Layla ᎴᎳ
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laylajohnston.bsky.social
Layla ᎴᎳ
@laylajohnston.bsky.social
ᏥᏣᎳᎩ. Cherokee Nation citizen. Cherokee language learner. Reader and writer. Western Massachusetts. Native plant enthusiast. Climate crisis is now. 🪶💧🌽🍓
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ᎣᏏᏲ ᏂᎦᏛ. ᎴᎳ ᏓᏆᏙᎠ ᏥᏣᎳᎩ ᎢᎵᏃᏱ ᏗᎨᎬ. ᎧᎾᎧᎩ ᎢᎵᏃᏱ ᎠᏩᏕᎾ ᎠᎴ ᎧᎾᎧᎩ ᎠᏩᏛᏒ. ᎺᏌᏧᏎᏗ ᏥᏁᎳ.
The findings ultimately pointed blame at the government’s failure to uphold its treaty obligations to Indigenous nations in the U.S. and its harmful policies that disconnected them from their land, culture and language — something Moorehead wrote about more than a century ago.
December 3, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
This kinda article reminds use we're living in a Gilded Age and it's our neighbors, friends, families, babies and even fetuses suffering so the billionaires can have more and more.

Corruption from the local officeholders to the governor to the feds. Sometimes I think direct action is inevitable.
There is a movement to "prove that the datacenter water issues is fake". If you venture into Muskrat's hell site, you can see the community note these people put on this great piece of investigative journalism, accusing them of unfairly implicating datacenters.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
www.rollingstone.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
November 29, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
[LIVE] National Day of Mourning 2025, (27 November 25 @ 12pm ET)
YouTube video by hate5six
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
Was not expecting to see this when i opened up a 1978 issue of High Times
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Tribal Alliance Against Frauds publishes results of their investigations of dishonest claims of Indigenous heritage. So many fake Cherokees out there, especially in academia. One would think academics, of all people, would know how to verify research and claims. tribalallianceagainstfrauds.org
Tribal Alliance Against Frauds
Learn about our advocacy for American Indian Native American tribes and our fight against tribal fraud. Join us in protecting indigenous communities.
tribalallianceagainstfrauds.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:09 PM
So many pretendians claim to be Cherokee. It’s exhausting and enraging for those of us tsalagi enrolled in one of the 3 federally recognized tribes. Tribal Alliance Against Frauds is doing great work.
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
You know what, I'm just gonna re-up this post
November 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
Layli Long Soldier's book Whereas addresses the US Congressional apology to Native nations from 2009, which was not read aloud or witnessed by Native nations and was buried in the enormous Defense Appropriations Act, at the time the largest commitment to military expenditure in human history.
This week’s teaching.
November 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
This is a good article about data sovereignty, AI grift, the marginalization of Indigenous languages, and how these and many other things converge to wreak superfluous harm on Indigenous communities.
November 15, 2025 at 3:25 AM
No thanks, no giving! Anybody else headed to the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth? If you can’t make it in person, the event will be live streamed on YouTube
56th annual National Day of Mourning
Thursday Nov. 27, 2025 - 12 noon
Plymouth MA
#nothanksnogiving #ndom2025
November 15, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
"the fossil fuel industry has been lobbying the climate negotiations for 30 years now"

~ a flotilla of Indigenous people travels 3000km to ensure their voices are also heard at COP30. See the full story at:

youtube.com/shorts/RAJRO...
November 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
“Growing a forest can take generations. But the Auburn study is finding that it takes about eight years to convert degraded landscapes into grasslands that can absorb about as much carbon as the remnant prairies.”
Old-growth grasslands still exist in the eastern US! Two orgs in this article are searching them out, documenting them, and harvesting seed. These important bio hotspots are overlooked compared to forests. (And I've gone on a bio hunt with Devin - good guy.) #nativeplants

Gift link: wapo.st/49Rtfzu
Column | Scientists discover an ancient landscape – in our own backyard
Newly recognized patches of undeveloped grassland are accidental time travelers from a distant past, and they offer answers for our 21st century problems.
wapo.st
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
Have you seen winter bird yet? They eat seeds from the “dead” native plants. When you deadhead the flowers, you remove critical food sources for the birds. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼. I painted American Tree Sparrow with Stiff Goldenrod and Cup Plant. Aren’t they cute? #botanicalart #SciArt #birdsinart #naturalhistory
November 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Interesting! Burns worked with Cherokee Nation and our film studio to ensure accurate Indigenous inclusion in his latest on the American Revolution. One of my favorite Cherokees, Tsiyu Gansini, ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, Dragging Canoe, will be represented.
November 13, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
Another species of clearwing #butterfly, the Rusted Clearwing-Satyr (Cithaerias pireta) at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica

#butterflies #nature #bugsky
November 13, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Where the Dead Sit Talking by Hobson, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Baptist, And Still the Waters Run by Debo, Maddaddam Trilogy by Atwood, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Zuboff, Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed by Cronin
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!

tell me about a book that changed you

for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM
One of my favorite artists recommending more Indigenous artists. Some really cool works and creators noted here.
November 11, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Spent the day at one of my favorite contemporary museums, MassMOCA. We had cups of Golden Root Tea at the cultural apothecary counter while we contemplated our buried dreams. Interactive exhibit by Alison Pebworth.
November 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Layla ᎴᎳ
Photos by Shinnecock Nation artist Jeremy Dennis, 2010s-20s, whose practice explores Indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation.
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
First summer male red-winged blackbird ᏦᏩᏍᎦ tsowasga looking for breakfast in our cutleaf coneflower ᏐᏣᎾ sochana stems. #nativeplants #leavetheleaves #savethestems
November 6, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Tribal members, Cherokee Nation citizens, reach out to your at-large group leadership if you’re impacted by the SNAP emergency. They can help.
From the Tulsa Flyer, Native Nations, including my own, making sure local people receive food. Meanwhile the governor withholds funds for Oklahomans.
November 3, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Frost covered seed heads are beautiful and provide food for our birds! #nativeplants
Monarda on a frosty morning.
November 2, 2025 at 6:40 PM