We’re Still Here: Decolonize Your Mind About Indigenous People This Thanksgiving November 28, 2019 by Maile Arvin, Truthout Leave a Comment This article was originally published at Truthout under the title "The Future is Indigenous: Decolonizing Thanksgiving" and is reprinted here with permission. In 2015, a video meme circulated prior to Thanksgiving, featuring YouTube personality Franchesca Ramsey humorously breaking down the actual history of the holiday. A wet blanket to her family's Thanksgiving dinner, … [Read more...]
7 Things US History Class Should Have Taught Every American About Indigenous History November 16, 2019 by Halee Kirkwood Leave a Comment The history of people indigenous to the North American continent is often glossed over in education. We are badgered with the legend of Native benevolence to the pilgrims who landed on the East Coast on Thanksgiving. If Indigenous history is covered, students are likely to hear a tragic but vague narrative of massacre, disease, and death, a narrative devoid of the specific … [Read more...]
Why White North Americans Need to Understand Ourselves as “Settlers” November 4, 2019 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment If you’re white, this land was not made for you and me. Like many white North Americans, I grew up with a vague idea of where my ancestors came from. In my case, they were scattered across Western Europe, and I was fascinated by what their lives must have been like. But I had no real connection to what it means, culturally, to be Irish or Scottish or British or German or … [Read more...]
Fantasy or Disrespect?: 7 Halloween Costume Pitfalls to Avoid October 1, 2019 by Maya Gittelman Leave a Comment Halloween is eagerly anticipated by many. It's an opportunity to eat candy, dress up, and revel in nerdy pastimes or scary movies. Yet all too often, enjoying Halloween is a privilege experienced by people who don't have their identity infringed on by well-meaning, ignorant, or outright hateful celebrants. This is not only a problem with individuals, but with industry; with … [Read more...]
To Understand Puerto Rico’s Troubles, We Must Understand Colonialism August 9, 2019 by Awilda González Leave a Comment With all that has been impacting Puerto Rico in recent years, from defaulting on debt payments to Hurricane Maria to the mass protests against our now-former governor, it makes me wonder why more people aren't talking about the state of the Island. Many simply do not know, for instance, that Puerto Rico is on the brink of bankruptcy much like Detroit, Michigan was in 2014. I … [Read more...]
5 Ways Outdoor Recreation Is Inaccessible to Marginalized Folks July 22, 2019 by Emily Zak Leave a Comment This article first appeared on Everyday Feminism under the title "Outdoor Reaction Isn't Free -- Why We Need to Stop Pretending It Is" and is reprinted by permission. When I spent a summer as a river guide, I met three people who’d abandoned their homes to live on the Rio Grande. One lived out of a bus, another in a tent, and the last in his station wagon. They spent their … [Read more...]
7 Things My Unruly, Curly Hair Taught Me About Being Unapologetically Latinx July 16, 2019 by Ella Mendoza Leave a Comment Growing up, people would always asked me about my hair, about my skin, about my eyes, about my mother, about my grandmother. Anti-blackness would prompt these questions to become inquiries, attempting to trace back lineage beyond dialogue, and into imaginary stories that may have been true or may have not. In their eyes, my hair symbolized something foreign, something … [Read more...]
Mixed Doesn’t Always Mean Part White: Uplifting Non-White Mixed Race Identities July 8, 2019 by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda Leave a Comment Growing up queer, mixed race, and Asian in the American South, my identity often felt like an absence of any identity at all. For a long time I existed in a kind of limbo state, not having a language to describe myself. Until my early twenties, I was unaware the word “mixed race” existed, much less as a term I had the option to identify with. Because I neither knew nor saw any … [Read more...]
4 Ways Mainstream Animal Rights Movements Are Oppressive June 27, 2019 by Mahealani Joy Leave a Comment This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism.com and is reprinted by permission. Growing up Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), there was always a part of me that understood that my relatives did not just include people. The honu (green sea turtle), mano (shark), and pu’eo (owl) were my relatives too, and they were deserving of respect and care just like their human … [Read more...]
Intergenerational Trauma: Indigenous Resilience in the Face of Abuse May 4, 2019 by Mary Black Leave a Comment This article was originally published on Residential School Magazine under its original title "Let Me Tell You About Inter-Generational Trauma" and is republished with permission. **Content note: this article contains discussions of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and violence as well as suicide.** My grandmother was placed in residential school at the age of 6. For … [Read more...]
The 2018 Midterm Elections Showed: The Future is Women of Color November 16, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment The recent US congressional midterm elections were a resounding success when it came to electing candidates better representing the country’s remarkable diversity based on gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion. Despite the very real problems of gerrymandering, voter suppression, and outright lying by the Republican party (part of their reactionary strategy to respond to … [Read more...]
What’s Missing from #MeToo and #TimesUp: One Indigenous Woman’s Perspective October 14, 2018 by Princess Daazhraii Johnson Leave a Comment This article was originally published by Princess Daazhraii Johnson and is republished with permission. As I have watched the national dialogue unfold around sexual harassment and sexual violence, I can’t help but take notice of the lack of tie in to a much larger picture: namely, how men have abused their power to dominate and inflict violence upon not only women (and women … [Read more...]
5 Undeniable Reasons We Need To Talk About Christian Privilege August 18, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment When I was four years old, my parents moved me from Los Angeles to northern Idaho, where I would live for thirteen years—plus a year-long stint in heavily Mormon Utah during first grade—until I moved away to New England for college. During this time, I was exposed to a poor and working-class, white-dominated culture in which evangelical Christianity was the reigning religion, … [Read more...]
Are You Culturally Appreciating or Culturally Appropriating? 3 Ways for White Folks to Self-Reflect April 30, 2018 by Lin Kaatz Chary Leave a Comment Not long ago I had lunch with an 82-year-old friend of mine who has been a social justice activist all her life. We are both white. My friend is a poet who has been published in several small literary journals. She listens to a broad range of podcasts regularly, reads widely, and continues to take a keen interest in the world around her. Her poetry focuses on the lives of … [Read more...]
What I Learned at Standing Rock: Being Latinx And a Settler February 6, 2018 by Ella Mendoza Leave a Comment Growing up in Peru, I was taught to be very proud of my heritage. I grew up hearing stories of my people from my teachers, my mother, and my grandmother. They would often tell me to be proud of where I came from, but they would also then compare our ancestors to the current state of our country. “How could we have been so wise, only to now be struggling like this?” I would … [Read more...]
6 Radical Indigenous Artists Doing Decolonial Work July 27, 2017 by Halee Kirkwood Leave a Comment Too often, Native American and Indigenous people are depicted as a thing of the past, even in art, literature, and music. I remember in elementary school learning how the Ojibwe nation I descended from used to live, the games they used to play, and the music they used to create, as though there were no more Native Americans worth discussing in class. While tribal history is … [Read more...]
