One Step, Then Another...
June of 2015 has seen a lot happen, and we still have some days to go in the month. In addition to the Rachel Dolezal mess, we've seen the massacre of nine innocent black men and women at a church in South Carolina. We've seen a national conversation about what the Confederate Battle Flag represents and whether it should still be flying on state-sanctioned grounds. Black churches in Georgia and Florida have been the victims of arson. And the Supreme Court has ruled in favor o
Here & Now: Native Artists Inspired
Last week I attended a Native Networking Night event hosted by Potlatch Fund (with generous support from Sealaska Corporation) at the University of Washington's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. I'd been meaning to actually attend one of these events for the past year, and this time it was held up the hill from my workplace so I had absolutely no excuse to miss it. So glad I went too! In addition to seeing some folks I know and meeting great new people, I also got
Creating and fostering relationships with the people matter.
"For example, Eurocentric methods rely on objectivity as the standard norm in scientific inquiry. While objectivity has its place, it can also close off sources of knowledge. Indigenous methods acknowledge tribal cultural protocol, which are the actions that a person takes to create a relationship with another person or group. Therefore, to pursue research with individuals from tribal nations, creating and fostering relationships with the people matter. As a researcher, I do
F*#@ you Rachel Dolezal
I think by now, most everyone is familiar with hearing about Rachel Dolezal, the Spokane NAACP President outed as pretending to be mixed-race black by her white parents. I've read a lot of articles and opinions about this situation. A great take on it via Jezebel by Kara Brown, and other more Native perspectives from Gyasi Ross on Indian Country Today Media Network and Levi Rickert on Native News Online. What bothers me the most from a personal perspective is the backlash tha
These are where my people are buried.
“I am not an activist or an environmentalist. I’m on a different realm. I am protecting and defending my home. These are my homelands. These are where my people are buried.” --Sylvia McAdam (Cree) #quote #SylviaMcAdam #land
I am a walking story.
"When my grandmother presented the dress to me as a young teenager, it came with a history of our family and where we come from. My grandmother talked about her grandmother, who made it for her. She encouraged me to treat it with respect and to pass it down to my daughter one day and to teach her the legacy that we have as Northern Cheyenne women. People always ask me where this dress came from. I am a walking story." -Rosalia Badhorse (Northern Cheyenne) #quote #RosaliaBadho
