It's got what plants crave.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/delaware-court-upholds-voting-by-companies-small-towns-election-2026-05-26/

Number of mentions in the Epstein files (millions)

Obama: 0

Biden: 0

Trump: 3

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/60869500

The timing of the boat’s arrival in Seattle and the job cuts was coincidental, but the irony was not lost among the people who hustled down to the locks to see the giant yacht after word spread through the neighborhood and online. Some booed from the shore and heckled the crew.

Bumpers on the side of the boat were about the size of small SUVs, while the back deck had a covered pool and hot tub. More than a dozen crew members were visible, many enjoying the trip through the channel on a partly sunny evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12acDjXRKog

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/52141

When it comes to California’s climate future, the most important figure in the state’s chaotic governor’s race may not be any of the candidates on the debate stage. It may not even be outgoing governor Gavin Newsom, or President Donald Trump.

Instead, it might just be Chevron, the multinational oil company that was founded in the Golden State more than 100 years ago. It is among the largest producers, refiners, and sellers of petroleum products in a state rapidly shifting toward electric vehicles. Depending on which candidate is talking, the company is an example of how Big Oil is strangling consumers or an example of how climate regulations are strangling the state economy.

The behemoth — it reported $12.3 billion in profit last year — took the spotlight last month when an interviewer asked leading Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra about Chevron’s contributions to his campaign. The former state attorney general and Biden-era health secretary gave what seemed to be a candid response:

“Chevron, that’s the problem with politics. They’re not the bad guy. Does everybody here drive an electric vehicle? You need Chevron. I need Chevron. My people of the state of California need Chevron … Chevron wants to give me a check, that’s — that’s their prerogative.”

The phrase “I need Chevron” soon appeared in anti-Becerra videos by the likes of climate hawk Jane Fonda, implying that the candidate was saying he needs Chevron to get elected. Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, Becerra’s lead Democratic opponent, urged him to return the contribution and said he is “doing [the] bidding” of Big Oil. Representative Katie Porter, another leading Democrat, said in a statement that she “hasn’t made millions off Big Oil or taken their checks.”

Becerra is not entirely wrong. California consumes around 13 billion gallons of gasoline annually, all of it specifically formulated to meet the state’s stringent clean air standards. Most of it comes from just six refineries, and Chevron owns two that account for one-third of the state’s production. That gives the company and its peers tremendous leverage. But California’s gas consumption has declined by about 15 percent from a peak in 2004 due to improved fuel economy in conventional vehicles and growing adoption of electric vehicles. It could fall by half over the next two decades.

The primary is June 2. The challenge for the next governor will be to continue the energy transition while retaining the infrastructure needed to move and refine oil. This has never been accomplished in a place as large as California, which was the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2025. The risks are tremendous: If the state moves too quickly, it could create shortages and price spikes for drivers already paying the highest prices in the country. If it moves too slowly, it could lock in decades of air pollution and hinder global climate progress.

“It’s messy,” said Emily Grubert. She is a civil engineer and sociologist at Notre Dame who has studied fossil fuel transitions and advised the state government on oil infrastructure. “As soon as you realize that actually transitioning away from fossil fuels means you have to close things, people get really freaked out.”

Newsom spent much of his governorship going after Big Oil, an effort that included a series of executive actions to restrict fracking in Kern County oil fields. When the war in Ukraine sent gas prices surging, Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature passed a series of bills to stop what he called “price gouging.” These laws empowered a new oil-focused watchdog agency, created a tool that could impose refinery price caps, and required refineries to maintain certain storage reserves, all of which cut profit margins for Chevron and others. The new refinery rules added to multiple carbon taxes that make selling gasoline in California more expensive.

However, there is some evidence refiners have overcharged Californians. Even after accounting for state taxes, environmental fees, and production costs, a gap remains between gas prices in the Golden State and everywhere else. This gap appeared in 2015 after a refinery fire in Torrance and has come to be known as the “mystery gasoline surcharge.” It now averages about $1. Last fall, a state regulator concluded that refiners’ monopoly power may be the reason for the price spikes.

