River systems in Virginia from an Indigenous lens (Hailey Hill)

    Growing up in the boonies, aka the middle of butt-fuck nowhere, you are exposed to a lot of woods and fields. Growing up Indigenous, I got the wonderful blend of the country-bumpkin desire to be enveloped in the mud and the Indigenous connection to the land around us. With the county I grew up in being at the split in the York River and being surrounded by the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers, I've had a great deal of experience being in or on the river. The river that my family and ancestors relied on and still rely on, slowly became--and is becoming--polluted (#fuckyouWestRockWestPoint). Growing up, we were told more and more "do NOT drink the water," "the water is nasty," "there are so many dead people in that river," etc. With a number of contributing factors adding to the pollution of the river, agricultural runoff, West Rock, and the large amount of dead things in the river (you don't understand how many people die in the river or how many ashes get dumped into the river--just this year, they found a dead guy in the river). 

    With my area of study and future career revolving around the river, I have the unfortunate pleasure of having too many problems and not enough solutions for this large mystery of "what the fuck is going on in our rivers?" My research topics are mainly sea level rise and how, in a few years, the reservation is going to become an island, and the decline in American Shad populations in the rivers--my hypothesis being due to pollution and human activity disrupting their homing, but I'm trademarking that because it is my thesis for my research, back off. There is a high concentration of phosphorus and nitrogen in the water (not good booo!). This is similar to the river from the documentary, definitely not as bad, but there can be similarities drawn between the two. 

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