Ernie Stevens III is a council member on the Business Committee of Oneida Nation in Wisconsin. Councilman Stevens was named one of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Native American 40 Under 40 award winners for 2015. Stevens, a Green Bay resident, is a co-host of the “Native Report,” a PBS series that celebrates Native American culture.
What is the meaning and significance of food sovereignty?
Sovereignty is a birthright. We’re born into sovereignty as a people to govern ourselves and to make decisions that affect not only ourselves, but the next generation. It’s being able to make decisions for the betterment of yourself and your people. There’s a lot of ways to define food sovereignty that might change depending on what region you’re from, what nation you are, what your history and origin story are, your creation story… To us here in Oneida at 2018, it’s about maintaining our cultural ways. It’s about growing our food the way we’ve always grown it. By choosing to utilize modern technologies and by choosing to utilize traditional historic methods and choosing any and all ways to maintain the food systems of the nation. It’s not just to provide the community with food but to provide the community with the ability to be growers, processors, and consumers, and to be able to, as families, neighborhoods and individuals, utilize food sovereignty in our own circles.
Is food sovereignty inextricably tied to indigenous communities?
The Oneida are not environmentalists. There’s no word for environmentalist. We’re not farmers. There’s no word for farmer. Because those things are just built in. Food sovereignty reminds us that when we’re born, in our DNA, there’s information passed down from generation to generation. Starting from the beginning, we have this knowledge. The minute we are born, we’re already farmers. We’re already stewards of the environment. The Thunders, for example – one of their duties is to protect Mother Earth from damage and adverse deeds and entities. That goes to the beginning of time, before humans were even on earth. Call it ecology, call it what you want, but that’s the knowledge that’s in our DNA when we’re born. We’ll learn the science of it and the most effective modern ways to protect our environment. The rest is just built into who we are.
Can and should indigenous food practices be adopted outside of indigenous communities?
Indigenous food practices could save the world. I really believe that. Not just Oneida practices, not just Native Americans’ [practices]. That’s indigenous communities all over the world. If we went back to the indigenous processes of growing food, harvesting, storing them… Modern technology has definitely been a help. But if electricity went away, if all the satellites went away, if modern technology went away… Through whatever means and processes, are we prepared to go back to day one? Indigenous communities sure are. We have processes of smoking, creating storage in the ground to keep foods cold. There’s different things in indigenous practices that will never go away. You’ve got Monsanto and you’ve got all these adverse factors that come into play that we are competing against that say, “this is the answer.” And it’s not the answer. Indigenous food lifestyles, food sovereignty – that’s the answer. That’s how the world comes together. That’s how we save the world.