Photo credit: Jim McCarthy
2024 has been another year of growth and hard work toward shared goals for the Wabanaki Alliance and our network of friends across our homelands now called Maine.
We continued our legislative work and achieved a significant restoration of rights with LD 2007, which is now public law and extends enhanced jurisdiction by our tribal courts over a large class of criminal offenses. We also saw the passage of bills that will help the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission and streamline the process through which tribal bills become law with a cleaner communication process with the Secretary of State’s office.
We invite you to view the bills that passed in the first year of the last legislature in our legislative bill tracker, which will be updated in 2025 with information about our priority legislation.
Wabanaki tribal sovereignty and self-determination have been slowly and systematically eroded by the 1980 Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement and Implementing Acts and subsequent interpretations of these documents. What takes a long time to build also takes a long time to undo, and the march toward equity for our people can be arduous.
We want to take a moment at the end of this year to thank you all for showing up, speaking out, and standing up for our rights. In my travels throughout our homelands, I meet so many people who wonder how these injustices persist and are eager to help and learn more. I am so thankful that the Wabanaki Alliance has become a tool for unity, education, awareness, and respect.
You will read and digest many year-end appeals. There are a variety of worthy causes and organizations doing work that aligns with the values of truth-telling, healing, equality for those who have been marginalized, and elevating the voices of those who have been silenced.
Thank you for sharing our values and honoring the work of the Wabanaki Alliance as we stand in the halls of power, bringing forth the resilient strength and wisdom of our ancestors. We appreciate you so much and invite you to invest in helping us as we continue our work to achieve our just and honorable goals by donating through the link below.
In 2025, the Wabanaki Alliance is poised to hire more staff, manage multiple legislative priorities, educate and nourish relationships with lawmakers, organize and mobilize our ever-growing coalition, and continue to be a place where Wabanaki people unite around restoring the recognition of our inherent tribal sovereignty.
The Honorable Donna Loring, a Penobscot Nation elder and member of the Wabanaki Alliance Board, said this to Downeast magazine when reflecting on the mistreatment of our people by the government during her childhood, “We were treated like imbeciles and paupers. We were told we were living off hand-outs from the state. When you hear a message like that growing up, it sinks in and is self-fulfilling.”
There is still so much healing to do and generations of harm to address. It can be hard on the soul to continually sit at the table that once pushed your people away. Tribal sovereignty and self-determination is part of how we will get there. We cannot do this work alone—and we are deeply grateful that we don’t have to.
Kci woliwoni (thank you very much)
Maulian Bryant, Penobscot, Incoming Executive Director
