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hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and different cohosts/guests

not caught up with this one but i remember listening to the episodes about the love of the mauna in 2020/2021 and absorbing a lot

https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast

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kristin chirico (cayuga, seneca) and their beaded earring collection

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kristin chirico (cayuga, seneca) and their beaded earring collection

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they occasionally talk about being Native and their experiences reconnecting

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Kristin Shows Her Entire Beaded Earring Collection | Kitchen & Jorn

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I burn the myth of the "American Dream" 

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I burn the myth of the "American Dream" 

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The "American Dream" is a lie that has killed and robbed so many of us people from the global majority, and continues to do so

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The concept that everyone, rich or poor, can achieve their dreams through hard work and determination is false.

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Reclaiming 2-Spirit roles across Native nations

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Reclaiming 2-Spirit roles across Native nations

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Two-Spirit people have always existed in Indigenous nations, carrying sacred responsibilities & shaping community life.

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In Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba in Canada, at an intertribal conference of Native American and First Nations people in 1990, Myra Laramee, Cree, coined the term Two-Spirit. A translation of the Anishinaabe phrase niizh manidoowag which means "two spirits," a contemporary umbrella term for Indigenous people with both masculine and feminine spirits.

Prior to the conference, anthropological, scholarly and academic writings used the term "berdache," to describe historical accounts of their limited understanding of who they perceived as homosexual, transgender, and intersex people. This derogatory French term translates to "male whore" or a "kept boy."

The creation of the term Two-Spirit was a reclamation of sacred relatives' identities. It began as a decolonial remembering of cultural identity that honored the traditional roles and spiritual beliefs among a range of diverse Native peoples that had been violently suppressed and condemned since colonization began.

What is Two-Spirit and who can call themselves Two-Spirit?

As the term has grown in popularity and more Indigenous people have begun using it, non-Natives have also become aware of the term and have confused its meaning. Who it represents has become a hot topic online with non-Natives assuming that Two-Spirit is a simple translation of non-binary.

This is incorrect, according to Indigenous Two-Spirit leaders.

"It's a term by and for Indigenous people," said Dr. Roger Kuhn, faculty lecturer of American Indian studies at San Francisco State University. Kuhn is also a board member and community organizer of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow and previous member of the LGBTQ+ advisory committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

"It's by and for Indigenous people, and then within that it is for people who have variance of gender and sexual orientation," Kuhn said, who is Muscogee Poarch Creek.

Two-Spirit people may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, gender-nonconforming, nonbinary, or occupy identities with no direct Western equivalent, according to Kuhn. The unifying thread is not a particular gender or sexuality, but the shared experience of being Indigenous and navigating gender or sexual variance within communities shaped by colonization.

"This is a term that we use in their colonial language. English is a colonizer's language," Kuhn continued. "It's our unifying term, and it's a way to let folks know that we are different. We're different because we have a different lived experience than other LGBTQIA+ people. So Two-Spirit is that term that unifies us."

For Kuhn, after centuries of dispossession, forced assimilation, and erasure, Two-Spirit stands as a reclaimed word in the colonizer's language - an act of resistance and re-centering.

"They took everything else from us," Kuhn said.

He explained that Two-Sprit is a unifying term that allows Indigenous LGBTQIA+ people to articulate their distinct experiences under colonial rule, and to collectively pursue cultural restoration and ancestral connection.

While many non-Native LGBTQ+ people resonate with the term's beauty, the identity is rooted in Indigenous worldview and ceremonial roles that cannot be separated from their cultural origins, said Elton Naswood, executive director of the Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy resources, violence prevention, and healing in the Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ and broader communities.

To identify as Two-Spirit is not only to name oneself within a spectrum of gender and sexuality, but also to inherit responsibilities passed down through individual tribal traditions, and teachings, Naswood said, who is Navajo.

According to Naswood, without that lineage, the term risks becoming an act of appropriation rather than belonging. He echoes who he calls his Native Hawaiian sister, Kumu Hina, who describes the sacred "mahu magic" of her own people - a cultural knowledge and spiritual understanding that cannot be translated simply by adopting a label.

A major goal of the center is restoring the traditional roles of Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ relatives.

Vaquero Azul, who is Taino, Maya, Otomi, highlights the responsibility that comes with using a term rooted in Anishinaabe tradition. The term exists today because Anishinaabeg leaders chose to share it at a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ and Indigenous organizing, but sharing does not mean universal ownership.

He said social media often flattens the nuance, and points out that people often assume that visibility means invitation, or that quietness means shame. Instead, he emphasizes that Native people relate to the term in different ways, each with their own histories and intentions.

"Sometimes things are just for specific groups of people and that's okay," Azul said.

Azul is a trans masculine and Two-Spirit Mesoamerican illustrator whose grandparents migrated here from what is now Mexico. His work focuses on Mesoamerican trans joy. He also does costume designs for the LGBTQ2IA+ folklórico group Danza Monarcas. The dance performance is part of an exhibit called "Nuestra Euforia/Our Euphoria." The art and the dance are rooted in the celebration of Indigenous and queer identity.

Naswood, Kuhn and Azul make clear that Two-Spirit is far more than a pan-Indigenous synonym for queer or trans. It is a culturally grounded identity, an inheritance, a responsibility, and a form of resistance. It is a term that belongs to Indigenous people and will grow, evolve, and be held in as many different, beautiful ways as the people.

Traditional roles and leadership

The role Two-Spirit people traditionally played in their own communities differs from nation to nation, but Two-Spirit people were always leaders and caregivers in some way in their communities, Naswood said. The histories of Two-Spirit and gender-diverse Indigenous people reveal long-standing traditions of social responsibility, spiritual leadership, and community care.

Naswood explained that in Lakota communities, individuals known as winkté held highly respected ceremonial roles. Their presence was not peripheral but central to cultural life. For example, they were traditionally sought out to select the Sundance pole. Naswood describes this "in-between energy," as a sacred gift that allowed winkté community members to mediate between the people and the Creator.

Similar histories exist across many Native nations.

Naswood pointed to We'wha of the Zuni Pueblo, who would now be understood as a Native trans woman. We'wha was an accomplished potter, weaver, and cultural diplomat.

We'wha's community affirmed her significance and role caring for orphans and children who had lost parents, fulfilling a traditional caretaker role often held by gender-diverse individuals. She also served as a community leader, traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet former President Grover Cleveland while wearing traditional women's regalia, which she was later buried in. Naswood believes that is a clear sign of cultural acceptance.

Another example comes from Navajo history in the story of Hastíín Klah, a renowned nádleehí who served as both a trader and a respected medicine person. Klah held ceremonial authority and was entrusted with weaving designs associated with powerful deities that were typically reserved for women.

Two-Spirit and gender-diverse ancestors held essential, honored roles that contemporary leaders like Naswood are working to revitalize and reclaim today.

Modern roles, leadership, and policies

Across the Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ+ communities, contemporary leadership is emerging in ways that both honor traditional roles and respond to urgent modern needs.

For Naswood, stepping into leadership required first accepting the cultural weight of the term Two-Spirit. Naswood spent years discerning whether he was ready to claim the term because doing so meant committing to cultural service.

"I wanted to make sure that I would allow myself to offer those cultural teachings, those understandings in the role," Naswood said.

Leadership today also involves navigating generational shifts.

Younger relatives often feel connected to their Native and LGBTQ+ identities but may hesitate to take on the responsibilities associated with a Two-Spirit role. Many use the term Indigequeer to reclaim identity while acknowledging that they are not ready, or not interested, in taking on traditional responsibilities. Naswood celebrates this and said both terms represent cultural reclamation.

But Naswood said he sees Native trans people and gender-diverse relatives already fulfilling essential roles in cultural spaces, grounded in a worldview that understands gender as circular and fluid rather than linear and Western.

As anti-trans policies intensify nationwide, Naswood and other advocates have been called to national spaces, including the National Congress of American Indians, to speak on how tribal leadership can protect Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ members.

