It affects all of us.
“What affects her community affects my community, what affects us affects them. When one nation loses the right to subsist on their own foods, it affects all of us.” --Faith Gemmill-Fredson (Pit River/Wintu/Neets’aii Gwich’in) #quote #FaithGemmillFredson #food #community #environment
I'm Doing Something About It.
“Quite honestly I'm tired of talking about cultural appropriation, I’m doing something about it. I simply want to carve out a space where an authentic voice and an authentic representation of Native America exists and thrives. If that means we’re combatting cultural appropriation while just being true to ourselves then that’s a bonus.” --Bethany Yellowtail (Crow/Northern Cheyenne) #quote #BethanyYellowtail #culturalappropriation
#DearNativeYouth
You know, I don't really write (or read) as often as I used to. At one point in my life I was a voracious reader and also dreamed of being a writer. Ran across the meme of "Dear Native Youth" again today, which was created earlier this spring in response to a sudden increase in suicides by Native youth living on reservations over the previous months. Thinking about it ended up inspiring me to write a poem, which I am sharing below. Dear Native Youth You come from a people Who
#ShellNo
"Us kids were told never to touch the water because it's so polluted. We can't get clams or fish or anything that the tribe used to be able to get on the waters. If other tribes [in Alaska] have to deal with that, I would feel really bad that we didn't help support them in stopping this." --Jonnica Royal (Lummi/Quinault/Duwamish) #TigerLily #environment #quote #JonnicaRoyal #oil #ShellNo
On using traditional Native ingredients...
“They’re like our old ancestors. They’ve been with our great, great grandfathers and their great, great grandfathers for so long. [This is] reacquainting ourselves with them.” --Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) aka The Sioux Chef #food #SeanSherman #TigerLily #quote
Native people didn't see land as something you owned.
“My tribe was originally from Nebraska. They were removed in 1876 to create land for the white settlers. Native people didn’t see land as something you owned. The county lines in the States remind me of the sharp angles of the house.” --Julie Buffalohead (Ponca) #quote #JulieBuffalohead #land
The arrival of Tiger Lily
Guess who arrived in the mail today? Somehow, I don't think she'll end a robot like Robohontas, but we'll just have to see. She has more presence outside of her box. I realized that this doll is a Korean version of a Native American character from an American Disney cartoon based on a book by a British author. This girl is global! Which may also explain why the shoes she comes with look like Dutch clogs? Anyhow, look for some new work featuring Tiger Lily in the near future.
The Artwork of Julie Buffalohead
I first saw Julie Buffalohead's (Ponca) artwork when I was in Minneapolis several years ago on a work trip. In general, I saw a lot of work at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts that I liked. Their Native galleries did a great job of mixing traditional and contemporary pieces in the same space. (I think that was also the first time I had seen one of Wendy Red Star's photographs too.) Buffalohead's animals were finely drawn and I was fascinated with their actions and outfits. W
Food has a culture.
"Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots. That is how we consider food. Food has a culture. It has a history. It has a story. It has relationships." --Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) #quote #food #WinonaLaDuke
The Regalia's Value
"The regalia’s value is that it connects us directly with our primordial origins. Through this connection we experience feelings of spiritual exaltation, feelings that, in turn, are projected onto the onlookers attending the dances." --Julian Lang (Karuk) #quote #JulianLang #regalia
