Mission

Mission Statement:

Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a currently non-Native all volunteer, grassroots collective committed to working with the resistance communities of Black Mesa/Big Mountain.

The nature of colonialism is to invisibilize its modes of operating, creating the dominant narrative that Indigenous peoples are disappearing. In the case of Black Mesa there’s a perception that the relocation is done. It’s not. As a collective, in an effort to reveal the presence of settler colonialism and its connection to climate destabilization, we center the voices of those resisting relocation and cultural genocide. This offers up visions for a future built on respect for life, land, and, as matriarch resister Roberta Blackgoat said, “ancient Indigenous people’s religion and culture”.

As a collective, we prioritize direct-on-land support in order to be grounded in the daily realities of land based struggles, and to deepen relationships with members of the resistance community that form the foundation of our solidarity work. We strive for a decolonization that includes an abdication of power over Native lands by the U.S. government and corporations and a practice of solidarity which takes responsibility for our role as beneficiaries of ongoing settler colonialism in order to dismantle settler privilege.