Out of the 574 federally recognized tribes, only a handful have inclusive laws, according to Naswood. His organization is now working alongside the University of California in Los Angeles' tribal law program to assess tribal codes, provide strategies for change, and support tribes in revising their policies.

Revitalizing NCAI's long-dormant Two-Spirit task force has become part of this work, bringing openly Two-Spirit tribal leaders together to organize, educate, and advocate.

For others, leadership emerges through acts of cultural resurgence rooted in community love.

Kuhn describes witnessing a powwow grand entry spiraling inward, feeling overcome by Vnokeckv, the Muscogee Poarch Creek word for community love.

"I just felt so overwhelmed," Kuhn said. "And I just thought, this is what that word means. This is it. This is that word in action right now."

That moment shaped his work as a psychotherapist, activist, and powwow organizer.

Kuhn sees Two-Spirit powwows as sites of cultural healing and decolonial practice, spaces where individuals see themselves reflected in dancers, drummers, vendors and know they belong. His work reveals the deep continuity between pre-colonial Two-Spirit traditions and contemporary leadership. Historically, Two-Spirit people cared for children, carried out naming ceremonies, created art, and tended to the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of their people. Today, Kuhn sees Two-Spirit therapists, community organizers, and artists fulfilling those same responsibilities in modern forms.

He recalls watching a former Two-Spirit student he supported while working in a high school walk into the powwow years later hand in hand with their partner.

"They came back a couple of hours later just beaming with joy, and so happy," Kuhm said. "To me, that's what that powwow is about, it's about folks feeling that love."

Azul's leadership emerges through art, fashion, and cultural reclamation. Disturbed by the rising rates of trans femicide - the intentional killing of transgender women or transfeminine people because of their gender identity - in Mexico, and the erasure of Indigenous and Mexican trans artists in queer art spaces, he created Nuestra Euforia, an exhibit that centers trans and queer Indigenous voices, presented in both English and Spanish.

His artistry is deeply tied to heritage. Having learned to sew from his grandmother, cultural fashion is a site of resistance and joy. He designed folklórico skirts featuring pride, trans, lesbian, and bisexual, flags. His leadership also challenges gendered constraints within traditional arts, disrupting assumptions about who can sew, create, or lead in these spaces.

Through exhibitions, workshops, and community education, Azul builds bridges for queer Mexican youth who fear they must choose between family, culture, and identity.

"With a lot of my artwork, I get a lot of queer Mexican youth who didn't feel like they could be themselves, and when they see my art, they feel very joyous and excited," Azul said. "But I always hear about the grief and the pain of their own family rejecting them because of their queerness, that they lost community and culture and healing, and that's where I'm trying to be that bridge to tell people, 'Hey, you don't have to lose that. There are community spaces. They do want you to be there, and they do celebrate your queerness.'"

Do all Native people use the term Two-Spirit?

Azul, Kuhn, and Naswood emphasized that because Two-Spirit is an umbrella term that encompasses hundreds of different Native nations, it should not be assumed that every Indigenous person with a gender- or sexuality-diverse identity identifies this way.

The term's meaning varies from nation to nation, shaped by distinct languages, histories, and ceremonial traditions.

For instance, Naswood doesn't use the term Two-Spirit in all contexts. When he is home on the Navajo Nation, the English phrase does not translate accurately into Diné language or worldview. A literal translation evokes a duality of "good spirit" and "bad spirit," a meaning that doesn't reflect Navajo understandings of gendered or social roles.

Instead, Navajo communities historically recognized people like him with terms such as nádleehí, meaning "the changing one," which reflects fluidity, transformation, and the longstanding presence of multiple gender identities within Diné culture. He notes that Navajo teachings include six to nine gender identities, each associated with specific responsibilities.

Naswood encourages Indigenous people to reclaim their own nation-specific terms wherever possible.

"Words are powerful," Naswood said. "We don't just make up words. They come with stories."

Rediscovering or revitalizing these terms confirms cultural continuity and gives communities language that reflects their own realities rather than those imposed through colonization.

He points to experiences in Tongva and southern California communities, where Spanish missions suppressed Indigenous identities, yet elders have preserved words for gender-diverse people, including terms specifically for trans women.

The survival of such terminology demonstrates that these identities have deep roots across many tribal nations.

The same applies for Kuhn from his Muscogee Poarch Creek identity. The word he uses for himself is Ennvrkvpv meaning "the middle" or Wednesday expressing gender as a center point.

"What I love about that, then I can go left, right, up, down, I can go around the circumference or the inside of the circumference," Kuhn said. "It means that my gender, my orientation, is limitless to me."

He does not know whether the term was used historically for gender-diverse people or if colonization fractured the language and culture in his ancestral homelands.

"We don't know if this was actually traditional or not, but that's the word we're using," Kuhn said. "That's what I love about being a Two-Spirit person, is that in the reclamation of my identity, I can also reclaim parts of my culture that were taken from me."

Azul is reconnecting with his Mesoamerican heritage and echoed the idea that Two-Spirit as a meaningful placeholder. He is trying to learn Náhuatl, Otomí, and Mayan languages but has yet to find words for gender-diverse identities within those peoples.

"I'm still seeking the words for the equivalent of Two-Spirit in my cultural languages," Azul said. "I have the guidance of multiple Two-Spirit, Mesoamerican or Mexican elders who identify as Two-Spirit. We understand it's a part of our journey with language revitalization. It's a place holder for me, at this moment that I honor and hold with so much love."

Many Mexican and Central/South American Indigenous communities have been heavily impacted by colonization, border politics, and lack of tribal recognition, leaving many people "detribalized" or culturally displaced.

For Azul and many others, Two-Spirit provides belonging while they search for nation-specific terminology. He plans to switch terms whenever he finds his community's own word.

Azul also stressed that many Indigenous people from Latin America lack a tribal ID, and face barriers in U.S.-based Indigenous events, or are folded into broad labels like "Hispanic" that obscure Indigenous identity. This creates obstacles to cultural recognition even as they work to reconnect.

An act of reclamation and remembering

The term Two-Spirit is an act of returning to cultural truth for many Indigenous people. This reclamation reflects both a shared struggle against colonial erasure and a shared commitment to remembering who Indigenous people were before that violence.

For Azul, Two-Spirit identity is a commitment to healing gendered harms and breaking down colonial gender roles within his community. He describes helping women reconnect with their fire and their right to be loud and powerful, while helping men learn that vulnerability, emotion, and accountability are strengths. This reshaping of gender expectations distorted by colonial religion and patriarchy is decolonization.

His artistic practice is another form of remembering.

After his chest surgery, he began depicting in the fullness of his transmasculine identity, blending queer aesthetics with his love of traditional Charro styles. He deliberately creates the representation he always wished existed.

Azul explained that generational religious trauma pushed queer relatives into silence or exile. He hopes that by being visible, by speaking openly, by creating sober and safe spaces outside nightlife, he can help the next generation avoid that isolation.

One of his elders, Ixtlixochitl Salinas White Hawk, told him that the goal is not reconnecting but remembering. That the knowledge survives in small, everyday acts like the medicine made from cactus, embroidery passed down, tamales prepared with care, a drum circle, a healing session, a conversation that lasts five minutes but opens a door.

"The remembering is so vital because we have had it, and it's been in little ways of survival. I remember my abuelita taking cactuses and pulling them apart and making them into medicine, and I remember the embroidery she taught me being from my cultural backgrounds, and all these details that still survived," Azul said. "How do I help bring community to find jumping points to start off with on their journey of remembering ... My hope is that they can learn something, versus them feeling too scared to ask."

This resurgence extends far beyond North America, Naswood said.

Indigenous communities in places like Australia, New Zealand, and throughout South America have asked to use the term Two-Spirit because it resonates with their own cultural efforts to reclaim gender and sexual diversity.

Naswood said this is not appropriation but solidarity and evidence of communities remembering that queer and gender-diverse Indigenous people have always existed, even when colonial violence tried to suppress that memory.

