It is also much easier for many to understand that we must protect the habitat of endangered species in order to ensure their survival. For some reason, it is much more difficult to convince non-Native people that the survival of Native cultures and their subsistence economies demand a clean environment. Native communities can not and will not move. Land is not merely property, it is the bones of ancestors, it is sacred, it is our mother. If the earth becomes contaminated, it not only endangers the health and well being of individuals who are exposed to toxicants, it threatens the well-being of an entire Nation of unique and endangered people.
Local contamination is devastating to endangered cultures.
The environmental racism inherent in this situation is typified by the tendencies of local industries and government agencies to view Akwesasne as a typical industrial site. Akwesasne is anything but typical. Though this document has focused on the disproportionate environmental effects experienced by the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, this case, has implications for environmental justice issues affecting other Native Nations, as well as communities throughout the United States that are dealing with remediation and restoration of Superfund sites.