Julian Brave NoiseCat

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a Fellow at Type Media Center, Vice President of Policy & Strategy at Data for Progress, Narrative Change Director for The Natural History Museum, and a writer whose work can be found in print and online in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Paris Review, and many more.
NoiseCat has been recognized as a finalist for the Livingston Award, twice nominated for the Canadian National Magazine Awards, wrote the foreword to the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, and was invited to consult for the forthcoming UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights‘ general comment on land rights. He has authored and edited many public policy briefs, memos, reports, polls, scorecards and other works, contributing to progressive platforms like the Green New Deal.
Much of NoiseCat’s work is inspired by the belief that Indigenous peoples can contribute to understanding and solving the world’s most pressing challenges. In 2019, he helped lead a grassroots effort to bring an Indigenous canoe journey to San Francisco Bay to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Alcatraz Occupation. Eighteen canoes representing communities from as far north as Canada and as far west as Hawaii participated in the journey, which was covered by dozens of local and national media outlets, including The New York Times. In addition to the canoe journey, he guest edited “Alcatraz is Not an Island,” a special issue of Open Space magazine, and moderated a four-part speaker series, “Alcatraz: An Unfinished Occupation,” co-hosted by five local museums.
NoiseCat studied history at Columbia University and the University of Oxford, where he was a Clarendon scholar. He led 350.org’s US policy work, and was an Urban Fellow in the Commissioner’s Office of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development.
Raised in a single-mother household in Oakland, California, NoiseCat is a proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen, and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie.
Recent Highlights

Deb Haaland’s Cabinet Nomination Is a Triumph for Native Americans
We have turned a page in our nation’s history—not because the insiders wanted it, but because the people fought for it.
By Julian Brave NoiseCat in The Nation.

The Standing Rock Generation Is Changing the World
A young man from Standing Rock reflects on the Dakota Access Pipeline court decision.
By Julian Brave NoiseCat in Rolling Stone.

How to Fight Coronavirus and Climate Change at Once
While millions of Americans all across the country are sick and out of work, there is no question low-income communities of color are being hit harder than others.
By Julian Brave NoiseCat in Crooked Media.

Voters Support Native American Healthcare and Treaty Rights
Voters support five proposals aimed at improving healthcare in Native American communities.
By Julian Brave NoiseCat and Ethan Winter in Data for Progress.

In Search of Promised Lands
Uprooted repeatedly by development projects, the Oujé-Bougoumou Cree wandered boreal Quebec for 70 years before finding a permanent home. For some, the journey continues.
By Julian Brave NoiseCate in Canadian Geographic.

The House on Magnolia Street
How a group of homeless mothers took on a housing crisis
By Julian Brave NoiseCat in The California Sunday Magazine.

We Need Sanders and Warren to Cooperate in the Primary
The real fight is for progressive power in the Democratic Party.
By Julian Brave NoiseCat in In These Times.