At the same time, Naswood acknowledges that many tribes have experienced such deep colonization that their traditional identities and roles for gender-diverse people have not yet been revitalized.

He encourages those nations to begin the work of re-remembering by talking to their elders and to the Two-Spirit people already in their communities.

He has witnessed how powerful this can be during his time at the Red Circle Project in Los Angeles. Displaced Indigenous relatives found grounding and belonging when he introduced the term Two-Spirit to them.

"When I introduced the term Two-Spirit, people gravitated to it because it gave them a sense of who they were, an identity that they were able to share. And that is a beautiful thing," he said.

In a political moment marked by renewed attacks on Indigenous rights, Naswood said this resurgence is part of a larger movement of Indigenous peoples standing up, reclaiming identity, and refusing to be erased.

"Our American government is trying to demean us, take away our rights, but then this is maybe a time where tribal communities can begin to stand up and include us more effectively and aggressively," Naswood said.

Reclamation is inseparable from decolonization, especially around sexuality and gender, Kuhn said. Through his years of study in human sexuality, anthropology, and psychotherapy, he repeatedly witnessed academia default to European frameworks.

Eventually, he reached a breaking point.

At San Francisco Pride, he marched with a sign reading "Decolonize Sexuality," even before he had fully articulated what that meant.

"I was still having to dissect Euro ideology and translate that into an Indigenous worldview," Kuhn said. "And I was tired of it. I was emotionally tired of it. I was academically tired of it. Something had shifted in me as an activist, as a student, as a clinician. From then forward, I really started to think about how we can decolonize sexuality."

Over time, he realized that decolonization must extend beyond land to include the bodies, genders, and sexualities living on that land. Colonialism weaponized sexuality against Indigenous people, especially Two-Spirit people, by imposing rigid binaries, policing gender expression, and excluding gender-diverse relatives from ceremony.

"If we think about decolonization as this act of land, it's this land based ideology, though the bodies on that land have been impacted by colonial ideology, and in particular around sexuality, and when we think about Two-Spirit people and how our orientation and how our gender has been weaponized against us through that colonial view, I then have to say, decolonize sexuality, because to me, it's important to remind folks that land is inclusive of the bodies on the land," Kuhn explained.

Kuhn argues the parallel task is what he calls, "unsettling," meaning non-Native people confronting privilege, interrogating inherited power, and refusing to bypass their complicity in colonial systems.

Future hopes

Collectively, Naswood, Kuhn, and Azul share a longing for futures where Two-Spirit and Indigequeer people are visible, safe, connected, and culturally affirmed.

Looking ahead, Naswood hopes for a renewed gathering of the surviving founders of the Two-Spirit term who sat around the fire at the original 1990 gathering and to bring younger generations into that dialogue.

With elders passing and histories at risk of being lost, Naswood dreams of returning to the roots of the term, asking whether it still reflects its intended meaning, exploring how it might grow, and documenting the wisdom of Two-Spirit elders before it disappears. For him, evolving the term must be intergenerational, intentional, and rooted in care.

Kuhn also wants to bridge the gaps between generations.

"When I think about sexuality, one of the things that really impacted a lot of Two-Spirit people was HIV and AIDS," Kuhn said. "We lost so many folks who are older than us, and so this generation of elders aren't there."

He hopes for more intentional collaboration between youth and elders, where stories, skills, and ceremonial responsibilities can be passed forward before they are lost.

"We need that collaborative space, because we need to know who's available to do that work, who wants to do that work, who can get the education and be brought into that tradition in a good way," Kuhn said. "If we lose that collaboration, we lose the culture, we lose the tradition. So that's my hope, is that we build these bridges so that these rolls are not forgotten about."

Kuhn hopes the future includes political changes.

Anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation is inherently anti-Indigenous, he said, because these laws rely on the same Christian, colonial frameworks once used to attack Indigenous sovereignty and identity.

"It has to be in order for the government to contain their control and domination over us," Kuhn said. "It has to be anti-Indigenous. It may not be worded that way but that is what it is."

Azul dreams of a future where Indigenous queer and trans people are safe and welcome.

"I want to be able to see for the future that we don't have to live in survival mode all the time," Azul said. "I want us to be able to feel safe in our communities and not go into spaces where we're not really thought of."

He imagines a future where intentional spaces for Two-Spirit and Indigequeer healing are not rare exceptions but common, cared for, and year-round. He wants events that extend beyond Pride Month and beyond token representation. Spaces where his community can gather, celebrate, reconnect, and simply exist without explaining themselves.

"I think a lot of people tend to forget that coming out isn't just a one off, that it is daily wherever we go, because we're living in such a system that assumes straight and heterosexual," Azul said. "So that's my hope, is one day we don't have to deal with this all the time. We can just exist and be respected."

Supporting Two-Spirit relatives

Across their stories, Naswood, Kuhn, and Azul offer a collective roadmap for what true support looks like, both within Indigenous communities and among non-Indigenous allies.

Supporting Two-Spirit and Indigequeer relatives requires more than symbolic gestures or celebration during Pride Month. It demands cultural safety, structural change, policy inclusion, and everyday acts of care, they said.

One of the most urgent areas of support is within tribal cultural spaces, where gender expectations can still be rigid, Naswood said.

Issues like binary restroom policies or ceremony leaders enforcing skirt wearing rules can re-traumatize Two-Spirit people and exclude them from spiritual practices intended to heal.

Naswood explained that these protocols often come from misunderstandings rather than tradition and tribal communities can choose to change them.

He recalls a sweat lodge in South Dakota where the lodge keepers invited participants to choose whichever lodge felt right for them.

"It just felt so good to go in the lodge that I prefer," Naswood said.

Naswood also stresses the responsibilities that Two-Spirit people also carry when entering sacred spaces such as powwow arenas.

As a drag queen and former Miss Montana Two-Spirit, he once struggled with how to enter grand entry without disrespecting ceremony. After seeking guidance from elders, he found a balance that honored both tradition and authenticity.

His presence inspired other Two-Spirit dancers who came forward to thank him for showing up.

"I was able to do the ground entry and afterwards was so amazing," Naswood said. "After I finished, I had more than a handful of dancers that came up, a majority of them being Two-Spirit and they're like, 'We're so glad you were here.' That did my heart good."

Kuhn speaks candidly about the rage born from centuries of violence, erasure, and ongoing political attacks that many Two-Spirit people live with. Instead of turning inward or self-destructing, he channels that rage into community organizing, and building spaces of joy.

"We need the frontline activists as much as we need the power organizers, because without joy, our movements, they don't happen," Kuhn said.

Inclusive policy is also a significant consideration in supporting the Two-Spirit community.

Examples of inclusive policies are health clinics having visible signs welcoming Two-Spirit and Indigequeer people, tribal governments recognizing same-sex marriage, allowing Two-Spirit couples to adopt, and ensuring housing for gender-diverse families so that Two-Spirit people can build safe and stable lives in their homelands.

For Azul, who endured harassment, deadnaming, and workplace discrimination, he dreams of a world where Two-Spirit and trans Indigenous people don't have to live in constant defense, constantly bracing for harm.

"I remember having panic attacks constantly, just for some manager deciding to harass me daily, and I get so exhausted of that," Azul said. "I want our communities to get to navigate the world with less cruelty."

All three leaders also shared that direct financial support is one of the best ways to support the Two-Spirit community.

"That's what's helping me survive," Azul said. "That's what's helping me not have to force myself to go back into these systems where I'm gonna deal with harassment all the time."

Not as charity, but as material support that keeps people alive. Small acts accumulate into big impacts.

Kuhn explained that organizations fund Indigenous initiatives but demand paperwork, reporting, and justification in return but true support means trusting Indigenous people to use resources for their communities without policing them.

"I always go back to the notion of being a good relative," Naswood said. "For us in Native communities, we're taught to be a good relative to support individuals who are part of our family. And I think if we can encourage our non-Native folks to have that same mentality of acceptance and understanding in a way that we do as indigenous people I think that would strengthen our communities a little bit more."
Update: Correction for the spelling of Ixtlixochitl Salinas White Hawk's name.

