge systems in public life.
Oweesta's Commitment to Anti-Displacement
At Oweesta, we believe ending displacement starts with Indigenous control over land, financial systems, and economic development. We support Native-led solutions that keep families rooted in place, culture, and community.
By investing in Native CDFIs, we expand access to capital, promote homeownership, and grow local businesses—ensuring wealth stays within Native communities. Our financial capability programs equip families with the tools to build credit, increase savings, and achieve stability.
Through policy advocacy, we work to ensure Native voices shape their economic futures. Our mission goes beyond resisting displacement—we are building lasting pathways to prosperity, cultural preservation, and thriving Native nations.
Connecting Through Stories
Displacement is not a single moment in time - it's a thread woven through generations. It reaches beyond the loss of land, housing, and policy decisions. It's about the ongoing systems designed to erase us - from the forced removals that pushed our ancestors from their homelands to the barriers that prevent homeownership today, to the extractive industries that continue to chip away at what remains. It's rising waters, burning lands, and the disappearance of spaces where our languages, ceremonies, and ways of being once thrived.
But the story of our communities is not only one of loss - it is a story of survival. Displacement may have shaped our histories, but it has never defined us. Across generations, Native people have resisted, adapted, and reclaimed. These are stories of strength - of returning, rebuilding, and renewing what was meant to be erased.
By reconnecting with our histories, we begin to understand the full impact of how displacement continues to shape our lives today. And in that understanding, we find clarity, purpose, and collective strength to confront the forces that still seek to divide and disrupt our communities.
With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Oweesta is launching a national social media project to explore how displacement continues to impact Native lives across the country. We invite you to share your story of resilience. Tag @Oweesta and use #StandStrongStayRooted. Together, we can build visibility, solidarity, and change.
These aren't just stories—they are our truths. And by speaking them in the spaces where decisions are made, we push back against erasure and advocate for the recognition, resources, and respect our communities deserve.
Displacement has never defined us. Our resilience has.
Stand strong. Stay rooted.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Sudan paramilitaries announce a parallel government, deepening the country's crisis
CAIRO — A notorious paramilitary group and its allies in Sudan have formed a parallel government in areas under the group's control, which are mainly in the western region of Darfur where allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity are being investigated. The move, which was announced Saturday, is likely to deepen the crisis in Sudan, which plunged into chaos when tensions between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, exploded into fighting in 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country. The RSF-led Tasis Alliance appointed Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary group, as head of the sovereign council in the rival administration. The 15-member council serves as head of the state, it declared. The RSF grew out of the notorious janjaweed militias, mobilized two decades ago by then-President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir against populations that identify as Central or East African in Darfur. The janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities. In the current war, the RSF too has been accused of numerous atrocities. The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Dagalo, saying the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide, a charge the group has denied. Alliance spokesman Alaa al-Din Naqd announced the new administration in a video statement from the Darfur city of Nyala, which is controlled by the RSF and its allied janjaweed. Mohammed Hassan Taishi, a civilian politician who was a member of a military-civilian sovereign council that ruled Sudan after the 2019 overthrow of Bashir, was named prime minister in the RSF-controlled government. Rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu, who commands the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, which is active in the southern Kodrofan region, was appointed as Dagalo's deputy in the council. The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party of neighboring South Sudan. The announcement came five months after the RSF and its allies signed a charter in February in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, with the aim of establishing a parallel government in RSF-controlled areas. At the time, many countries, including the United States, rejected the RSF efforts and condemned the signing at the Nairobi conference of what the paramilitary group and its allies called a 'transitional constitution.' The Foreign Ministry of Sudan's internationally recognized government in Khartoum condemned the announcement of a parallel government. It issued a statement calling it a 'fake government' and urged the international community to not engage with the RSF-led administration. The RSF-led move was likely to deepen the division in Sudan. Yasir Arman, a rebel leader, said the move is likely to prolong the conflict and divide Sudan between two rival administrations — similar to neighboring Libya. Magdy writes for the Associated Press.

