Indigenous Peoples' Day

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

Agenda:
1. A note about appropriation

2. Talking Stones Appreciation Ride

3. Drumming

1. A note about appropriation:

When I was teaching, I taught Native American crafts and culture often, because it was relevant to my students, and I always included historical and contemporary images and information. (Go to my sidebar to see the National Art Education Association position statement regarding cultural appropriation.)

But I also sometimes borrow for my own - use symbols, techniques, and ideas. Borrowing from someone else’s culture happens all the time. Artists and craftspeople have always been inspired by symbols and images of other cultures. This practice is called cultural exchange. In cultural exchange, there is mutual sharing and mutual respect.

Cultural appropriation, on the other hand, is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” It's when we borrow without permission, and without acknowledgement to the victim culture’s past.

 

As Taté Walker says  in 

4 Ways To Honor Native Americans Without Appropriating Our Culture

:  "There is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation." Most of us intend no harm - we like the style or the symbolism; we like to appear worldly or exotic - but it's time to stop being boorish, insensitive, racist white folks and learn what is appropriate and what isn't. 

Queries:

Am I using items or ceremonies of a minority culture in order to make it a part of my own culture, or to appear worldly? 

Am I creating crafts from a minority culture in order to sell them to make a profit?

Do I know the history of the people, and understand the cultural significance of the item or custom?

2. Taking Stones Ride:

My Climate Revolutions by Bike group organized a ride yesterday to visit the 15 Talking Stones found in a loop in Alton Baker Park's Whilamut Natural Area. The Talking Stones reintroduce words of the Kalapuya language onto land where the people hunted, fished, and gathered camas bulbs for thousands of years. At the canoe pond, I gave this acknowledgement:

We decided to dedicate today's ride to this area’s first people - the Kalapuya - and their descendants, to acknowledge their environmental ethics, and recognize the land they have lived, hunted, and fished on for thousands of years. This land acknowledgement is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we reside on, and also our sorrow for the genocide and removal, and the ongoing racism and discrimination they have suffered.

 

The Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the US government between 1851 and 1855, and forcibly removed. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities.

 

Indigenous peoples all around the world are uniquely vulnerable to impacts of the climate crisis due to their dependence upon, and close relationship, with the environment and its resources. The environmental impacts and some of the proposed solutions to climate change threaten their ways of life, lands rights, future growth, and cultural survivability.

 

Today we acknowledge that indigenous people are the leaders we should follow: Countless Tribal Nations, water protectors, land defenders, and pipeline fighters, have dedicated their lives to defending the sacredness of Mother Earth. They have developed highly effective campaigns of non-violent direct action, political lobbying, multimedia, and divestment. 

 

For this we thank them.

3. Native American Drumming:

In the spirit of cultural appreciation, we will play drum music today and dance with our grandson!