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INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: Reclaiming Two-Spirit roles across Native nations - ICT

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Two-Spirit people have always existed in Indigenous nations, carrying sacred responsibilities and shaping community life. Today their voices are guiding a resurgence that honors tradition while confronting ongoing colonial harm.

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"I'm Not Going to Give Up": Leonard Peltier on Indigenous Rights, His Decades in Prison, Coming Home

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How you can still support the 2025 National Day of Mourning even if you can’t come to Plymouth - direct asks from UAINE NDOM organizers

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How you can still support the 2025 National Day of Mourning even if you can’t come to Plymouth - direct asks from UAINE NDOM organizers

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How you can still support the 2025 National Day of Mourning even if you can’t come to Plymouth

If you are unable to participate directly in the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, MA, here are some ways you can stand in solidarity with United American Indians of New England (UAINE) and the National Day of Mourning.

1. Watch the National Day of Mourning livestream from Plymouth beginning at 12 noon on November 27. The livestream link is:

2. Help to spread the word about National Day of Mourning on social media. Would you rather support National Day of Mourning in Plymouth than engage in a celebration of white supremacy, the theft of a continent and the genocide of Indigenous peoples? Say why on your Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram account.

3. Donate! You can donate to UAINE here: or to other Indigenous organizations.

While we are grateful for your donations to UAINE, this year we also urge everyone to make donations to Palestinian-directed organizations that are currently able to have a direct impact on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, or to organizations where you live that are providing direct assistance to unhoused, food insecure, or other people in need.

4. Use Thanksgiving Day as a ‘teachable moment’ and educate family and friends. If you gather for a Thanksgiving meal, read aloud to your friends and family about the real history of Thanksgiving and National Day of Mourning before you sit down to eat. Matthew Hughey’s “On Thanksgiving: Why Myths Matter” is one possible text that is just about the right length for a pre-meal reading. You can also read the suppressed speech of Wamsutta Frank James, the founder of National Day of Mourning, and check out the UAINE website. You can watch the livestream from Plymouth. If you or your family members are hungry for more truth-telling, you can recommend books for further reading such as Our History Is The Future by Nick Estes, An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen, A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, and David Stannard’s American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World.

5. Spread the truth and give the “hidden” story of Thanksgiving a human face by arranging for a member of UAINE to give a talk at a school or community center near you. Email info@uaine.org for more information.

6. Help to champion Indigenous voices by supporting other Indigenous struggles. You can support Native Nations and struggles where you live. You can join the fight against racist and demeaning Native sports team mascots, name brands and products. You can support the fight to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day on the 2nd Monday in October. You can amplify Indigenous voices in raising awareness about Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Relatives. Check out the UAINE Facebook group and other Indigenous social media outlets for information about what is happening in your area and what you can do to help. Express your solidarity, and urge others in your community (trade union, social justice organization, religious community, etc.) to join in, too!

7. Support Indigenous climate activists and landback efforts. Indigenous people are on the frontlines defending the water and land from pipelines, fracking, mining and much more. Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas are fighting to stop fossil fuel extraction, megadams and mining and to preserve land, water and treaty rights. Support Indigenous-led climate justice organizations!

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PBSKids "Thanks-for-Giving" Episode. Grandpa explains NDOM to Molly of Denali & friends

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PBSKids "Thanks-for-Giving" Episode. Grandpa explains NDOM to Molly of Denali & friends

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197K views · 7K reactions | In the episode “Thanks-for-Giving,” Grandpa Nat explains the Day of Mourning, which is recognized by many Native and Indigenous Peoples to remember their history and honor their ancestors. Watch the full Emmy-nominated episode @PBSKIDS | Molly of Denali

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In the episode “Thanks-for-Giving,” Grandpa Nat explains the Day of Mourning, which is recognized by many Native and Indigenous Peoples to remember their history and honor their ancestors. Watch the…

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A Wampanoag retelling of Thanksgiving - ICT

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A Wampanoag citizen retells us the true story about the first meeting between the Wampanoag people and the pilgrims. Plus, more on the handful of Native people who ran for public office in Tuesday’s election

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I burn the myth of "we can just move on" from genocide & accepting harmful behaviors that enable oppression, colonialism & white supremacy

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I burn the myth of "we can just move on" from genocide & accepting harmful behaviors that enable oppression, colonialism & white supremacy

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Thank you @thehumanityarchive for this wisdom, history and call outs to shitty behavior!

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Jermaine Fowler | Public Historian on Instagram: "Comment "PDF" below to get my free guide: How the U.S. Stole America. ⤵️"

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9,714 likes, 573 comments - thehumanityarchive on November 18, 2025: "Comment "PDF" below to get my free guide: How the U.S. Stole America. ⤵️". 

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Pumpkin Pie originally an abolitionist food, but of course yt women/pipo colonized and used it to perpetuate the harm of Thanksgiving myth/colonialism and further oppress BIPOC folks

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DeAndré Upshaw on Instagram: "Have y’all ever wondered why Black people eat sweet potato pie and white people eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? Because babyyy these pies took two VERY different paths. But no matter where you’re from, one of them is getting demolished before the night is over. Which are you eating this Thanksgiving?"

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Discover the history behind sweet potato and pumpkin pies, two iconic Thanksgiving desserts with different origins and symbolism. From their roots in slavery and abolition to their evolution into modern convenience foods, explore how these pies have become an integral part of American culture. Join the conversation: are you team sweet potato or team pumpkin?

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Native Americans sue Plymouth Over National Day of Mourning #nottodaycolonizer!

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Native Americans sue Plymouth Over National Day of Mourning #nottodaycolonizer!

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Plymouth government was breaking its agreements to deter the UAINE NDOM protests - not today colonizer!!!!

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Native Americans sue Plymouth over Day of Mourning

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The United Native American Indians of New England sued Plymouth on the Monday before Thanksgiving over the annual National Day of Morning ceremonies.

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Embracing

Rest IS Resistance

Hate capitalism while acknowledging that we have to participate in it to survive.

Land back IS possible!

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Neon Nativez Remix video of The Haullci Nation's "Burn Your Village to the Ground"

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Neon Nativez Remix video of The Haullci Nation's "Burn Your Village to the Ground"

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The Halluci Nation - Burn Your Village To The Ground (Neon Nativez Remix)

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United American Indians of New England (UAINE group) | Facebook

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te whare tiwekaweka - Marlon Williams (he is Māori, specifically the Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai iwi; this is his only album in Māori): https://marlonwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/te-whare-t-wekaweka

cruel joke - Ken Pomeroy (she is Cherokee but this album is in english): https://kenpomeroy.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-joke

i like those two the most, but have also listened to the following recently:

what did the blackbird say to the crow by Rhiannon Giddens (AfroIndigenous, specifically Lumbee, Occaneechi, and Seminole)

wapna'kik by Sons of Membertou (Mi'kmaw)

Taima by Taima (Inuk)

unbound by Bizhiki (Ojibwe)

Innocent Allies by Cary Morin (Crow)

Bekka Ma'iingan by Zoon (Ojibwe)

Inuktitut by Elisapie Isaac (Inuk)

Ispiciwin by Andrew Balfour (Cree)

Theory of Ice by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Mississauga Nishnaabeg)

Anvdvnelisgi (Cherokee)

In harmony, we journey by R Carlos Nakai (Diné)

Trapline by Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Haisla)

Verbathim by Nemahsis (Palestinian)

Kawaipunahele by Keali'i Reichel (Kānaka Maoli)

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I call in those who succumbed. I call in those who survived. I call in those who hid, resisted, called out, and those who burned. I call in the ancestors whose names I will never know across Turtle Island, Africa, and the Philippines.

