#indegenous

I try to talk to Creator and reach for spirit, but there is a coldness in my bones that my great grandmother gave me. The one built from poverty and abuse from white men, that echoed throughout her life into mine. I want to stay true to my path of happiness, but I want to use vices that aren't for me. I want to be out there and do what I want to do, but I don't want to end up decomposing in a landfill or in the woods a few kilometers from a highway. For my consent to be devalued, then my life to be politicized not because of how I look, but because many years ago a French settler and Cree woman met.

(sorry for the shitty run on sentences)

I am so grateful to find this out 🪶.

Firstly, it's considered polite in most indigenous cultures to offer something in return for a request for knowledge from someone! But I'll consider this a freebie as long as you read at least some of the sources I advise. :P Second, I am mixed race and don't live on a rez, so I am not an authority, just passionate about restorative justice.

My first recommendation is to check out the wikipedia page on Land Back! The "description" section is fairly accurate, and there are examples of times land HAS been given back! Reading through their cited sources is a great way to find good articles, journals, and authors.

However, if you wanna go even deeper, this is a great resource for book recs. sogoreate-landtrust[DOT]org/recommended-reading Most of them can be found at your local library, or are available in free ebook form on anna's archive, the free ebook archive!

Thanks for being one of the few people asking the tired old "but how would it WORK??" question in good faith, haha. Please share the information you learn with your fellow non-natives! :)

Steven Martinez/ Espiritu Chicano

"Why do your people call yourselves Mexican American? Why don't you just say American?"

These questions were asked of me, many years ago, by a female co-worker, a caucasian. She goes on to say, "I don't see color. I am color blind. Why do you want to cause divisions by always calling attention to your ethnicity?" (She was at a total loss when I tried explaining the Chicano concept to her.) With her questions she was asking me to deny my ethnicity. She was asking me to turn my back on my culture and exchange it for her "american" one. She's asking me to assimilate, to "melt in." And, by the way, she's not just asking... she is expecting it - for "me" to disappear! She is demanding it. What arrogance and privilege to expect me to renounce my ancestors, culture, language, history, heritage - my very essence, to become "accepted" on my own homeland, by a foreign invader! I will partner with all my fellow citizens in building a progressive society together. I will unite with all our allies to fight for a better, stronger, and more inclusive democracy. I will endeavor to live in love, understanding, harmony, respect, and peace with all the fellow inhabitants of our homeland, but, I will not assimilate!

Unless that former co-worker was literally color blind, she very clearly could see my skin color! I want her to see my skin color, my ethnicity - and respect it. I want her to "deal" with "it" - with my Chicanismo and my roots in this land; with the fact that we, as a people, are still here! I will not "hide" my cultural roots, my ethnicity by melting into a pot because my culture and/or skin color makes another uncomfortable. Nor will I allow another to dismiss me by looking through me. Soy Chicano and Brown is beautiful! See me! I am here!