“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.” — Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018) (via agentthirsty)
(via b4con-ator)
Sehyá:lak, saˀnikuhlatsa:niht…
Remember, you have a strong mind…
When ya see these amazing symbols for other languages. I feel the urge to learn what the pronouncation is.
(Source: native-langs, via dearnonnatives)
universalequalityisinevitable:
Peter Joseph on structural violence, from this video.
Brilliant
Spot on. Like Coretta Scott King said, I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.
(Source: youtube.com, via ithelpstodream)
“Friendship shows us who we really are.” — Star Wars: The Clone Wars (via writing-challenges-and-prompts)
Things to remember before you call another native “fake”.
1. There are over 500 tribes of Native Americans in the United States, you are NOT an expert on all of them. I don’t care how full blood you are.
2. Of those 500 tribes that exist, they do not all exist out west. We are all over the country and our cultures are VERY different. Plains culture is NOT Eastern Woodland culture. Pacific Northwest culture is not desert culture. Do not hold someone’s culture to the same standard as your own.
3. There is a difference between tribal membership and tribal blood. Just because someone is not officially enrolled in a tribe, does not make them any less native. For example, I am Anishinaabe. But I am NOT enrolled in any tribe and I never will. That is my CHOICE and mine alone.
4. Just because someone’s family is not on the census records as native American doesn’t mean they are not. Many people listed their children as white in order to protect their families during the boarding school and forced sterilization era of the 20th century. This was especially common in the Northeastern United States where there was a heavily Catholic culture.
5. Just because someone doesn’t register with the government, it doesn’t make them any less native. It’s fucking ridiculous. And any native that tells another native that they must needs to relearn their history.
6. Not everyone has the same resources. Not everyone has the ability to get expertly made fancy shawls with flawless appliques. Not everyone had the ability to get perfectly beaded leggings. For some people, every piece of regalia they wear they have to make themselves with what they can get. And some of it has been passed down from generation to generation. So the next time you make comments about someone not having the “correct” leggings or how the bottom of their buckskin dress is tattered, remember what kind of history that regalia might have seen.
I got called fake by someone on the other side of world, cause I wasn’t a part of the Great Nations that made the history books worldwide. Did try to tell them that there are more than 7 Nations/Tribes in North America, but they weren’t taking it ¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯
(Source: chartyaowncourse, via walelu-songs)
(Source: sophiaisthatgirl, via walelu-songs)
Much of the world watched as the events in Standing Rock, ND unfolded. Many posted in protest of the pipeline drilled through sacred treaty protected land belonging to the Natives, some even gave their physical presence to the cause, subjecting themselves to the frigid cold, mistreatment from police officers; tear gas, rubber bullets, and imprisonment. One beautiful thing about Standing Rock was the community there, if dapl had a bright side, it’s that it brought more like-minded people together to connect over a common cause. I met a guy on my flight to ND who had actually been adopted into a Lakota family, Standing Rock gave him more than just friends, he felt at home on the reservation like he never had before. When I first arrived, it was the beginning of the end of this community. There seemed to be this confusion combined with sadness, many seemed to have found a home at Standing Rock like my friend Jahnny, but what now? Regardless of it being the end of the line for many here, I was still invited in without hesitation, given food and drink, asked my purpose for coming to Standing Rock. Everyone that showed up here, had a reason for being here, and everyone took care of everyone. At one point during the evacuation, I was running from police over Lake Oahe, I fell through ice and got completely drenched head to toe in ice cold water. In a state of shock, not fully realizing the urgency of my situation, someone grabbed me and said, “we need to get you to the med tent, NOW!” A few people stripped off my clothes, gave me a space blanket and threw me on a quad that sped me to a warm tent where I was given tea and warm clothes. I felt safe and a part of this family just for showing up and standing up for what I believed was right.
(via walelu-songs)