I call in my grandma, who passed a couple years ago. She survived Japanese occupation in the Philippines during WWII by hiding for weeks on end with her siblings in the land around her village. She was barely a teenager. She passed at the age of 86. I had a complicated relationship with her; she loved us dearly and showed up without hesitation. And also, much of that love was also filtered through the loss that happens from assimilation into empire and catholicism. She sang and danced with us; she still talked to the spirits in her plants, her belongings, and her environment. She adorned herself colorfully and joyfully. She helped her family back home as long as she could.

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hate5six.com is a project I started in 2008 (officially) as a way to archive live music and connect people to bands. Since then, I've filmed and archived over 3,000 performances from bands all over the world. My content has been viewed over 28 million times and people worldwide have spent 140 million minutes watching these videos.

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Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier on adjusting to life at home after decades in prison

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Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier on adjusting to life at home after decades in prison

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Leonard Peltier short video (~9 mins) after being released from prison: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/indigenous-activist-leonard-peltier-on-adjusting-to-life-at-home-after-decades-in-prison

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Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier on adjusting to life at home after decades in prison

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To many supporters, Leonard Peltier was a political prisoner unjustly punished for his activism with the American Indian Movement. To his critics, he is a remorseless killer of two FBI agents in 1975, a charge he denies. President Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence, restricting him to home confinement. Fred de Sam Lazaro spoke with Peltier on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

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"Gather" the documentary is about indigenous food sovereignty. I watched it one year on "Thanksgiving"/NDOM to decolonize from the genocidal brutality/myth of this "holiday". It is currently available on Prime and it is also available on Kanopy for free with a participating library card!

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i learned about NDOM in 2020, likely from instagram (i was getting politicized pretty quickly/deeply after the murders of Brionna Taylor and George Floyd). i've tried to have conversations with my biological family over the past 5 years, who seemed to sort of get it but are now are stubbornly sticking with their damn "holiday"

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today, i'm honoring NDOM by attending this ceremony and holding an in-person covid-realist event to take care of trees. it was important to me and my co-organizer to specifically do it today to push back against the idea of "thanksgiving," and give folks an opportunity to be connected to and take care of nature on this day.

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i'm calling in the ancestors i never got to meet and that my family never told me about. i'm calling in the ones who have held me so much this whole year and have given me both sweetness and tenderness and laughs. i'm bringing in the ones who get it so i don't feel so alone when i'm in places with people who don't get it and don't want it.

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Imani's reflection on decolonizing holiday practices:

I'm not sure if this counts, but I personally celebrate the changing of the seasons, the equinoxes and solstices. when i move away from family, i will not be celebrating US designated holidays and solely focus on the changing of the seasons. I'm excited for winter solstice, the solstices are my favorite. i also started focusing on more handmade gifts for the winter, and purchasing from small businesses.

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comedy podcast by Jana Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota) and Brian Bahe (Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Navajo)

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Sage-Based Wisdom is a podcast where two Native American comedians and our friends give you, the listener, the smudgiest, sagiest solicited advice. Hosted by Jana Schmieding (@janaunplgd) and Brian Bahe (@brian_bahe)Music by Steve Jenkins (@s…

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Raphael Coyotl on Instagram: "The true story of Thanksgiving 🦃

The day after the final massacre, William Bradford, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, writes that from that day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequot and "For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won." This event marks the first actual Thanksgiving. During this period of history, the Puritans and other English colonists generally declared a day of thanksgiving to celebrate the successful massacre of Native communities and to honor "victories" ordained by God rather than celebrating successful harvests (Oxendine, 2019; Native Voices, "AD 1637: English settlers burn Pequot village").

#thanksgiving"

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The traditional Thanksgiving narrative has been skewed to omit the brutal realities of the past. The Pequot Massacre and slave trading are just two examples of the dark history surrounding this holiday. In this post, we'll delve into the true story of Thanksgiving and its complex legacy. From the English colonists' violent conquest of Native American lands to the traumatic experiences of the Pequot tribe, we'll explore the intricate web of events that led to the modern-day celebration. Whether you're a history buff or simply curious about the past, join us as we uncover the truth about the real Thanksgiving story. #thanksgivinghistory #darkhistory #colonialism #pequotmassacre #historyuncovered

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To my enslaved ancestors that began the resilient line

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To my enslaved ancestors that began the resilient line

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I call you into the present to show you how your family has endured the last 300 years. Your family is thriving beyond your wildest dreams. - Double-E

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Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England have organized the National Day of Mourning observance in Plymouth at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Every year, hundreds of Native people and our supporters from all four directions join us. Every year, including this year, Native people from throughout the Americas will speak the truth about our history and about current issues and struggles we are involved in.

Why do hundreds of people stand out in the cold rather than sit home eating turkey and watching football? Do we have something against a harvest festival?

Of course not. But Thanksgiving in this country -- and in particular in Plymouth --is much more than a harvest home festival. It is a celebration of the pilgrim mythology.

According to this mythology, the pilgrims arrived, the Native people fed them and welcomed them, the Indians promptly faded into the background, and everyone lived happily ever after.

The truth is a sharp contrast to that mythology.

The pilgrims are glorified and mythologized because the circumstances of the first English-speaking colony in Jamestown were frankly too ugly (for example, they turned to cannibalism to survive) to hold up as an effective national myth. The pilgrims did not find an empty land any more than Columbus "discovered" anything. Every inch of this land is Indian land. The pilgrims (who did not even call themselves pilgrims) did not come here seeking religious freedom; they already had that in Holland. They came here as part of a commercial venture. They introduced sexism, racism, anti-lesbian and gay bigotry, jails, and the class system to these shores. One of the very first things they did when they arrived on Cape Cod -- before they even made it to Plymouth -- was to rob Wampanoag graves at Corn Hill and steal as much of the Indians' winter provisions of corn and beans as they were able to carry. They were no better than any other group of Europeans when it came to their treatment of the Indigenous peoples here. And no, they did not even land at that sacred shrine called Plymouth Rock, a monument to racism and oppression which we are proud to say we buried in 1995.

The first official "Day of Thanksgiving" was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from the Massachusetts Bay Colony who had gone to Mystic, Connecticut to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children, and men.

About the only true thing in the whole mythology is that these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in "New England" were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people. What Native people got in return for this help was genocide, theft of our lands, and never-ending repression. We are treated either as quaint relics from the past, or are, to most people, virtually invisible.

When we dare to stand up for our rights, we are considered unreasonable. When we speak the truth about the history of the European invasion, we are often told to "go back where we came from." Our roots are right here. They do not extend across any ocean.

National Day of Mourning began in 1970 when a Wampanoag man, Wamsutta Frank James, was asked to speak at a state dinner celebrating the 350th anniversary of the pilgrim landing. He refused to speak false words in praise of the white man for bringing civilization to us poor heathens. Native people from throughout the Americas came to Plymouth, where they mourned their forebears who had been sold into slavery, burned alive, massacred, cheated, and mistreated since the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620.

But the commemoration of National Day of Mourning goes far beyond the circumstances of 1970.

Can we give thanks as we remember Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, who was framed up by the FBI and has been falsely imprisoned since 1976? Despite mountains of evidence exonerating Peltier and the proven misconduct of federal prosecutors and the FBI, Peltier has been denied a new trial. Bill Clinton apparently does not feel that particular pain and has refused to grant clemency to this innocent man.

To Native people, the case of Peltier is one more ordeal in a litany of wrongdoings committed by the U.S. government against us. While the media in New England present images of the "Pequot miracle" in Connecticut, the vast majority of Native people continue to live in the most abysmal poverty.

Can we give thanks for the fact that, on many reservations, unemployment rates surpass fifty percent? Our life expectancies are much lower, our infant mortality and teen suicide rates much higher, than those of white Americans. Racist stereotypes of Native people, such as those perpetuated by the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, and countless local and national sports teams, persist. Every single one of the more than 350 treaties that Native nations signed has been broken by the U.S. government. The bipartisan budget cuts have severely reduced educational opportunities for Native youth and the development of new housing on reservations, and have caused cause deadly cutbacks in health-care and other necessary services.

Are we to give thanks for being treated as unwelcome in our own country?

Or perhaps we are expected to give thanks for the war that is being waged by the Mexican government against Indigenous peoples there, with the military aid of the U.S. in the form of helicopters and other equipment? When the descendants of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca flee to the U.S., the descendants of the wash-ashore pilgrims term them 'illegal aliens" and hunt them down.

We object to the "Pilgrim Progress" parade and to what goes on in Plymouth because they are making millions of tourist dollars every year from the false pilgrim mythology. That money is being made off the backs of our slaughtered indigenous ancestors.

Increasing numbers of people are seeking alternatives to such holidays as Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. They are coming to the conclusion that, if we are ever to achieve some sense of community, we must first face the truth about the history of this country and the toll that history has taken on the lives of millions of Indigenous, Black, Latino, Asian, and poor and working class white people.

The myth of Thanksgiving, served up with dollops of European superiority and manifest destiny, just does not work for many people in this country. As Malcolm X once said about the African-American experience in America, "We did not land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us." Exactly.

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United American Indians of New England - UAINE

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UAINE is a Native-led organization of Native people and our supporters who fight back against racism and for the freedom of Leonard Peltier and other politic…

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burning the myth that sickness is a moral failing.

- Imani

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calling on my aunt, who was most likely a lesbian, never married, was very negative and miserable, but was always very sweet to me, in her own way. she died last year, and i feel sad that i could never introduce her to a female partner to show her it's ok to be queer. she will always have a space in my heart <3 i'm reflecting on how colonialism has demonized and disappeared queerness, and how this impacted her life.

- Imani

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Ohlone, Muwekma, and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Land

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Ohlone, Muwekma, and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Land

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Double-E lives in the East Bay of the San Franciscan peninsula.

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The Ramaytush Ohlone

​The Ramaytush (pronounced
rah-my-toosh) are the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the Ramaytush Ohlone numbered approximately 1500 persons, but by the end the Mission Period only a few families had survived. Today, only one lineage is know to have produced living descendants in the present. Those descendants comprise the membership of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (ARO) today. ​

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​The Ramaytush (pronounced rah-my-toosh) are the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the Ramaytush Ohlone numbered approximately 1500 persons, but by the end the Mission Period only a few families had survived. Today, only one lineage is know to have produced living descendants in the present.

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I'm bringing my Abuela who passed away last month

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I'm bringing my Abuela who passed away last month

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tongva land! colonially known as los angeles

- Imani

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My Filipinx/a/o ancestors and relations. As ever, calling on us to celebrate our shared wisdom and centuries of anti-colonial resistance, to honor our kapwa responsibilities to Indigenous lands and life, and to be accountable to and work to address the ways we have been complicit in settler colonialism and anti-Indigeneity.

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i'm on the lands of the canarsie and munsee lenape people

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In Our Words: An Indigenous Story of Thanksgiving

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In Our Words: An Indigenous Story of Thanksgiving

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In Our Words: An Indigenous Story of Thanksgiving

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Highlights Native American and Wampanoag peoples’ voices about Thanksgiving and the 1621 Harvest Feast. In this video, Danielle Greendeer (Mashpee Wampanoag), Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag), and Chris Newell (Passamaquoddy and Wabanaki) describe the three-day feast between the English settlers and the Wampanoag in 1621. Nearly two hundred years later, the feast started to be labeled the First Thanksgiving. This video concludes with ways we can acknowledge and learn about Native American heritage during the time of Thanksgiving.

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Land of The Council of Three Fires (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Odawa)

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Land of The Council of Three Fires (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Odawa)

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The Convenient Fallacy of Thanksgiving and the Coddling of White America by Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota Sioux chef)

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The Convenient Fallacy of Thanksgiving and the Coddling of White America by Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota Sioux chef)

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AKA - America needs to wake the F*ck Up

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The Convenient Fallacy of Thanksgiving and the Coddling of White America

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Useful site to help find what Native/Indigenous peoples you're inhabiting / settled on / displaced to

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Mapping

We strive to map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves.

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Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.

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NDN Girls Book Club, founded by Kinsale Drake (Diné): https://ndngirlsbookclub.org/

Boozhoo Books (Anishinaabe): https://boozhoo.binderybooks.com/

Quiet Quail Books (Maara'yam & Kumeyaay): https://quietquailbooks.com

Pacific Islanders in Publishing: https://www.pacificislanderbooks.org/

Black Walnut Books (Southern Pomo and Coastal Miwok): www.blackwalnutbookshop.com

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The Troubling Role of Schools in Native American History

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Schools have historically been a site of harms against Native people. Today, educators can do better.

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AJ+ on Instagram: "“What we are witnessing right now is a genocide in service of apartheid. And it’s really important to say it that way.” ⁣
⁣
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates joined AJ+ Senior Presenter @DenaTakruri to discuss his recent trip to the occupied West Bank. He was speaking at an event organized by @palfest and @aroc_bayarea.
⁣
#Israel #Palestine #Palestinian #Black #WestBank #Segregation #Apartheid #JimCrow #Racism ⁣"

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39K likes, 268 comments - ajplus on November 12, 2024: "“What we are witnessing right now is a genocide in service of apartheid. And it’s really important to say it that way.” ⁣
⁣
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates joined AJ+ Senior Presenter @DenaTakruri to discuss his recent trip to the occupied West Bank. He was speaking at an event organized by @palfest and @aroc_bayarea.
⁣
#Israel #Palestine #Palestinian #Black #WestBank #Segregation #Apartheid #JimCrow #Racism ⁣". 

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Youtube channel for United American Indians of New England.

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CELEBRATING Native American Heritage Month - BBC My World

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“Dismantling Colonial Myths, Uplifting Indigenous Rights and Honoring Mother Earth”

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Native American Girls Describe the REAL History Behind Thanksgiving | Teen Vogue

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Tweet (Photo source: Gracie) The Myth: The Pilgrims landed in 1620 and founded the Colony of New Plymouth. They had a difficult first winter, but survived with the help of the Indians. In the fall …

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The Harsh Truth About Thanksgiving | NowThis

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Words Before All Else:
Greetings to the Natural World

The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is the central prayer and invocation for the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations - Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). It reflects their relationship of giving thanks for life and the world around them. The Haudenosaunee open and close every social and religious meeting with the Thanksgiving Address. It is also said as a daily sunrise prayer, and is an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and her inhabitants. The children learn that, according to Native American tradition, people everywhere are embraced as family. Our diversity, like all wonders of Nature, is truly a gift for which we are thankful.

When one recites the Thanksgiving Address the Natural World is thanked, and in thanking each life-sustaining force, one becomes spiritually tied to each of the forces of the Natural and Spiritual World. The Thanksgiving Address teaches mutual respect, conservation, love, generosity, and the responsibility to understand that what is done to one part of the Web of Life, we do to ourselves.

This translation of the Mohawk version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address was drawn from the 1993 version that was developed by the Six Nations Indian Museum and the Tracking Project.

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Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address | Dance For All People

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The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is the central prayer and invocation for the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations - Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). It reflects their relationship of giving thanks for life and the world around them.

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Loni on Instagram: "Some food for thought as folks plan out their week this week. 💭

Over the last few years, I have seen a number of posts that aim to reclaim or reframe “Thanksgiving”, but there is nothing about “Thanksgiving” that is actually about comminity and care. While many of us may be moving from a place of love and care as we go about our week this week, “Thanksgiving” is and will only ever be a celebration of settler colonialism."

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lesbianeraser on November 23, 2024: "Some food for thought as folks plan out their week this week. 💭

Over the last few years, I have seen a number of posts that aim to reclaim or reframe “Thanksgiving”, but there is nothing about “Thanksgiving” that is actually about comminity and care. While many of us may be moving from a place of love and care as we go about our week this week, “Thanksgiving” is and will only ever be a celebration of settler colonialism.". 