17 hours ago
Sudan paramilitaries announce parallel government, deepening country's crisis
CAIRO -- A notorious paramilitary group and its allies in Sudan said they formed a parallel government in areas under the group's control, which are located mainly in the western region of Darfur where allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity are being investigated. The move, which was announced Saturday, was likely to deepen the crisis in Sudan, which plunged into chaos when tensions between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, exploded into fighting in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. The RSF-led Tasis Alliance appointed Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary group, as head of the sovereign council in the new administration. The 15-member council serves as head of the state. The RSF grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias, mobilized two decades ago by then-president Omar al-Bashir against populations that identify as Central or East African in Darfur. The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities. In the current war, the RSF has been accused of numerous atrocities. The Biden administration slapped Dagalo with sanctions, saying the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide. The RSF has denied committing genocide. The alliance spokesman Alaa al-Din Naqd announced the new administration in a video statement from the Darfur city of Nyala, which is controlled by the RFF and its allied Janjaweed. Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a civilian politician who was a member of a military-civilian sovereign council that ruled Sudan following the 2019 overthrow of al-Bashir, was named as prime minister in the RSF-controlled government. Rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu, who commands the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) which is active in the southern Kodrofan region, was appointed as Dagalo's deputy in the council. The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party of neighboring South Sudan. The announcement came five months after the RSF and its allies signed a charter in February in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, with the aim of establishing a parallel government in RSF-controlled areas. At the time, many countries, including the U.S., rejected the RSF efforts and condemned the signing by the paramilitary group and its allies of what they called 'transitional constitution' in the Kenya-hosted conference. The foreign ministry of the internationally recognized government in Khartoum condemned the announcement in a statement. It called it a 'fake government' and urged the international community to not engage with the RSF-led administration. The RSF-led move was likely to deepen the division in Sudan. Yasir Arman, a rebel leader, said the move is likely to prolong the conflict and divide Sudan between two rival administrations — similar to neighboring Libya.


Hamilton Spectator
18 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Inuit leader sees opportunities in the new faces of Mark Carney's government
OTTAWA — Trust is not something Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, often associates with Ottawa. 'The federal government writ large, whether or not we're talking about a political party or the institution itself, has never shown itself to be trustworthy to Inuit,' Obed said in an interview with the Star on Friday. Following a closed-door meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Mark Carney, nearly a third of Carney's cabinet and other Inuit leaders about the Liberals' major projects law and other priorities, Obed said new faces can sometimes lead to new opportunities. 'I would say that we have a lot of really trustworthy people at the table, and that came through quite clearly,' he said, naming cabinet newcomers like Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand and Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Rebecca Alty as the members of Carney's front bench responsible for the relationship between Inuit and the Crown. Obed also said he was satisfied by Carney's assurances that modern treaties, and the processes tied to those agreements, will be respected following the rushed passage of the Building Canada Act, which allows Ottawa to temporarily bypass certain environmental laws and regulations to fast-track 'nation-building' projects like ports and pipelines. 'That is a statement that's powerful and one that we have chosen to trust the prime minister on, and we really hope that he lives up to his word on it,' Obed said. The ITK president co-chaired a meeting Thursday of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee — a group that convenes Inuit leaders and the federal cabinet three times a year — with the prime minister, as part of a series of summits Carney is holding with Indigenous leaders after the controversial law prompted backlash for its potential to steamroll Indigenous rights and environmental protections. At the gathering in Inuvik, N.W.T., Carney announced the appointment of Nunavut's Virginia Mearns as the country's official Arctic ambassador. She now has a mandate to liaise with Arctic and non-Arctic partners and protect Arctic sovereignty. Other challenges raised in the meeting included the health and social disparities experienced across Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland that spans four regions in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern Quebec and northern Labrador. 'The prime minister himself said that these issues would not be left behind,' said Obed, who also spoke with Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne about his expectations for this fall's federal budget. 'We talked about … our budget submission, and our hopes for this budget, especially in regards to health, education, infrastructure, housing,' he said. 'And I hope that we can find a common path where we can make the proper investments and still build our communities at the same time, and be incredibly supportive and work on these nation-building projects as well.' Last month, Obed warned the Senate that it is 'Canada's weakness that it pats itself on the back for being a great champion of Indigenous Peoples, an upholder of the rule of law and respect for Indigenous Peoples' rights, while at the same time acting very differently through its legislation and practices.' He was speaking to senators about the 'unintended consequences' of the proposed law, then known as Bill C-5, including potential infringements on Inuit-Crown treaties. 'Not only does this not live up to Canada's obligation to respect rights, but it creates the possibility of national interest projects ending up before the courts, with litigation causing significant delays in the national interest projects moving forward,' Obed said at the time. He told the Star that Inuit groups looked at 10-year infrastructure needs and identified 79 projects, which they discussed with ministers on Thursday with the goal of drawing up a shorter list of feasible goals. 'Our communities are saying we still need essential infrastructure. We need roads. We need ports. We need the ability to land on runways that have lights, or that are paved. We still have essential concerns around health and education, around food security,' he said. 'And so these national projects are a part of a larger whole.' He named several projects, like the Grays Bay Road and Port project, a transportation corridor to Arctic shipping routes, and the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link project, which would connect part of Nunavut to Manitoba's power grid, as Inuit-led initiatives that would benefit Canada's economy. ' So that's part of the next step, is to really co-ordinate as best we can, not only with our communities, but also with public governments to ensure that the listed projects under C-5, meet the needs of Inuit, meet the needs of public governments, and are in the national interest.'