Flying Eagle Woman Fund

Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa

  • Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa

  • Flying Eagle Woman Fund

    The Flying Eagle Woman Fund for Peace, Justice and Sovereignty was created to commemorate and further the work of Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa (O’Peqtaw-Metamoh) (1957-1999). Washinawatok, a member of the Menominee Nation, was among the most promising Native leaders of her generation. Writer, spokeswoman, educator, philanthropist and activist, she devoted her life to the cause of indigenous peoples around the world. Just before her murder by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia guerrillas in Colombia in 1999, Washinawatok was working with members of the U’wa indigenous community in that country on community building efforts.

    "Since the time that human beings offered thanks for the first sunrise, sovereignty has been an integral part of Indigenous peoples' daily existence. With the original instructions from the Creator, we realize our responsibilities. Those are the laws that lay the foundation of our society. These responsibilities manifest through our ceremonies … Sovereignty is that wafting thread securing the components that make a society. Without that wafting thread, you cannot make a rug. Without that wafting thread, all you have are un-joined, isolated components of a society. Sovereignty runs through the vertical strands and secures the entire pattern. That is the fabric of Native society."

    — Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa