> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.possibilities.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Rematriation - URL: https://www.possibilities.news/indigenous-land-back-kentucky-prison/ - Published: 2025-02-06T13:00:20.000Z - Updated: 2025-02-06T19:26:28.000Z - Description: In Kentucky, two Indigenous women are hoping to stop a prison's construction by purchasing the land where it is being proposed. - Author: Yessenia Funes **This edition is available only to paid subscribers as it includes original reporting. If you want access, upgrade to a paid subscription** [**here**](https://possibilities-2.ghost.io/ghost/?ref=possibilities.news#/portal/account/plans)**. Otherwise, check out next week's edition, which will be available to all.** --- **LISTENING:** *to happy, groovy jams* **FEELING:** *hungry because I skipped lunch (oops!)* **SEEING:** *my pink therapy journal taunt me* Since last year, I've been thinking about how to honor Nex Benedict for the anniversary of his death. For those who forgot, they're the trans teen from Oklahoma [who died last year after a group of girls bullied them](https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/nex-benedict-death-protest-bullying-owasso-oklahoma-rcna140501?ref=possibilities.news). I started reporting on a climate tie-in for Atmos, and that story is finally out [here](http://www.atmos.earth/preventing-the-next-nex-benedict/?ref=possibilities.news). In reporting that piece, Oklahoma-based two-spirit advocate Alex DeRoin first introduced me to the word "rematriation." Have you heard of the term? I hadn't. DeRoin described it to me as "equivalent to the land back movement, but it's different in that rematriation acknowledges that we need to return to the Mother Earth and degrow in the name of nature and being environmentally sustainable but also addressing the patriarchy and how it affects those overlying issues." "Rematriation works more toward establishing matriarchial systems again within our tribal systems because a lot of tribal nations are very patriarchal nowadays, and that's counter to what they were prior to colonization," said DeRoin, an Osage, Otoe, Pawnee, and Blackfeet Native who is also a sitting council member at Tulsa Two Spirit, a local nonprofit dedicated to cultivating Indigequeer spaces. I didn't get to explore this framework in the article about Benedict and Oklahoma, but I wanted to do so here — especially because the term came up yet again in an interview I conducted last week with Tiffany P.\* and Taysha DeVaughan, co-executive directors of the [Appalachian Rekindling Project](https://www.appalachianrekindlingproject.org/?ref=possibilities.news). They're in the process of rematriating a 63-acre plot of land in Letcher County, Kentucky, in part, to stop the construction of a federal prison. I first learned of their work through [this Kentucky Lantern article](https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/01/23/indigenous-group-buys-63-acres-in-proposed-prison-site-offers-different-vision-for-e-ky-land/?ref=possibilities.news) by Liam Niemeyer. **This effort highlighted for me the possibilities that lie where community and crisis meet. And that's exactly what this newsletter is about.** The organization's two co-executive directors, both of Indigenous ancestries, have a rich vision for what they want to see happen in Kentucky. The land they bought was designated as part of a proposed prison site. Instead, they want to return to the land bison, a relative [nearly driven to extinction](https://news.emory.edu/stories/2023/08/esc%5Fbison%5Fimpact%5F24-08-2023/story.html?ref=possibilities.news) by the greed of white settler-colonizers. Many Native American tribes once relied on the megafauna for food, clothing, tools, blankets, and more. Their violent decimation has been linked to increased child mortality rates and increased unemployment rates in bison-reliant tribes in the early 19th century. Many tribes have been working to return the creatures to the Great Plains they once roamed, but the Appalachian Rekindling Project has a unique approach here. They want to restore the land, which was formerly home to a surface mine, as well as protect it from a new threat: [a $500 million federal prison](https://www.constructiondive.com/news/kentucky-prison-federal-approval/731728/?ref=possibilities.news). Several endangered or threatened species have been identified within the site's proposed boundary, including the monarch butterfly, whose population has taken a [severe hit](https://apnews.com/article/monarch-butterflies-threatened-winter-count-migration-8c9bff7c1f226d6837debb3c246387db?ref=possibilities.news) this year. "We had to step in because we can't let things go extinct," Tiffany said. "We can't allow this harm to happen to people." In regards to humans, she was referencing a proposed labor camp on the site. She didn't feel comfortable with the idea that the people incarcerated there would be meeting her ancestral homelands this way. After all, the land is already left with the scars of coal mining. "That was asking my homeland, who had already been harmed, to be part of an abusive relationship with people," she said. "It was deeply troubling to me and reminiscent of slavery." Seeing the movements for abolition and land back join together in this way moved me — and reminded me of the ways local organizers can effect change in spite of a presidential administration hell-bent on beating our spirits down. Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who supports the project, [told the Kentucky Lantern](https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/01/23/indigenous-group-buys-63-acres-in-proposed-prison-site-offers-different-vision-for-e-ky-land/?ref=possibilities.news) he plans to work with Trump to make the prison happen no matter what, but the organization has no plans to give up these lands. They want to rematriate them — in ways only women and queer folks can. "We are emphasizing that there is a power to allowing Native women to lead the way and have a say in how this work can move forward," Tiffany said. 🌀 \*I mistakenly included Tiffany's full name previously. I am withholding it to shield her identity for personal concerns. ***If you're an editor interested in a deeper feature on this, I'm looking for a publication to house my reporting. Reach out before I place it elsewhere!*** 👛 In case you weren't aware, you can always adjust your subscription [here](#/portal/account/plans). The newsletter has several tiers, so if you're able to give more or need to give less, please adjust it as you see fit! 📘 I'm also giving y'all a first look into my attempt to write my children's book. I [wrote](https://www.possibilities.news/a-year-of-possibilities/) about this last year, but here is the [landing page](https://www.possibilities.news/childrens-book/) where I'm keeping track of all the editions where you can find what I've shared so far. ## Rest in Power **While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.** In Australia's northeast, heavy rains and floods have [killed](https://apnews.com/article/queensland-floods-australia-ingham-townsville-heatwave-climate-75423ba5855f0977e4fbc11021364bef?ref=possibilities.news) at least two people. In the U.S., the city of Portland has been hit with chillingly low temperatures, [killing](https://www.kgw.com/video/weather/severe-weather/portland-shelters-activate-following-death-from-cold/283-bc180ff0-f4d7-4a0a-af9b-742a74709120?ref=possibilities.news) at least one man. ## Currently Reading I have been failing to share my own reporting with you all here. So sorry! Here's a quick list before I pivot to pieces from others I've enjoyed reading: - My [latest column](https://www.sej.org/publications/voices-environmental-justice/communities-risk-are-climate-stories-too?ref=possibilities.news) for the Society of Environmental Journalists has an urgent message for my colleagues: "I challenge us to find creative angles and connections between our issue areas — be it energy, law, politics, pollution, business, conservation, finance or solutions — and the real-time impacts of Trump’s other devastating actions. If you write about solar, what do mass deportations mean for the people who install that equipment? If you cover the courts, what legal precedent might judicial decisions on immigration or gender-affirming health care mean for environmental concerns?" - [For Atmos last month](https://atmos.earth/advice-from-climate-experts-as-trump-is-sworn-in/?ref=possibilities.news), I spoke to climate and environmental advocates across the country who are ready to go toe to toe with the Trump administration. [More from Atmos](https://atmos.earth/west-banks-ancient-olive-trees-face-their-biggest-threat-yet/?ref=possibilities.news): Paloma Dupont de Dinechin writes about the violent threats to the West Bank's olive harvest and the Palestinians trying to keep this part of their culture alive. Sammy Roth had a [powerful column](https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-01-30/column-the-los-angeles-fires-are-no-excuse-to-slow-down-on-clean-energy-boiling-point?ref=possibilities.news) for the L.A. Times last week. Climate scientists speak to the [Bloomberg Green team](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-30/after-la-fires-climate-experts-say-there-is-no-safe-place-in-the-us?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczODI0NDMxMiwiZXhwIjoxNzM4ODQ5MTEyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTUVdIQ1JEV1JHRzAwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEQ0NGODY3Qzk2ODk0MzJDQjRBMEMwM0FENDNGNTJENyJ9.DpfVaYQfTWFguvJfnypuPfMV5SgXRX88qU0TwJxzypc&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=possibilities.news) about how the L.A. wildfires hit home. [Hanif Abdurraqib for the New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/lessons-for-the-end-of-the-world?ref=possibilities.news): "I grieve for many things; the engine of my grief changes, sometimes hourly. I grieve for our increasingly hostile and uninhabitable world, and I grieve for the cruelties that make it so, both structural ones and ones that individuals inflict on one another." We all need good news, and Tom Phillips has a [hopeful tale](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/03/yanomami-tribe-lula-illegal-mining-amazon?ref=possibilities.news) about the Yanomami tribe in Brazil for the Guardian. We all need tips on how to protect our digital privacy. [WIRED has got us covered](https://www.wired.com/story/the-wired-guide-to-protecting-yourself-from-government-surveillance/?ref=possibilities.news). (Also: I just subscribed to the magazine, and you should, too!) Janus Rose gives us [the reality check we need](https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/?ref=possibilities.news) over at 404 Media: Log off, touch some grass, and do something about this awfulness! ## Art ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/1a/0c1a1c44-c395-4236-a843-5697585f81d1/content/images/2025/02/01_stay.png) 001\. ****STAY** by Yessenia Funes using colored pencil, 2025. ****What are you reading and seeing? Share in a comment.** **See you next week. It's love week! I love Valentine's Day. xx** \- Yessenia