Four years have passed since I launched, and you supported, my Change.org petition campaign to get the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) to end its now 60 plus years of running their insulting “Desolate Wilderness” Thanksgiving editorial. I took a break from this campaign hoping that giving the newspaper time to cease publishing the editorial might allow them to save face by not appearing to be immediately caving into pressure from people they term leftist radicals trying to undermine American values.

Instead, we have all witnessed increasing polarization and an escalation of attacks on marginal peoples including “Indians”. A few months ago, one ultra-right wing commentator responded to a college professor’s posting concerning decolonization with the comment “We didn’t kill enough Indians”. I was outraged at this pro-genocidal comment. But I was not surprised. When the WSJ journal published an editorial condemning me, by name, the day before they ran “Desolate Wilderness” just after our petition hit 50,000 signers, my email inbox was filled with hate mail.

So, are we fighting a losing battle and being overwhelmed by those who insist that only white Americans deserve to live here? No. Emphatically, NO. We are witnessing a morally bankrupt desperate right-wing effort to circle their wagons and use hate and threats to intimidate those of us who believe that civility, inclusiveness, and democratic checks and balances will  prevail if we continue to affirm their importance. We will not be deterred.

In that spirit, I am writing to let you know that I will relaunch and reaffirm our petition drive in the coming year. I will need your help. I would like to organize a team to publicize and explain what we began in 2021. A renewed campaign to take down the WSJ editorial before midsummer and November elections capture the limelight. I will get back to you with a timeline and some thoughts about how to proceed.

Meanwhile I am writing articles about the resilience of Indigenous Peoples and cultures in order to document that we are committed to preserving our dignity. I am also offering online courses at McGill University In Montreal on various Indigenous related themes, including examinations of how being Indigenous and giving visibility to Indigenous Peoples is unfolding. I welcome you to consider joining in my non-credit McGill explorations. If you are interested write to me at rkritkausky@ecologia.org. I am also available to make presentations about our petition via Zoom to community groups, churches and classes. Together we can participate in the nation’s groundswell of very positive efforts to protect the marginal and vulnerable.

Meanwhile, I personally draw strength from the Vermont forest that envelopes me and from our other than human kin (Coy-Wolf, Owl, Deer, and Songbirds) that remind me daily that we do not live and have never lived in a “desolate wilderness”, but are instead beginning to heal Mother Earth together. Miigwetch/Thankyou