Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann passes on to the Spirit World

Carrie Dann on her land in 1993, as posted by the Right Livelihood FoundationA giant, a living legend, of Indigenous rights activism and leadership, has passed on. It is with sad hearts that we share the news that Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann (1932-2021) passed on to the Spirit World on January 2, 2021.

This Is Reno reported Carrie Dann's passing.

Brenda Norrell has published a tribute, entitled "Carrie Dann in Her Own Words."

Carrie Dann, along with her sister, Mary Dann (1923-2005), helped lead the Western Shoshone Nation's fight to protect their homeland, Newe Sogobia, against many threats, including nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (now named the Nevada National Security Site), and high-level radioactive waste dumping at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Ian Zabarte, Carrie Dann, and Bob Fulkerson, 2019. Photo by Holly Woodward. Used with permission.Carrie Dann also spoke out against MRS (Monitored Retrievable Storage), now called CIS (Consolidated Interim Storage), whether targeted at Yucca Mountain, or at scores of Native American reservations across the U.S., such as at the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah.

(See a 2019 photo of Carrie Dann, with Ian Zabarte and Bob Fulkerson, left. Ian Zabarte is Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians, Secretary of the Native Community Action Council (NCAC), and recipient of Beyond Nuclear's 2020 Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award; Bob Fulkerson founded Citizen Alert of Nevada, which fostered NCAC, and helped lead the grassroots "Nevada Is Not a [Nuclear] Wasteland" resistance for decades.) READ MORE.