Recent from talks
Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Tom B.K. Goldtooth (born 1953) is a Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader. He is active at local, national, and international levels as an advocate for building healthy and sustainable Indigenous communities based upon the foundation of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Goldtooth has served as executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996 after serving as a member of the IEN National Council since 1992.
Goldtooth (Dibe'lizhini' Clan) is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He is also huŋka Bdewakaƞtoƞwaƞ Dakota from Minnesota. He is well known by his Dakota name of Mato Awaƞyaƞkapi, given to him by Pete Catches Sr. (Petaġa Yuha Mani),[citation needed] a Lakota holy man of the Spotted Eagle Way of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He currently resides near the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Goldtooth was born Bruce Kendall Goldtooth in Farmington, New Mexico, near the Navajo Nation. His mother is Norma Bell Lee, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and daughter of Melvin Lee (Dzi l t l'ahnii Clan) and Virginia Peslakai (Dibe'lizhini' Clan). She was the first Navajo[citation needed] and one of the first Native American women to earn an undergraduate degree in microbiology, subsequently running medical and hospital laboratories in California, Arizona, and on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona) as a professional medical technologist. Goldtooth's biological father's identity remains unknown, but he is believed to be of Native American descent. Tom was raised by his stepfather, Dennis Wesley Goldtooth, a member of the Navajo Nation from the Tuba City area. Dennis, a retired Navajo Nation policeman, is the son of Frank Goldtooth Sr., a renowned medicine man known as Bȅȅsh Biwoǫ (Iron-Metal [Gold] Tooth).
Goldtooth lived with his maternal grandparents in Farmington as a child while his mother attended college in San Diego. After his mother graduated and married former U.S. marine Dennis Goldtooth, the family moved back to the Navajo Nation. His stepfather became a Navajo Nation policeman stationed in Tuba City, Arizona, and later in the northwestern remote area of the reservation called Navajo Springs, near Marble Canyon, Arizona, and located in the area known as the Vermilion Cliffs-Colorado Plateau area located along the Colorado River.[citation needed]
Tom often stayed with his paternal grandmother, Margaret Goldtooth, in Tuba City, and frequently visited his grandfather, Bȅȅsh Biwoǫ. His mother worked as a medical technologist in Page, Arizona, a rural boom town in the 1960s that attracted workers from across the country for the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second-largest dam in the United States. Page eventually became a tourist center for water recreation due to the damming of the Colorado River and the creation of Lake Powell. Tom attended high school in Page. Later, his parents moved from Navajo Springs to Page.
During these years, Tom Goldtooth became active in the Boy Scouts of America and earned his Life Scout award. He was a candidate for the Eagle Scout award, almost completing the requirements, but moved away from Page to Winslow when his mother relocated. In recognition of his youth leadership he was initiated into the Order of the Arrow. He later received the Vigil Honor, as the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow can bestow upon its members. The early scouting experience along with following the Goldtooth family tradition as cattle and horse ranchers along with the Navajo Hunter Way culture and Diné ceremonies, became the building blocks for his leadership in years to come. Through family hunting trips in Arizona, Goldtooth became an outdoor enthusiast and learned to respect and protect the environment.
Goldtooth enrolled at Arizona State University in 1971 with the goal of earning a degree in Industrial Design within the Department of Engineering. He left school in 1973, enlisting in the U.S. Army and becoming a Finance and Accounting Specialist within the Army's payroll division. Goldtooth was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and later became active in the Army's Human Relations program, with a goal of undoing racism. Tom became a leader organizing Native soldiers to build solidarity in the post-Vietnam era. Tom was honorable discharged in 1976 and became active in the Puget Sound Native communities in sports, pow-wows and social activities. Tom earned his Associates of Arts (AA) degree from Tacoma Community College (TCC) in Human Services. He was also a Peer Counselor at TCC, helping Native students pursue their higher education goals. As a young man, he volunteered as a board member of the Tacoma Indian Center. It was during this time that he decided to pursue a social work degree that would allow him to work with the social welfare needs of Native American families. After obtaining his AA degree from TCC, he enrolled into the Social Work (Welfare) Program of Pacific Lutheran University but did not finish his degree upon deciding to move to the Navajo Nation (NN).
Goldtooth was hired as Fort Defiance Regional Bi-State Social Services Director of the NN. Through his experience in the Puget Sound region of Washington State in American Indian Child Welfare Act hearings and learning from Northwest Coast Native women about the needs for the protection of children and families, Tom provided leadership in strengthening casework in domestic and sexual abuse cases on the Navajo reservation. Following working on the Navajo reservation, Tom moved with his family to the Lower Sioux Community in southwest Minnesota in 1981.
