Indigenous Sovereignty Retreat: Honoring Land, Legacy, and Liberation

July 11–13, 2025 | Lower Terrebonne Parish, LA

The Louisiana Liberation and Sovereignty Collective convened a powerful three-day Indigenous Sovereignty Retreat on the ancestral lands of the Houma Nation, guided by community leaders Bette Billiot and Justin Solet. Rooted in the sacred landscapes of Lower Terrebonne Parish, this retreat brought together eleven Black and Indigenous leaders from across Louisiana to reimagine relationships beyond transactional exchange—anchoring instead in trust, cultural stewardship, and shared liberation.

Held in Cocodrie, LA, and extending to Grand Bois, the retreat was a rare and intimate experience that highlighted the interconnected struggles of Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty. Participants visited the home of United Houma Nation Tribal Councilwoman Clarice Friloux and her husband Danny, who rebuilt their land after Hurricane Ida’s devastation, including the creation of a traditional Houma structure known as The Healing House. This space now serves as a site of resilience, memory, and healing.

Throughout the retreat, participants engaged in immersive cultural teachings. Tribal elder Janie Luster shared her renowned practice of crafting sacred alligator garfish pendants, while elder Douglas Fazzio led a workshop on handcrafting cypress fans. In a ceremonial act of collective intention, participants adorned the Healing House’s Ribbon Tree with individual ribbons of blessing, anchoring prayers for healing, justice, and freedom.

By organizing from the ground up, this retreat reinforced the necessity of placing those with lived experience at the center of movement work. Together, participants explored how Indigenous and Black liberation movements not only resist white supremacy, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism—but also illuminate a vision of self-determination, cultural survival, and relationship to land that transcends imposed systems.

This retreat was more than a gathering—it was an embodiment of the world we are striving to build: one rooted in ancestral wisdom, intercommunal solidarity, and the sovereignty of our people.