Industrial contamination at Akwesasne completed Carlisle’s severing of people from land

Evidence

Traditional Mohawks speak the words of thanksgiving to the land, but these days the lands along the St. Lawrence River have little to be grateful for. When parts of the reserve were flooded by power dams, heavy industry moved in to take advantage of the cheap electricity and easy shipping routes. Alcoa, General Motors, and Domtar don’t view the world through the prism of the Thanksgiving Address, and Akwesasne became one of the most contaminated communities in the country. The families of fishermen can no longer eat what they catch. Mother’s milk at Akwesasne carries a heavy burden of PCBs and dioxin. Industrial pollution made following traditional lifeways unsafe, threatening the bond between people and the land. Industrial toxins were poised to finish what was started at Carlisle. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 941

Categorization

• XREF: This is the environmental-racism thread central to Eco-Justice Education; mirrors the Sudbury smelters and poisoned Great Lakes thread running through the chapter on restoration. — connects to: Contemporary land restoration work is framed explicitly as undoing Carlisle’s damage. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 966; The grief and broken land-people link from Carlisle persists across generations. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 969
• SEED: The equation ‘industrial toxins were poised to finish what was started at Carlisle’ reframes environmental racism as continuous with assimilation policy — direct eco-justice essay material.

Broader Connections

• The grief and broken land-people link from Carlisle persists across generations. #expands (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 969
• Contemporary land restoration work is framed explicitly as undoing Carlisle’s damage. #corroborates (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 966