Oil companies accused Newsom of trying to regulate them out of existence, and many threatened to leave. Two major refiners, Wilmington and Benicia, announced last year that they would close their operations, forcing a state that already imports about 60 percent of its oil to rely on imports of gasoline refined in Asia. Chevron relocated its corporate headquarters from the San Francisco suburb of San Ramon to Houston in 2024, and it has delivered a series of ominous warnings this year as climate regulators have revised the state’s almost 15-year-old carbon tax.

“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry,” Andy Walls, the president of Chevron’s refinery business, wrote in an open letter to Newsom in March. The implication was clear:  unless you relax your regulations, we will leave the state and strand you without gasoline. That would mean paying Asian refiners to produce more of the state’s specific blend, at significant cost.

The Newsom administration spent much of 2025 trying to work out a grand bargain with the industry. The Legislature eased rules governing drilling in Kern County oil fields, helping maintain a stable supply of crude to refineries, It also delayed implementing a refinery profit cap, and allowed the temporary sale of gasoline with higher concentrations of ethanol. The state’s climate regulator has also suggested giving refineries free allowances under the state’s cap-and-trade system, even if it means less money for big projects like high-speed rail and sustainable housing. The idea is to give investors enough certainty that they’re willing to remain in California even as the state uses less gasoline.

Experts believe it will take a lot more than that to manage inevitable changes.

“You actually can’t have a smooth and safe and effective transition without some form of coordinating function for that decline,” said Grubert. She believes a degree of state ownership of refineries will be necessary to keep facilities open if they stop being profitable. The wrong approach, she says, would be to respond to each potential a refinery closure with ad hoc subsidies and state support, since that would allow refiners to extort the state one by one.

That point was reinforced this month by a report from the California Energy Commission that has not received much notice. The analysis of the state’s shaky fuel system found that “California cannot sustainably manage this transition through repeated crisis interventions at an asset-by-asset level.” It suggested options that included “legal obligations to operate,” “centralized planning of closures,” and “direct state management or ownership of assets.”

The Iran war will accelerate a decline in both the supply of, and demand for, oil. Gas retailers like Chevron are already struggling to find additional imports of refined fuel, and some experts predict shortages if the Strait of Hormuz does not open within weeks. Meanwhile, electric vehicles continue gaining market share, and Newsom plans to roll out subsidies for them this year. Wider adoption of these vehicles, and hybrids, will further crimp demand, making any remaining refineries more likely to shutter.

Chevron’s Kern River Oil Field near Bakersfield is one of the largest oil fields in California. The state’s climate policies have helped reduce gasoline demand by more than 15 percent over the past decade. Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images

All of this helps explain the showdown between the leading Democrats in the governor’s race, who are each trying to find a lane in a field that at one time included more than 50 candidates.

Becerra has given lip service to clean energy, but many public statements suggest a friendliness toward oil producers. As attorney general, he initiated a few lawsuits against petroleum companies, and supported other state climate lawsuits, but punted on major investigations. He has focused his gubernatorial campaign on vows to fight Donald Trump and protect healthcare, and has made controversial promises to freeze utility and insurance rates. On decarbonization, he has noted that “climate action only succeeds if it is affordable, reliable, and fair.”

After the chaos of the early primary, many oil producers have decided that Becerra is their candidate. Chevron last month contributed the maximum allowable amount of $39,200 to his campaign, the first time in a decade it has backed a gubernatorial candidate. Last week, the [company contributed another $500,000](http://after/ the chaos of the early primary, many oil producers have decided that Becerra is their candidate. Chevron last month contributed the maximum allowable amount of $39,200 to his campaign, the first time in a decade it has backed a gubernatorial candidate. Last week, the company contributed another $500,000 to an independent political committee supporting Becerra. California Resources Corporation, the state’s largest driller, also gave $500,000 to a Becerra committee. And gas companies like Sempra are among the donors to an anti-Steyer political committee that has raised more than $24 million.) to an independent political committee supporting Becerra. California Resources Corporation, the state’s largest driller, also gave $500,000 to a Becerra committee. And gas companies like Sempra are among the donors to an anti-Steyer political committee that has raised more than $24 million.

