30 Tribal Nations Convene in Historic Summit on Data Center Resistance
This past weekend, organizers and leaders representing 30 different Indigenous Nations gathered at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa to strategize how to fight back against the newest threats to Mother Earth and Indigenous sovereignty: hyperscale data centers and generative AI.
Across Turtle Island, frontline communities have been rising up against tech companies seeking to build AI fortunes on Indigenous land and water. Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led climate justice nonprofit, launched the Stop Data Colonialism Coalition in 2025 to connect these battles into a unified movement. This coalition culminated in the historic "Stop Data Colonialism Summit" last weekend.
This convening came at a crucial time: as the AI Race intensifies, hyperscale data centers are being built at an alarming rate. But Indigenous resistance to the encroachment of big tech on Tribal sovereignty is growing too. More than 120 hyperscale data center projects have been proposed on or near Indigenous land, and Indigenous Peoples are at the forefront of the fight against data centers.
During the summit, Indigenous Peoples from Tribal Nations and communities across Turtle Island collaborated on strategies to protect lands, waters, and communities from the harmful impacts of generative AI and hyperscale data centers. Participants reaffirmed the necessity of asserting, defending, and protecting Indigenous Sovereignty locally and internationally.
Since the Stop Data Colonialism Coalition was launched, there have been waves of Tribal Nations asserting their sovereignty on this issue. From the Muscogee Creek Nation, to the Cherokee Nation, to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Tribal Nations have passed policies to ban data center construction on Tribal lands.
It was also significant that this summit was held in Oklahoma, a historic battleground in the fight for Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Historically Indigenous Peoples were forcibly displaced in order to live in Oklahoma. These colonial policies shape the present day attempts to make Oklahoma a location of regulatory roll back for industry and extraction. Now it's the site of many wins against data center companies. Two data center projects have been halted, five city-wide moratoriums passed, and two Tribal Nations implemented complete bans on data centers because of grassroots organizing in the state.
The summit program included sessions on the strategies and lessons learned from organizers on the frontlines of data center resistance, including those from Oklahoma. Sessions also covered alternatives to AI in every day life as well as the different aspects of the Death Cycle of AI, from the chips that require graphite mining from sacred Indigenous lands like the He Sapa (Black Hills), to the hyper scale data centers consuming local water sources, to the mass-surveillance and hyper-militarism facilitated by generative AI around the world.
Attendees shared concrete strategies with each other on how to combat lies from big tech companies. They also collaborated on narrative frameworks, national initiatives, local and Tribal approaches, and the importance of building coalitions of unlikely alliances across the political spectrum.
The summit connected and unified the fights happening against Indigenous lands into one consolidated strategy and ended with many plans for ongoing collaborations.
Tribal Nations in attendance at the Stop Data Colonialism Summit:
Ahtna
Dakota
Anishinaabe
Numu (Pyramid Lake Paiute)
Diné (Navajo)
Carrizo Comecrudo Nation of Texas
Akwesasne Mohawk
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Oglala Lakota
Yuchi
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Miami
Hopi
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Esmeraldeño/Manteño (Coastal Ecuadorian)
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
Cheyenne River
United Keetoowah Band
Absentee Shawnee
Kiowa
Northern Cheyenne
Delaware
Santee
Yankton
Hunkpapa Lakota
Sicangu Lakota
Tlingit
Inupiaq
Eastern Band of Cherokees