Cultural Belonging

At PICA-WA, we are only able to resist the colonial programming of white supremacy by building cultural belonging and maintaining our Pasifika values that keep our communities grounded in who we are. We have developed our three anti-colonial principles that ground our shared organizing work and community. These are: Indigenous Solidarity, Cultural Stewardship & Ecological Stewardship.

OUR ANTI-COLONIAL PRINCIPLES

Indigenous Solidarity

Cultural belonging is one of our core bodies of work in aligning the wellness of Indigenous Pasifika peoples with the advancement of Native Peoples of the Americas. Indigenous Solidarity grounds us in the struggles of our Native relations in rejecting land displacement and cultural assimilationist policies and elevating policies and cultural work grounded in building Native sovereignty over land, waters and other resources.

Cultural Stewardship

We know that Indigenous communities have always resisted western consumerism and individualism and instead seek belonging not just to individual self, but to kin, to culture, to place, to one’s clan and nation, the soil, creature, elements, the cosmos, ancestors and also the following generations to come. Belonging elevates our role as stewards of the cultural resources passed down from our ancestors that remind us of our kinship in our environment and our role in taking care of Earth and Ocean.

Ecological Stewardship

As Pasifika peoples, we know that the Earth & Ocean are our forebears and our creation stories are birthed from being intimately connected to our environment as the extension of ourselves. Stewarding cultural resources includes our commitment to co-stewardship of the lands and seas we live on and are sustained by. We come alongside Native American Nations and Tribes in sharing our commitment to protect the health of our Oceans, Waters and Earth through championing climate justice initiatives lead by Indigenous communities.