Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100People 34 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine Robin Farrin Photography S herriMitchell,47,makesnews asalawyer,teacher,activist,writ- er.TothepeopleofthePenobscot TribeonIndianIsland,sheismoresimply Wena’gamu’gwasitor“Shewhobringsthe light,”thetribalnamegiventoherbytheel- dersofthecommunity. Threeyearsago,shemovedbacktoIndi- anIsland,whereshegrewupwithherparents, fourssisters,and“ouronepoorbrother.”Back then,thingswereveryinsular. “Ionlyfiguredoutfairlylateinchildhood thedifferencesbetweenmycommunityand thatofotherAmericans.Juniorhighwasmy firstrealexperienceoutsideofIndianIsland, andthedifferencesbetweenmycommuni- tyandthelargerpopulationwerestartling.I seemed‘strange’tomyclassmatesbecauseI’d approachsomeoneatschoolwhoseemeddis- tressed,evenifIdidn’tknowthem.” MitchellgraduatedfromtheUniversityof Mainemagnacumlaudeandwentontostudy lawattheUniversityofArizonaontheIndig- enousPeoplesLawandPolicyProgram.Her primaryfocusistheprotectionofindigenous peopleandlands.“Day-to-dayIworkasan attorney,primarilyfortribalmembers.Ona broaderlevel,Iworkasanexecutivedirector fortheLandPeaceTrust,whereIconsulton issueslikelandusage,theprotectionofsacred spaces,andtherightstofreedomofreligious practiceforindigenouspeople.” Mitchell’sfocusisnotconfinedtoNative Americancases.Sherecentlyreturnedfrom consultingwithaMaoricommunityinNew Zealand.She’salsoworkedwithindigenous groupsinCanada,Columbia,andacrossCen- tralAmerica. “My aim is to educate and raise aware- ness on issues that affect indigenous people, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline. I also want to raise awareness of Native American culture, particularly here in Maine. A lot of people don’t even know Maine has an indig- enous population!” Mitchellisanexpertatthetwistingchains ofdeceptionbetweentheMainestategovern- mentandtheWabanakiConfederacy. “When Maine seceded from Massachu- setts in 1820, the obligations of the govern- ment to tribal people was memorialized in the Maine Constitution to ensure our pro- tection. But in 1876, an amendment was passed to prohibit those laws from being published. So a hundred years later, if you’re a lawyer of indigenous land rights, for ex- ample, you can’t even get a copy of those constitutional agreements! It’s a relationship of neglect from the very beginning.” MitchellalsoworkscloselywiththeSun- lightMediaCollective,agroupoftribalmem- bers,journalists,andfilmmakerscampaign- ingtoraiseawarenessoftheongoingappealto denythePenobscotNationterritorialrightsto thewatersofthePenobscotRiver. “InAugust2012,then-AttorneyGeneral WilliamSchneiderreleasedastatementclaim- ingthePenobscotNationhadnoclaimtothe watersalongthestemofthePenobscotRiver, andthatourprotectedspacedidnotextend beyondtheshorelineofoursome200islands. Thisisourancestralriver,ournamesakeriv- er.Thegovernment’sclaimthatourterrito- rydoesnotincludethiswaterisridiculous,” Mitchellsays. Theconflictreachedsuchatenorthatin 2013,thefederalgovernmentsoughttointer- venetolendtheirsupporttothePenobscot Nation.Whilemuchofthedisputewascen- teredaroundthetribe’ssustenancefishing rights,Mitchellbelievesthestategovernment’s interestsaremorethreatening. “It’sapreemptiveattempttoopenupthose territoriestoindustry.Theywanttonulli- fyourclaimtotheareainordertosupport projectsliketheEast-Westindustrialcorri- dor,whichwouldrunfrommid-coastMaine toMontreal.Itwouldhaveahugeimpact,not justontheWabanaki,buttheecologyofthe entirearea.” On the one hand, Mitchell is a fierce- ly driven lawyer, all fact and reason. On the other, she speaks fluently on the topics of spirituality, philosophy, and poetry. This du- ality is evident in her current book project, Sacred Instruction. “It’s a guide to spiritual activism containing guidance on how to en- gage change within yourself to effect change in the outside world, alongside actual hard fact and legal advice on activism and protest. The two aspects of my personality are inter- twined. Law is what I do, but my life is driv- en by the Wabanaki principal of Skejinawe- bamousawakonis–the idea that we are all tied to each other and to the earth . “Wabanakiteachingtellsusthatouran- cestors‘dreamupintothefuture.’They’vesac- rificedinordertoallowustoexist,soit’sour dutytodothesameforourdescendants.That entailsmorethanjustgivinglife.Weneedto takeresponsibilitytopreservetheworldfor thegenerationstocome.That’smylife’swork.” –SarahMoore “A lot of people don’t even know that Maine has an indigenous population!” Sacred Spaces Penobscot lawyer Sherri Mitchell flies the flag for indigenous rights. 5.