Musicians Support Indigenous Communities During COVID via Noise For Now x Seeding Sovereignty Mask Campaign

NOISE FOR NOW and Seeding Sovereignty have announced a partnership in the form of a mask campaign in response to the severe impacts Indigenous communities are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With each purchase of the campaign's mask or bandana, one mask will be donated to the Indigenous Impact Community Care Initiative for distribution to the pueblos and reservations most impacted at this time and also cash donations will be made to Seeding Sovereignty's mutual aid work and to abortion funds serving Indigenous and undocumented people (Tewa Women United, and Mariposa Fund).

Joining the effort to spread awareness for this campaign are artists including Arthur Moon, A-Trak, Broken Baby, Cat Power, Christian Lee Hutson, David Pajo, Deerhoof, Dirty Projectors, Doe Paoro, Fiona Apple, Fleet Foxes, GABBY’S WORLD, Gemma, Grizzly Bear, Half Waif, Harrison Whitford, Holly Miranda, Kim Gordon, Lucy Dacus, Mark Ruffalo, Milk Carton Kids, mmeadows, morgxn, Mynabirds, Noel Wells, Palehound, Real Estate, TV On The Radio, and many more.

Fiona Apple, whose recent album Fetch The Bolt Cutters acknowledges Tongva Territory (otherwise called Los Angeles) as the land upon which the music was made, states:

“The number of reasons to support Indigenous efforts is the same as the number of souls who inhabit the world. White gluttony tried to kill off the very people who understood the language of the land. We chose to be owners instead of guardians, and we became a cancer. If we want to survive, we must support Indigenous efforts.”

The campaign notes that the COVID-19 pandemic:

"...highlights long-standing structural and systemic inequities in the United States and exacerbates the already precarious situation for Indigenous communities; some of whom live on reservations with limited access to resources including food, running hot water, and healthcare."

The masks for this campaign were developed and produced on Tongva territory by Suay Sew Shop LA. Suay Sew Shop is one of LA’s leading ethical apparel manufacturers, specializing in upcycling and responsible production.

Here is some further information and links concerning each of these organizations:

NOISE FOR NOW is a national initiative that enables performers to connect with and financially support grassroots organizations that are dedicated to empowering women and protecting women’s health and abortion rights. Our directors are proud to honor the traditional lands and peoples of the Jicarilla Apache/Pueblo (so-called Santa Fe, NM), those of the Tongva territory (so-called Los Angeles), those of Manahatta in Lenapehoking and traditional Wappinger territories (so-called Manhattan), and those of traditional Shawnee and Eastern band Cherokee territories (so-called Nashville). We give thanks for the ability to live, learn, and work on their traditional lands.

Seeding Sovereignty is an Indigenous womxn-led collective working on behalf of our global community to shift social and environmental paradigms by dismantling colonial institutions and replacing them with Indigenous practices created in synchronicity with the land. Seeding Sovereignty acknowledges that we are guests doing work on unceded Tiwa territory and give thanks to the original peoples of the land for allowing us the space to work on behalf of all tribes of so-called New Mexico and around Turtle Island. The United States has an infamous legacy of genocide, flagrant disregard for Black life, enslavement that continues today with the prison industrial complex, displacement of original peoples from not only this land, but globally, all while the descendants of slave owners and Indian killers continue their colonial projects. We reject this rooted violence, colonial capitalism, and white supremacy and rise in support with not only Black lives, but with all people of the global majority.

 Indigenous Women Rising is an Indigenous-led Reproductive Justice organization that centers the communities they come from. The IWR Abortion Fund serves Indigenous people throughout the US with the cost of their abortion, gas, food, and childcare while seeking abortion care.

 Mariposa Fund raises money to help undocumented people pay for their abortions because they recognize the extraordinary and systemic barriers that exist for undocumented people trying to obtain reproductive health services. These include systemic obstacles like fear of criminalization, lack of access to health insurance, economic insecurity, linguistic barriers, and oppression rooted in white supremacy and xenophobia.