Steyer, meanwhile, has made attacking Big Oil the focus of his campaign, as it was during his 2020 presidential run. He says he would lower gas prices by activating the refining profit cap that Newsom has declined to use, investigating what is causing high gas prices (something the state has already done), and taxing private jet fuel. When refineries “inevitably” close, he says he will stockpile an oil reserve and import more refined fuel for as long as California needs it.

Steyer has also had to address his own fossil fuel ties. The hedge fund he founded, Farallon Capital, remains a major player in coal power finance abroad, including in Indonesia and Australia. Steyer still holds a stake in the firm, which he left in 2012, but his campaign says he no longer receives dividends from its fossil fuel investments.

California uses a “jungle primary” in which the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party. The latest poll shows Becerra essentially tied with former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican, with Steyer trailing at around 15 percent. The most likely outcome is that one of Becerra or Steyer will make it to the general election. (The other Democrats, including Porter and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, trail behind in the double digits.)

Railing against Big Oil has long proven to be good politics in California. But in the wake of Trump’s second election victory, Democrats have sought to downplay climate issues and focus instead on affordability. The question in the governor’s race is how best to achieve that in the long run. Is it better to use a bully pulpit against companies like Chevron in an effort to break their market power, or conciliate them in the hope that they don’t flee?

Mike Madrid, a veteran California political operative, believes Becerra’s approach will resonate more with the young and Latinos, both of whom often decide statewide elections.

“This attack on Chevron, it works for the base Steyer already has,” he said. “Young Latino working-class men are the demographic most affected by gas prices. Do you think they’re saying we need to get rid of Chevron? Of course not.”

Steyer’s campaign may not get him over the line in the primary, but he has at least been consistent. In a 2013 blog post for this very publication, he celebrated the result of the Virginia governor’s race, where a climate-focused Democrat beat a fossil-fuel friendly Republican with help from Steyer’s own war chest.

“A new political dynamic is emerging,” he wrote at the time. “Climate change is a winner, not a loser,” and is “no longer electoral Kryptonite.”

If Chevron has its way, next week’s  primary results will prove otherwise.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘I need Chevron’: The oil company at the center of the California governor’s race on May 26, 2026.

From Grist via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/52618

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have incurred yet another bloody Eid holiday for the sixth time in a row at the hands of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

At least nine people were killed and dozens of others were injured in a number of Israeli airstrikes that targeted residential buildings, and crowded market places across the besieged enclave on Tuesday, May 26.

The new general commander of the Al-Qassam brigades is among the fatalities

The IOF announced that it assassinated Mohammed Odeh, who was reportedly appointed last week as the new head of Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam brigades, in one of the assaults launched on Tuesday.

Hamas confirmed in a statement issued on Wednesday, May 27, that Odeh was killed alongside his wife and two of his children in an aerial Israeli attack that targeted an apartment in Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City.

The targeted assassination of Odeh came eleven days after his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, was assassinated by Israel in the same way, and in the same neighborhood.

Read more*:* Are targeted assassinations permitted during ceasefires? According to Israel, yes.

Although Netanyahu’s government claimed to have eliminated the last mastermind of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by assassinating Al-Haddad, it then alleged that Odeh was also one of Al-Qassam’s top commanders who led the October 7 attacks.

“The fourth commander of the Hamas terror organization’s military wing in Gaza was eliminated yesterday and sent to meet his partners in the depths of hell,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.

“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do,” Katz added. “They are all marked for death, everywhere,” he threatened.

Analysts, however, suggest that Israel is using the targeting of Al-Qassam’s leaders, who were allegedly involved in October 7 attacks, as a pretext to continue attacking densely-populated civilian areas as part of its ethnic-cleansing policy.

The post Israel carries out sixth consecutive Eid massacre in Gaza appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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It was recently announced that 'The Girl Who Was Plugged In' is going to be turned into a movie. I'd never heard of it before but the synopsis sounded pretty cyberpunk and since it's just a short story, I decided to give it a try.

It's crazy to me that this story was written in 1974. It's about an ugly girl who gets hired by a megacorp to remotely control the body of a beautiful celebrity in order to sell products in a world where advertising is banned. It's literally about a social media influencer in a cyberpunk world and was written in 1974. Also, while the author is listed as James Tiptree Jr, that's actually the pen name of Alice Sheldon. She used a male pen name in order to get published in the 1970s. The wikipedia page has an entire section about the role of gender in the story and the author.

The story is only about 30 pages long so it's a quick read and I highly recommend it. The author even has what I would consider a "cyberpunk voice" where the narrator is constantly yelling at the reader. The narrator calls you a "zombie" and a "dummy" and it just feels more aggressive than I'm used to reading in a story from 1974. It very much feels like a precursor to cyberpunk writing.

As always, being a short story, it should be pretty easy to find online. Here's a text version of the story but I'm sure you can find a pdf if that's what you prefer.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/52624

On the evening of Sunday, May 24, DR Congo’s armed forces intercepted yet another drone attack on the Bangoka Airport in the northeastern city of Kisangani, capital of the Tshopo province.

​This attack “on civilian installations through which populations from different parts of the world transit” is a “war crime”, said Paulin Lendongolia, governor of the Tshopo province, neighboring Kivu region – epicenter of the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group’s war for mineral wealth.​

This is not the first attack on this strategic airport. Earlier, on January 31 and February 1, the DRC’s armed forces intercepted eight drones before the airport was hit. The M23 claimed responsibility.

Read more: Rwanda-backed M23 pushes conflict to Uvira despite Washington peace deal

Condemning this attack “directed against an airport infrastructure located in a major urban center and gravely endangering civilian populations,” the African Union had warned that it “may amount to an act of terrorism.”

Its condemnation, however, had done little to deter Rwanda and its M23 front, which, once again, on March 1, launched four drones, all of which were shot down in the sky. One of them came crashing down just as a civilian aircraft was announcing its landing.

Then, again on May 24, drones dropped nine missiles on defensive positions inside the airport, according to provincial authorities. However, “thanks to our response capacity, no loss of life or major material damage has been recorded,” Governor Lendongolia said in his remarks following a visit to the airport on Monday, May 25.

“We have not suspended activities here. As you have seen with me, some aircraft are landing while others are taking off. The situation is being handled and remains under control,” he affirmed.

​“Everyone must safeguard the security of the DRC as a whole, and particularly that of their own living environment,” added Didier Lomoyo, vice-governor of Tshopo province. “We must remain constantly vigilant. The country is at war.”

“We’re going to take out some of the rare earth”

Multiple ceasefire agreements signed over a year have failed to hold, while conflict minerals, mined by the M23 and smuggled into Rwanda, continue to be sourced into the supply chains of several tech giants, including Apple.

Read more: The DRC’s historic case against Apple over blood minerals in its supply chain

In December, the DRC even opened up its critical minerals to the US in exchange for President Donald Trump’s brokering a peace agreement between DRC and Rwanda. “We’re going to take out some of the rare earth,” while DRC and Rwanda are “going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands”, Trump had announced, calling the Washington Pact a “miracle”.

Only days later, under the cover of alleged heavy fire by the Rwandan army, the M23 went on another offensive in South Kivu province, displacing about 200,000 people. In that month of December alone, M23 attacks killed at least 1,500 civilians, the government maintains.

Read more: In the wake of Trump’s “peace deal”, 200,000 displaced due to escalated M23 attacks on DRC

The post Attack on DRC’s Bangoka Airport is a “war crime”: Governor of Tshopo province appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/52591

The Israel Defense Forces' intensified its bombardment of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday just two hours after ordering the evacuation of 200,000 area residents, further violating a US-brokered ceasefire and stoking fears of Israeli occupation and even colonization.

The IDF ordered the entire city of Tyre and surrounding areas, including Palestinian refugee camps, to immediately flee north of the Zahrani River. Israeli bombing of Tyre has caused considerable damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.

"Our villages have been systematically razed over these past months, and now the cities themselves are in the crosshairs," Lebanese journalist Ali Hashem said on X.

IDF Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X Wednesday that "in light of the terrorist Hezbollah party's violation of the ceasefire agreement and targeting of Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to act forcefully against it."

While Hezbollah has launched drones, rockets, and attacks against Israeli troops, the militant resistance group says they are responses to Israeli violations of the April 16 ceasefire. IDF attacks have killed more than 700 Lebanese, including many women and children, since the truce took effect, despite US President Donald Trump telling Israel that such strikes are "PROHIBITED."

"The Israel Defense Forces do not intend to harm you," Adraee's message continued. "Your presence near Hezbollah elements, their facilities, or their combat means puts your lives at risk. Any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to targeting."

"To ensure your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and move north beyond the Zahrani River," the order warns. "Be advised—any movement south of the Zahrani River may put your lives at risk."

Adraee's warning came as Lebanese communities reeled under intensified airstrikes that have killed or wounded scores of people across southern Lebanon since Tuesday.

Since Israel renewed its attacks on Lebanon in March at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, more than 3,200 Lebanese have been killed—including hundreds of women and children—nearly 10,000 more have been wounded, and over 1 million people have been forcibly displaced, according to officials. As in Gaza, Israeli forces have been accused of deliberately targeting Lebanon's healthcare infrastructure, including first responders, as well as journalists.

Israeli forces also killed and wounded more than 20,000 Lebanese during 2023-25 attacks carried out during the war on Gaza after Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.

Israel has been accused of ethnic cleansing as its forces raze entire villages in southern Lebanon, drawing comparisons to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, and around 2 million people forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in March that Lebanese people displaced north of the Litani River would not be allowed to return to their homes—many of which have been looted by IDF troops—until people living in northern Israel are secure from Hezbollah rocket and drone threats.

The IDF has also extended its so-called "Yellow Line" in Lebanon, which it designated largely along the Litani River, in an effort to counter Hezbollah drone attacks that have killed or wounded at least scores of Israeli invaders.

Some observers fear another prolonged Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, as happened for 18 years late last century. IDF troops briefly occupied the capital city of Beirut in 1982 and did not withdraw from southern Lebanon until 2000.

Others fear even worse, including the possible Israeli colonization of parts of Lebanon in pursuit of realizing a “Greater Israel” stretching from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq, land many religious Jews believe was promised to them by their deity figure.

Earlier this month, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir revealed the existence of a "settlement plan" for southern Lebanon. This, after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asserted that "the Litani must be our new border."

Such Israeli expansion would likely include the permanent ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, similar to the 1947-49 forced expulsion of Palestinians during the Nakba, or "catastrophe," a period of terrorist attacks, massacres, and death marches perpetrated by Jewish militias during the establishment of the modern state of Israel.

The International Criminal Court is believed to be seeking the arrest of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in connection with the ethnic cleansing and settler colonization of the illegally occupied West Bank. The Hague-based tribunal has already issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

While negotiators from the United States, Iran, and mediating nations seek to achieve a lasting halt to hostilities in the Middle East, Israeli leaders have been actively working against peace. Addressing the prospect of a peace agreement, Ben-Gvir vowed during a Tuesday press briefing that "we will not allow this to happen."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Source https://lemmy.ca/comment/23480286

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Join the lemmy.ml boycott today and help foster a better Lemmy-verse! No more posts, comments (except to counter their propaganda ofc!) or upvotes on any comms on the Lemmy.ml instance! To make this easy you can do an instance block at Settings > Block Tab > Scroll to bottom > Input "lemmy.ml" and apply

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/52415

Shirley Sneve*ICT*

MINNEAPOLIS – How do high school dropouts get advanced degrees and become leaders in their community?

Turns out one of the keys might be language. Indigenous language.

Kate Beane and Carly Bad Heart Bull are identical twins and citizens of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and Muscogee Creek.

They dropped out of school in El Cerito, California, at age 15 but each went on to get advanced degrees and move back to – and take leadership roles in – their ancestral community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on unceded Dakota land.

“For both of us, reconnecting to our Dakota language and really understanding, not just the root words or vocabulary, but the meaning and how the language is so closely tied to the land. All of that was incredibly important for us to feel centered and to understand also our place in Minnesota,” Beane said. “Because as people who come from a community that was removed from the state, for us to come back home and to understand this place at that deeper level helped us to understand ourselves.”

Twins Kate Beane, left, and Carly Bad Hear Bull made the cover of City Pages magazine in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for their successful efforts to change the name of a major lake in the city to remove the name of a Civil War era politician who championed slavery. (Courtesy photo)

In 2018, the sisters led an effort to change Lake Calhoun to its traditional Dakota name, Bde Maka Ska. Named for John C. Calhoun, who was no friend to Dakota people and a pro-slavery politician. Bde Maka Ska is the largest lake in Minneapolis. It is surrounded by city parkland and a favorite for year-round recreational activities.

In their day jobs, Beane is the executive director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art. She holds a Ph.D. in America Studies from the University of Minnesota. She was also the Charles A. Eastman Predoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College.

Bad Heart Bull is the executive director of Native Ways Federation. She holds a Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, and an Associate of Arts degree from Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

I got the chance to ask them about their journey from dropouts to leadership in March during the Indian Land Tenure Foundation conference at Mystic Lake Casino in Pryor Lake, Minnesota – a property of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

Beane is the oldest – by three minutes. Her Indian name is Ahdipiwiŋ, which translates to English as “Brings Them Home Woman.” Bad Heart Bull’s Dakota name is Wakan’yan Mani Win, “Woman who Walks Toward the Future.”

The family lived in El Cerrito, California, when the twins were growing up.

“We went to a large high school where the history of our people was not being taught. We didn’t see the use of going, and, you know, when I look back now, I wish that wasn’t the case,” Bad Heart Bull said. “I used to blame myself for it. It wasn’t my fault. It’s the system.”

Beane said the school let them skip the eighth grade.

“They gave us a social promotion, because they said we were more mature than other students. We stopped going to school and they wanted us to go back,” Bad Heart Bull said. “What they found was it wasn’t an issue with the work. We could do the work. We just didn’t want to.”

The twins dropped out when they were 15 years old. Because a student needed to be 16 to take the GED (general education development) test, they took the California High School Proficiency Exam.

“When we took that test, it was a legal way to opt out of school so that our parents wouldn’t get in trouble,” Beane said. “No teachers encouraged us to stay. And that’s something that I’ve thought about a lot as a parent now. As a mother of three little girls, two of whom do not like school, and who struggle in school, I constantly tell them what really is important for them to understand is not the grades that they bring home, it’s that they’re good people.”

Charles Eastman, the storied medical doctor and writer is a great uncle, or grandfather in the Indian Way. For generations, education for the Flandreau Santee Dakota family has been important.

But the twins credit their parents with their ability to learn beyond the classroom and the sisters agree that, while education is important, it’s the connections to people and organizations that have really shaped their careers. Understanding “the system” has been instrumental in being change makers.

Parents Syd Bean and Beck Barnette Beane made careers out of activism and working to create better economic and cultural opportunities for Native peoples.

Twins Kate Beane and Carly Bad Hear Bull toddle along with their mother Beck Barnette Beane in this undated family photo. The twins later dropped out of school but didn’t end their education. “We were raised to read. We were avid readers growing up. For us, our frustrations were with the educational system. We came from a family of teachers and organizers who told us, if we don’t like the system, change it,” Beane said. (Courtesy photo)

“We grew up going to nonprofit board meetings, sitting under the table with those yellow notebooks and pens and playing office,” Bad Heart Bull said. “We played nonprofit, because that’s what our parents were doing.”

Beane added: “We were raised to read. We were avid readers growing up. For us, our frustrations were with the educational system. We came from a family of teachers and organizers who told us, if we don’t like the system, change it. And when we were younger, that was something we had no interest in. We were like, why are we going to fix that problem? It was really frustrating. But then as we grew older and I think for me, it was years of waitressing, it was years of working in a factory. It was like doing all these jobs, across the country, struggling and working for other people. We were frustrated with the educational system coming from a family where our grandparents were in boarding schools. They didn’t trust that system. And I think at a certain point, I realized I needed to figure out a way to create a better opportunity for my kids. And so for me, it was thinking about the next generation.”

The post They dropped out – but later led appeared first on ICT.

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