Hub AI
Tom B.K. Goldtooth AI simulator
(@Tom B.K. Goldtooth_simulator)
Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Tom B.K. Goldtooth (born 1953) is a Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader. He is active at local, national, and international levels as an advocate for building healthy and sustainable Indigenous communities based upon the foundation of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Goldtooth has served as executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996 after serving as a member of the IEN National Council since 1992.
Goldtooth (Dibe'lizhini' Clan) is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He is also huŋka Bdewakaƞtoƞwaƞ Dakota from Minnesota. He is well known by his Dakota name of Mato Awaƞyaƞkapi, given to him by Pete Catches Sr. (Petaġa Yuha Mani),[citation needed] a Lakota holy man of the Spotted Eagle Way of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He currently resides near the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Goldtooth was born Bruce Kendall Goldtooth in Farmington, New Mexico, near the Navajo Nation. His mother is Norma Bell Lee, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and daughter of Melvin Lee (Dzi l t l'ahnii Clan) and Virginia Peslakai (Dibe'lizhini' Clan). She was the first Navajo[citation needed] and one of the first Native American women to earn an undergraduate degree in microbiology, subsequently running medical and hospital laboratories in California, Arizona, and on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona) as a professional medical technologist. Goldtooth's biological father's identity remains unknown, but he is believed to be of Native American descent. Tom was raised by his stepfather, Dennis Wesley Goldtooth, a member of the Navajo Nation from the Tuba City area. Dennis, a retired Navajo Nation policeman, is the son of Frank Goldtooth Sr., a renowned medicine man known as Bȅȅsh Biwoǫ (Iron-Metal [Gold] Tooth).
Goldtooth lived with his maternal grandparents in Farmington as a child while his mother attended college in San Diego. After his mother graduated and married former U.S. marine Dennis Goldtooth, the family moved back to the Navajo Nation. His stepfather became a Navajo Nation policeman stationed in Tuba City, Arizona, and later in the northwestern remote area of the reservation called Navajo Springs, near Marble Canyon, Arizona, and located in the area known as the Vermilion Cliffs-Colorado Plateau area located along the Colorado River.[citation needed]
Tom often stayed with his paternal grandmother, Margaret Goldtooth, in Tuba City, and frequently visited his grandfather, Bȅȅsh Biwoǫ. His mother worked as a medical technologist in Page, Arizona, a rural boom town in the 1960s that attracted workers from across the country for the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second-largest dam in the United States. Page eventually became a tourist center for water recreation due to the damming of the Colorado River and the creation of Lake Powell. Tom attended high school in Page. Later, his parents moved from Navajo Springs to Page.
During these years, Tom Goldtooth became active in the Boy Scouts of America and earned his Life Scout award. He was a candidate for the Eagle Scout award, almost completing the requirements, but moved away from Page to Winslow when his mother relocated. In recognition of his youth leadership he was initiated into the Order of the Arrow. He later received the Vigil Honor, as the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow can bestow upon its members. The early scouting experience along with following the Goldtooth family tradition as cattle and horse ranchers along with the Navajo Hunter Way culture and Diné ceremonies, became the building blocks for his leadership in years to come. Through family hunting trips in Arizona, Goldtooth became an outdoor enthusiast and learned to respect and protect the environment.
Goldtooth enrolled at Arizona State University in 1971 with the goal of earning a degree in Industrial Design within the Department of Engineering. He left school in 1973, enlisting in the U.S. Army and becoming a Finance and Accounting Specialist within the Army's payroll division. Goldtooth was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and later became active in the Army's Human Relations program, with a goal of undoing racism. Tom became a leader organizing Native soldiers to build solidarity in the post-Vietnam era. Tom was honorable discharged in 1976 and became active in the Puget Sound Native communities in sports, pow-wows and social activities. Tom earned his Associates of Arts (AA) degree from Tacoma Community College (TCC) in Human Services. He was also a Peer Counselor at TCC, helping Native students pursue their higher education goals. As a young man, he volunteered as a board member of the Tacoma Indian Center. It was during this time that he decided to pursue a social work degree that would allow him to work with the social welfare needs of Native American families. After obtaining his AA degree from TCC, he enrolled into the Social Work (Welfare) Program of Pacific Lutheran University but did not finish his degree upon deciding to move to the Navajo Nation (NN).
Goldtooth was hired as Fort Defiance Regional Bi-State Social Services Director of the NN. Through his experience in the Puget Sound region of Washington State in American Indian Child Welfare Act hearings and learning from Northwest Coast Native women about the needs for the protection of children and families, Tom provided leadership in strengthening casework in domestic and sexual abuse cases on the Navajo reservation. Following working on the Navajo reservation, Tom moved with his family to the Lower Sioux Community in southwest Minnesota in 1981.