On May 22nd, the Climate Resilient LA Coalition gathered in deep ceremony and strategy at Chief Ya’ana Village, the re-matriated home of the Gabrielino-Shoshone people, to ritualize the delivery of our petition. Hundreds of people joined us—community members, culture bearers, students, and elders—to call for a Los Angeles rooted in Indigenous leadership and climate justice. The students of Anawalkamekak led us in ceremony and danza azteca, grounding us in ancestral wisdom. Metabolic Studio helped design and fabricate stunning silk-screened flags printed with our petition text—those flags became sacred carriers of our demands, physically and spiritually delivered to Supervisor Horvath’s staff.
Later that day, we converged at the Kenneth Hahn administration building, where the LA county board of supervisors govern. We were met with the powerful rhythms by the Leimert park drummers, who performed in unity with the danza azteca circle—a living expression of Black and Brown solidarity. Coalition members then took the flags directly into each supervisor’s office, ensuring that our demands were not just heard, but felt.
The response was powerful! Supervisor Horvath’s team received our offering with grace, and we are now being called to present our demands to the LA County Native American Commission. This step is critical: it’s a moment to deepen alliance with Indigenous communities across the county and move our vision forward with collective strength.
We are organizing in one of the most painful moments in LA’s recent memory. The wildfires displaced thousands, and now, ICE is terrorizing families—ripping Latinx communities apart with the support of a MAGA-aligned federal government. Our work is about more than climate. It’s about survival, dignity, sovereignty, and the right to live. Climate justice must be intersectional—because fires, floods, and raids all devastate the same communities first.
What comes next is regrouping. We are building a broader base of Indigenous and frontline support for this petition and its demands. We are preparing to meet with county leaders, and we are continuing to organize—from the ground to the policy table—because a climate-resilient LA rooted in Indigenous knowledge and community power is a safer, more just Los Angeles for all of us.
Marcos Aguilar, Anawalkamekak
Patrisse Cullors, The Center for Art and Abolition
Lauren Bon, Metabolic Studio
Gabrielle Crowe, Gabriellino/Shoshone Nation