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Simona Bearcub on Instagram: "“True liberation ✨

Time to get uncomfortable. what does thanksgiving really mean in the united states?

is it overindulging in food, shopping + football?

the things which are meant to pacify the masses from their true suffering/oppresion. this is also the time most people put themselves in debt, the overconsumption to drown people.

for many it’s also a day to gather with their family, it used to be a day where every business was off, nowadays that’s changed too.

during the next few days, it’s crucial to keep palestin3 in your conversations, spread awareness, wear your keffiyeh, + continue boycat (spelled their app name) the brands that support JENOC!DE!!

if you have any questions on how to make this week a week of awareness, etc, read the last frame of the reel.

or ask questions below so that we can all help one another learn more, do better.

this week, we ask you to honor the natives of this stolen land we live on 🤲🏽

for any native american shops to support, leave it in the comments please!”

Support frontline storytellers @aboodgaza & @seven_sisters_collective  project @save_north_gaza to help disperse water at school shelters in Gaza.

for keffiyeh, shop: @hirbawi last textile company in palest!ne or @sarahmusa @anzstyle
RP: @iamascia"

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1,234 likes, 14 comments - simona_bearcub2.0 on November 25, 2024: "“True liberation ✨

Time to get uncomfortable. what does thanksgiving really mean in the united states?

is it overindulging in food, shopping + football?

the things which are meant to pacify the masses from their true suffering/oppresion. this is also the time most people put themselves in debt, the overconsumption to drown people.

for many it’s also a day to gather with their family, it used to be a day where every business was off, nowadays that’s changed too.

during the next few days, it’s crucial to keep palestin3 in your conversations, spread awareness, wear your keffiyeh, + continue boycat (spelled their app name) the brands that support JENOC!DE!!

if you have any questions on how to make this week a week of awareness, etc, read the last frame of the reel.

or ask questions below so that we can all help one another learn more, do better.

this week, we ask you to honor the natives of this stolen land we live on 🤲🏽

for any native american shops to support, leave it in the comments please!”

Support frontline storytellers @aboodgaza & @seven_sisters_collective  project @save_north_gaza to help disperse water at school shelters in Gaza.

for keffiyeh, shop: @hirbawi last textile company in palest!ne or @sarahmusa @anzstyle
RP: @iamascia". 

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A post shared by Simona Bearcub (@simona_bearcub2.0)

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United American Indian Involvement Inc. on Instagram: "During Native American Heritage Month, sharing accurate statistics is vital. They shine a light on our resilience, celebrate our contributions, and address the challenges we face as Native people. These numbers help tell our story and ensure our communities are seen and valued. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth #IndigenousStrength #RepresentationMatters"

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17 likes, 0 comments - uaii_inc on November 25, 2024: "During Native American Heritage Month, sharing accurate statistics is vital. They shine a light on our resilience, celebrate our contributions, and address the challenges we face as Native people. These numbers help tell our story and ensure our communities are seen and valued. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth #IndigenousStrength #RepresentationMatters". 

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Mia Birdsong on Instagram: "When I imagine a joyful, liberated future, I often think about the kinds of holidays and traditions we might have, the things we would celebrate, the history and people we would commemorate, and the rituals and rites that could be part of our seasonal rhythm. In my imagined future, Solstices and Equinoxes would be celebrated, and we’d observe the birthdays of Ida B. Wells and Octavia Butler. I also think about the current holidays and traditions I’d get rid of—the Fourth of July and it’s vulgar patriotism, Christmas because not everyone is Christian, and Washington’s birthday because, among other things, he was an enslaver. But of all the holidays I would jettison, Thanksgiving is at the top of my list. This year, as we watch Israel attempt to exterminate Palestinians and continue to steal their land, it feels particularly important to face our own colonial history, and the genocide and land theft it includes.

Beginning with its affirming and innocuous name, Thanksgiving is strategic propaganda that creates a pleasant mythology about the relationship between Indigenous people and colonizers in place of historical genocide, land theft, and broken treaties. It also allows us to claim it as something else, without requiring any meaningful action to address that history. While many people acknowledge the real history of Thanksgiving, for me, carrying on this tradition even with that acknowledgment, is out of alignment with my values and politics, and the future I want for our descendants.

(continued in comments)

#LandBack #EndTheSeige #Solidarity #BlackFutures #EndThanksgiving #ThingsTaken #IndigenousSovereignty #Gratitude #Thanksgiving #FreePalestine"

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1,894 likes, 34 comments - miabirdsong on November 23, 2023: "When I imagine a joyful, liberated future, I often think about the kinds of holidays and traditions we might have, the things we would celebrate, the history and people we would commemorate, and the rituals and rites that could be part of our seasonal rhythm. In my imagined future, Solstices and Equinoxes would be celebrated, and we’d observe the birthdays of Ida B. Wells and Octavia Butler. I also think about the current holidays and traditions I’d get rid of—the Fourth of July and it’s vulgar patriotism, Christmas because not everyone is Christian, and Washington’s birthday because, among other things, he was an enslaver. But of all the holidays I would jettison, Thanksgiving is at the top of my list. This year, as we watch Israel attempt to exterminate Palestinians and continue to steal their land, it feels particularly important to face our own colonial history, and the genocide and land theft it includes.

Beginning with its affirming and innocuous name, Thanksgiving is strategic propaganda that creates a pleasant mythology about the relationship between Indigenous people and colonizers in place of historical genocide, land theft, and broken treaties. It also allows us to claim it as something else, without requiring any meaningful action to address that history. While many people acknowledge the real history of Thanksgiving, for me, carrying on this tradition even with that acknowledgment, is out of alignment with my values and politics, and the future I want for our descendants.

(continued in comments)

#LandBack #EndTheSeige #Solidarity #BlackFutures #EndThanksgiving #ThingsTaken #IndigenousSovereignty #Gratitude #Thanksgiving #FreePalestine". 

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Forge Project on Instagram: "For many Indigenous people, the U.S. holiday of #Thanksgiving is not a day of gratitude but a time of mourning, reflection, truth-telling, and resistance.

@forgeprojectny encourages others to acknowledge the past and continued violence toward Indigenous peoples within the colonial borders of the United States.

Here are some steps to support Indigenous peoples today and all year long:

✔️Donate directly to Native causes to rebalance resource inequity and center Indigenous world building.

✔️Learn whose land you live on and give resources to initiatives that support tribal self-determination, such as new cultural centers or food-sovereignty farming efforts.

✔️Seek out books written by Native authors whose cultures, worldviews, and ways of being can only be shared by those who lived them.

✔️Pay attention to your public school system and be willing to challenge education standards.

✔️Learn from and uplift the voices of Native speakers, especially those whose work is integrated with and in service to their communities, not just those with advanced degrees.

✔️Support Native artists by working directly with practitioners to ensure more straightforward exchange.

✔️Educate yourself on the history of dispossession in the United States. Forge Project recommends Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations Under Settler Siege, which traces contemporary and historical narratives of land seizures, forced assimilation, and survival.

✔️Support land and water defenders, including @stopline3pipeline by Canadian multinational Enbridge, Thirty Meter Telescope project on @protectmaunakea, and @wetsuweten_checkpoint and Coastal Gaslink pipeline.

Photo: A group of protestors beat a drum in a unifying ceremony to acknowledge a day of mourning on Thanksgiving, at Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 27, 1986. Participants include Gkeestan’ Mook (Wampanoag), second from left, Bob Gustafson (Mohawk), second from right, and Wildcat (Micmac), wearing headband at far right (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

Gratitude to all who contributed to this growing list of resources, including @sarahbiscarradilley and @grayhorsestudio"

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13K likes, 33 comments - forgeprojectny on November 22, 2023: "For many Indigenous people, the U.S. holiday of #Thanksgiving is not a day of gratitude but a time of mourning, reflection, truth-telling, and resistance.

@forgeprojectny encourages others to acknowledge the past and continued violence toward Indigenous peoples within the colonial borders of the United States.

Here are some steps to support Indigenous peoples today and all year long:

✔️Donate directly to Native causes to rebalance resource inequity and center Indigenous world building.

✔️Learn whose land you live on and give resources to initiatives that support tribal self-determination, such as new cultural centers or food-sovereignty farming efforts.

✔️Seek out books written by Native authors whose cultures, worldviews, and ways of being can only be shared by those who lived them.

✔️Pay attention to your public school system and be willing to challenge education standards.

✔️Learn from and uplift the voices of Native speakers, especially those whose work is integrated with and in service to their communities, not just those with advanced degrees.

✔️Support Native artists by working directly with practitioners to ensure more straightforward exchange.

✔️Educate yourself on the history of dispossession in the United States. Forge Project recommends Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations Under Settler Siege, which traces contemporary and historical narratives of land seizures, forced assimilation, and survival.

✔️Support land and water defenders, including @stopline3pipeline by Canadian multinational Enbridge, Thirty Meter Telescope project on @protectmaunakea, and @wetsuweten_checkpoint and Coastal Gaslink pipeline.

Photo: A group of protestors beat a drum in a unifying ceremony to acknowledge a day of mourning on Thanksgiving, at Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 27, 1986. Participants include Gkeestan’ Mook (Wampanoag), second from left, Bob Gustafson (Mohawk), second from right, and Wildcat (Micmac), wearing headband at far right (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

Gratitude to all who contributed to this growing list of resources, including @sarahbiscarradilley and @grayhorsestudio". 

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Masked New Hampshire on Instagram: "Don’t be a colonizer, wear a mask.

The first “Thanksgiving” is a stain on our history and allowed colonizers to spread disease and infect Native Americans, a pattern of behavior that exists throughout history and continues throughout the ongoing pandemic. 

The National Center for Health Statistics reported a shocking drop in the life expectancy of Native Americans of 6 1/2 years due to COVID. This was aggravated by their significant barriers to accessing healthcare that result in poorer health outcomes, as well as experiencing the highest poverty rate of all minority populations. (1)

They have also been hit the hardest throughout the pandemic. The Navajo Nation reported the highest per capita incidence of COVID infections in the United States during the surge in winter of 2021. Also in 2021, Native residents of New Mexico accounted for nearly 60% of COVID deaths but make up just 8.8% of the population. (2)

From a 2023 study, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) COVID patients were three times more likely to become severely ill and had more than double the risk of in-hospital deaths than White or Hispanic populations. (3)

When communities asked for help and resources, the response was sorely lacking. The Seattle Indian Health Board requested masks and COVID tests and received body bags. While this was said to be a mistake, Abigail Echo-Hawk, the health board’s chief research officer, stated “This is a metaphor for what’s happening.” (4)

“Once more darkness descends upon our people and this land. It bears many names: smallpox, the flu, measles, typhoid, TB. Today … a virus. Suffering and death always follow. Yet our traditions shine brightly, casting light to guide the way. We again struggle to survive, buoyed by these traditions, now armed as well with medicine and science, weapons of the Western world. The challenge is how to bring both to bear on this danger so we may live on.” An Athabascan Elder [translated] (2)

Spreading a virus that disproportionately impacts Native Americans is colonizer behavior. Wear a mask. 

 #MaskedNH #COVID #LongCOVID #ChronicIllness #DisabilityJustice

Image descriptions in the pinned comment."

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211 likes, 0 comments - maskednh on November 27, 2024: "Don’t be a colonizer, wear a mask.

The first “Thanksgiving” is a stain on our history and allowed colonizers to spread disease and infect Native Americans, a pattern of behavior that exists throughout history and continues throughout the ongoing pandemic. 

The National Center for Health Statistics reported a shocking drop in the life expectancy of Native Americans of 6 1/2 years due to COVID. This was aggravated by their significant barriers to accessing healthcare that result in poorer health outcomes, as well as experiencing the highest poverty rate of all minority populations. (1)

They have also been hit the hardest throughout the pandemic. The Navajo Nation reported the highest per capita incidence of COVID infections in the United States during the surge in winter of 2021. Also in 2021, Native residents of New Mexico accounted for nearly 60% of COVID deaths but make up just 8.8% of the population. (2)

From a 2023 study, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) COVID patients were three times more likely to become severely ill and had more than double the risk of in-hospital deaths than White or Hispanic populations. (3)

When communities asked for help and resources, the response was sorely lacking. The Seattle Indian Health Board requested masks and COVID tests and received body bags. While this was said to be a mistake, Abigail Echo-Hawk, the health board’s chief research officer, stated “This is a metaphor for what’s happening.” (4)

“Once more darkness descends upon our people and this land. It bears many names: smallpox, the flu, measles, typhoid, TB. Today … a virus. Suffering and death always follow. Yet our traditions shine brightly, casting light to guide the way. We again struggle to survive, buoyed by these traditions, now armed as well with medicine and science, weapons of the Western world. The challenge is how to bring both to bear on this danger so we may live on.” An Athabascan Elder [translated] (2)

Spreading a virus that disproportionately impacts Native Americans is colonizer behavior. Wear a mask. 

 #MaskedNH #COVID #LongCOVID #ChronicIllness #DisabilityJustice

Image descriptions in the pinned comment.". 

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Free all Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island and across the world! Free Palestine, Sudan, Haiti, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Lebanon, Congo, and many many more. LANDBACK ✊🏼💕💐

-Caroline

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our dear
lolas say
our dear
lolas know
our stories are magnificent they are

stories of complex kingdoms
stories of loving and fighting for
our sovereign lands and our unceasing freedom and our enduring survival and resistance my lola is from cebu

she tells the story of when
lapu lapu killed magellan
so that the white world would never forget that
our sovereignty cannot be taken and we are sick and tired
of white men trying to take our stories from us
they cannot and they will not
our stories are
you
my dear gabriela
you standing on the front lines at four in the morning in the year 2020
in the wind and the rain
many ocean miles away from your lola you are
striving to work in solidarity with
and to support the Indigenous land defenders
who have blocked the rails in Tkaronto
to stop Canada from invading Wet’suwet’en lands
to stop Canada from building toxic pipelines on Indigenous lands without Indigenous consent the capiz shell earrings that your lola gave you from the visayas are dancing across your neck reminders of kapwa stories
dear gabriela
you stare down a cop
you stare down another white man trying to take stories that are not his
in a land that is not his
and is not yours either
you stand on the frontlines as a settler a treaty person a kapwa person
you carry responsibility
your arms linked with the arms of other settlers
you have built a wall so that the cops cannot get through so that the cops
cannot illegally arrest the Indigenous land defenders protecting their sacred rights and
these sacred Indigenous lands
Indigenous sovereignty cannot and will not be taken and
Indigenous lands have never been surrendered they never will be

you stand on the frontlines as a settler a treaty person a kapwa person you carry responsibility
you carry with love

Ashley

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As an undergraduare student, studying Indigenous studies with wonderful Indigenous mentors, including Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) and annie ross (Maya). Pasasalamat (gratitude and thanks) every single day for their generosity and mentorship.

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Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL (Official Video)

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Native American Insights on Healing By Vernon Foster

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Offering a page in my dad's photo album he made for me before he died, of the day I was born. Featured are my mother, my dad, my brother, and me as an infant.

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Today I'm mourning a family I've lost, and with that, a severed connection to my Native heritage. My mother and brother disappeared when I was a toddler and were never searched for by anyone except my dad. He died in 1995 before finding them. #MMIWG2S

-Sam

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What "Colors of the Wind" Gets Wrong About Native Culture

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What Does “Authentically” Indigenous Look Like?

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National Indigenous Women's Resource Center

Providing national leadership to end violence against American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian women by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty.

Technical Assistance and Training

Resources for Tribes and Advocates

Policy Development and Advocacy

Restoration Magazine

The Restoration of Native Sovereignty and Safety for Native Women magazine is a NIWRC publication dedicated to informing tribal leadership and communities of emerging issues impacting the safety of American Indian and Alaska Native women. The magazine reflects the grassroots strategy that by strengthening the sovereignty of Indian nations to hold perpetrators accountable, the safety of Native women will be restored.

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Providing national leadership to end violence against American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian women by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty.