#support indigenous people!

[snekdood]

so I found this really cool website that sells native seeds- and you might be asking me "snekdood, haven't you posted an entire list of websites that sell native wildflower seeds that you're going to add on to soon?" and yes that's true, but that's not the kind of native seed im talking about rn.

see, on my quest to find websites that sell native wildflowers, I came across this dope ass website that sells seeds that have been farmed and harvested by ntv people traditionally, i'll let the website do the talking:

so anyways this is the coolest website ever. you can find the wild relatives of chiles on here called chiltepines, you can find different colors of corn and cool squash's, and every seed from whichever farm has it's own lil origin story written about it. you can also find other veggies here that are already commercially available to help fund and support this organization. as well as there being a cool gift shop with a lot of art made by different native folk from all around as well as cookbooks, jewelry, pottery, weavings, and clearly plenty more:

as well as a pantry?? with premade soup mixes??? and i really want to try them now??????

anyways I think its worth snoopin' around bc I'm almost positive you'll see something you think is cool (oh also if you happen to have some seeds passed down from ur family too and ur also native they seem like they would gladly help produce more)

[yappingcollege]

merry thanksgiving everyone!

this year i am thankful for Luo Binghe, Bingge, Bingmei, Bingpup, all the Bing skin creatures, every Binghe au, and (idk if i said this one yet) Luo Binghe

[slitherbop]

[lilysundragon]

returning to enstars during the akatasuki event feels like this

[naivety]

So long as the political and economic system remains intact, voter enfranchisement, though perhaps resisted by overt white supremacists, is still welcomed so long as nothing about the overall political arrangement fundamentally changes. The facade of political equality can occur under violent occupation, but liberation cannot be found in the occupier��s ballot box. In the context of settler colonialism voting is the “civic duty” of maintaining our own oppression. It is intrinsically bound to a strategy of extinguishing our cultural identities and autonomy.

[...]

Since we cannot expect those selected to rule in this system to make decisions that benefit our lands and peoples, we have to do it ourselves. Direct action, or the unmediated expression of individual or collective desire, has always been the most effective means by which we change the conditions of our communities. What do we get out of voting that we cannot directly provide for ourselves and our people? What ways can we organize and make decisions that are in harmony with our diverse lifeways? What ways can the immense amount of material resources and energy focused on persuading people to vote be redirected into services and support that we actually need? What ways can we direct our energy, individually and collectively, into efforts that have immediate impact in our lives and the lives of those around us? This is not only a moral but a practical position and so we embrace our contradictions. We’re not rallying for a perfect prescription for “decolonization” or a multitude of Indigenous Nationalisms, but for a great undoing of the settler colonial project that comprises the United States of America so that we may restore healthy and just relations with Mother Earth and all her beings. Our tendency is towards autonomous anti-colonial struggles that intervene and attack the critical infrastructure that the U.S. and its institutions rest on. Interestingly enough, these are the areas of our homelands under greatest threat by resource colonialism. This is where the system is most prone to rupture, it’s the fragility of colonial power. Our enemies are only as powerful as the infrastructure that sustains them. The brutal result of forced assimilation is that we know our enemies better than they know themselves. What strategies and actions can we devise to make it impossible for this system to govern on stolen land? We aren’t advocating for a state-based solution, redwashed European politic, or some other colonial fantasy of “utopia.” In our rejection of the abstraction of settler colonialism, we don’t aim to seize colonial state power but to abolish it. We seek nothing but total liberation.

Voting Is Not Harm Reduction - An Indigenous Perspective

[caseofkings]

can i offer you a n8v miku in these trying times

palette: x

[mousedetective]

Organizations To Help Indigenous People

I've been reblogging three separate posts for a while now and I thought I'd combine them all into one for maximum ease. Please reblog this list and help these organizations if you can!

Warrior Women Project

Sitting Bull College

First Nations COVID-19 Response Fund

The Redhawk Native American Art Council

Partnership With Native Americans

Native American Heritage Association

National Indigenous Women's Resource Center

Indigenous Women Rising (abortion access fund)

Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society

Stop Line 3

Honor The Earth

The Lakota People’s Law Project

Amazon Frontlines

‘Āina Momona

The Native Wellness Institute

The Native Americans Rights Fund

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation/University of Manitoba

First Nations Child & Family Caring Society

Native Women's Association of Canada

Indspire

Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre

Micmac Benevolent Society

Mawita'mk

Advancing Indigenous People In STEM

Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment

The Association on American Indian Affairs

First Nations Development Institute

American Indian College Fund

Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (CARE)

Hopa Mountain

Indigenous Values Initiative

Native American Disability Law Center

People’s Partner for Community Development 

If anyone has links to other organizations that help indigenous people, please feel free to add them!

[nonspeakers-r-us]

Being Nonspeaking and Indigenous

One thing that I have struggled with most of my life is feeling like I don't belong to the communities I am a part of, because I cannot verbally speak my language(s). I am a Sámi and Inupiaq person who grew up with both my cultures being a big part of my life. In Sámi culture, one of the biggest things that connects you to your community is being able to speak the language. I can still understand both spoken Northern Sámi and Inupiaq fluently, but I cannot speak out loud, and I can only use Swedish and English on my AAC. My spelling is pretty bad in Northern Sámi. I can only write Inupiaq semi-well, and I can only write it in qaliujaaqpait (Latin script). This leaves me feeling like I'm not "Sámi enough" or "Inupiaq enough" to use those labels for myself. Many people in both my communities understand this, and have been very kind and understanding. There are many reasons that someone can't speak the language of their community, and disability is just one of them. Just my thoughts today.

[praetorqueenreyna]

I love reading about u talk about acotar, really intrigues me enough to consider reading the books, I'm also very interested in any and all fandom gossip, so please please please tell me what is the current situation? What is elaingate in reference to? 👀👀👀

WELL FIRSTABLE if you read the books, stop after the first one 😂 and THANK YOU FOR ASKING I will relay the tale of some of the most low-stakes fandom drama to ever exist that I accidentally started WHOOPSIE

On July 24, 2024, the blog for Elain Archeron Week posted the rules for the event. There were 4 rules, one of which was that they wouldn't allow ships with "known abusers" and listed Tamlin and Beron as examples (I assume you know who Tamlin is lmao, Beron is a kind of generic Mean Dad character). ACOTAR fandom is known for being puritanical and religiously devoted to canon, but this is a new development. Event week mods have ignored/not reblogged content they don't like that was submitted for their week, but this is the first one I've seen that outright BANNED anything.

There was already a little kickback that mostly has to do with the two competing ships for Elain, elriel and elucien. They both think the other is the DEVIL even though both ships are equally boring. Apparently, the Elain Week is run by elriels, and eluciens were already huffy about the wording of an ask wondering if elucien would be allowed in the event. This part of the story is boring and doesn't have anything to do with me, the star of the show, so I will move on.

Anyway! A few fandom friends sent me links and screenshots of all of this because it's objectively funny. I made a post talking about how funny it was, which brought attention to it on this side of the fandom. My mutuals (the most hilarious people on the planet) asked what was going on, and immediately joined in on the fun. Memes were created at an astronomical rate. Art, fic, and poems for every possible ship of those three characters were made. Amazingly enough, Tamlin/Beron has had a huge surge of content, as the two men named and specifically banned from the week. I started tagging the posts #elaingate, and apparently it caught on enough that the tag now has over 100 posts in it.

To clarify!! The issue has never been about the ships themselves. There are VERY few Tamlin/Elain shippers on tumblr, which I know because I have run multiple demographic surveys and crunched the numbers. And absolutely NOBODY was making Beron/Elain. You have to understand how bland this fandom is. They consider one of the most degenerate, disgusting ships to be the main male character and....his wife's sister. And it certainly isn't isolated to elain/elriel stans, they were just the unlucky bastards to finally verbalize these insidious issues with fandom, especially ACOTAR fandom. Mostly just that the fandom is EXTREMELY conservative, and also that people that like the Popular Thing always have to make themselves out to be the ultimate victims. It's also in poor taste for running an event week. Yes, event weeks are run by fans in their free time, but the idea is to inspire EVERYBODY to create for the thing that you're a fan of. If you're so precious that simple seeing a ship you don't like sends you to the fainting couch, an event week is probably not the thing for you.

I wrote a whole essay on modern ACOTAR fandom here then deleted it bc YOU DID NOT ASK. But anyway THAT IS ELAINGATE we are all being very silly.

[mueritos]

happy indigenous peoples day ^-^ a year ago i found out my family is half indigenous, so ive made it a personal duty to try and reconnect in order to honor those ancestors and histories. it's not my fault that I may never know my tribal affiliation (we know they lived around Popocatépetl), but it is my responsibility to do my best to honor them. since starting grad school, i've made an effort to talk about my indigenous roots more often, and to be honest about the fact that i do consider myself mixed indigenous. I also talk about this taking into account that I have white privilege, and how this has complicated my relationship to indiginiety.

anyway, i went to an ipd event outside of boston today and was so happy!! i had to leave early for a health emergency (thank u random uti) but it was so fun and i experienced and learned a lot. loved the mexica dance group who danced for Huitzilopochtli (i love you Huitzilopochtli he was pulled for me during a tarot reading and he told me to be fucking strong!!!!), and i especially loved experiencing the seven sacred directions where the entire crowd moved as one. i talked to some lovely indigenous people and they gave me so much guidance and love! it made me feel so happy...I wish I was able to stay longer, but I enjoyed being in a space where I was so welcomed.

if you're detribalized like me or trying your best to reconnect, never be ashamed of the fact that you were forcibly removed from your tribal affiliation. never be ashamed of how you look like either! there were so many "white passing" indigenous folks there embracing and celebrating with those in full regalia, and so many people of many appearances joined in for ceremonial dance. even if you're 10% or 3% indigenous, I still think you deserve to know your ancestor's culture and history! i still think you deserve to honor those parts of you! they wanted us to forget about our indigenous roots for a reason, and i refuse to colonize my mind any longer. opening yourself up to indigineity, even if you don't know your affiliation or "how much" is in you, is far better than never learning a damn thing about indigenous folks.

i hope everyone had a lovely indigenous peoples day ^-^

[strawbunnycakes]

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!! ❤️ today I celebrate being here, unabashedly Native and being able to create my art today as a Native person here and now, due to my ancestors fighting through unimaginable horrors for us to exist today. They tried to eradicate us, but here we are. Here we experience our sad moments, our happy moments, our difficult times, our joyous moments. When we smile, its a beautiful rebellion to those who tried to rid us. Our existence is a miracle of resilience. Our ancestors fought for us to be here today, and here we are. If you'd like to support my art on such an important day to Indigenous people here today, I would highly appreciate it. Either way, I'm just happy to be here. Our very being is a testimonial to our ancestors love for us now.

[official-boobies-posts]

always was, always will be aboriginal land ❤️💛🖤

[dropoutcontentfortiredqueers]

[shadowkoo]

Every Child Matters

I try to share a similar post each year with the purpose of educating those who may not know about Canadian & American indigenous peoples and the struggles we have gone through generationally. But honestly, this year I am pissed off so my tone in some areas may read as such. I will not apologize for that.

I am angry that so many people don't know (not your fault, it's the media's fault and their lack of coverage up until recent years). I am angry at both countries' leaders for doing the bare minimum for many years. And I am angry that so much of my ancestor's history was removed and altered from the truth for centuries.

However, I am glad that with each passing year, more people are learning, and I truly appreciate those who care enough to show their support.

With that said, please mark your calendars and wear orange on September 30th! This is your official reminder! Please continue reading and consider sharing this post so more people are aware 🧡

September 30th is known as Orange Shirt Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, across Canada and North America in remembrance of those who suffered in US/Canadian Indian Residential Schools. We recognize the harm done to generations of children by the Indian Residential Schools and share our collective histories as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that Every Child Matters! 

Remembering the 150,000+ Indigenous children who endured physical, mental, and sexual abuse at these residential schools; trauma that continues to be felt to this very day by survivors and their families.

Children were stolen around this time of year to attend these ‘schools’. Parents who fought to keep their kids would often be arrested and/or beaten, it was nearly impossible for them to keep their children once the police and school officials showed up to take them. And even once the school season was over, they were not returned to their families.

We knew many children had likely suffered and died from the abuse, but could have never guessed the atrocious number of remains that we are now finding.

As of May 2022, The remains of over 6,000 children have been recovered from unmarked graves at the locations of these former residential schools within Canada, and 500 have been discovered at 19 schools in the US. However, the Interior Department said that number could climb to the thousands or even tens of thousands.

For reference to help you digest how large the numbers will become when all schools have been properly investigated, there were approximately 139 schools in Canada and so far only (as of May 2022) 36 investigations have been completed in Canada. The US has identified more than 400 schools that were highly supported by the U.S. government during their operations, and more than 50 associated burial sites, a figure that could grow exponentially as research continues.

This wasn’t as long ago as you might think. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1998, only twenty-five years ago. As of 2020, 7 off-reservation boarding schools continue to be federally funded.

“Kill the Indian, Save the man” was a common phrase in these schools. Being Indians was savage, but we were ‘savable’ in the eyes of their Christian / Catholic God if we were stripped of the things that made us indigenous.

I am lucky enough to know survivors. I am alive because of survivors.

Survivors taught us younger generations about the horrors they dealt with in residential schools. Beaten, tortured, murdered. Watching other children die from diseases grown in their unclean living situations. ‘Forgetting’ what tribe a child is from and giving them to another reservation to care for until the following year when they’d be taken away again. Raped girls who survived traumatic births at a young age only for their babies to be thrown in the furnace. Sterilizing boys and girls so that if they were released they couldn’t create any more ‘indians’.

These children were ripped from their homes, watched their parents die if they fought to keep their children, were forced to cut their hair (our hair is as sacred as our traditional clothing), and beaten if caught speaking in their native languages. As a 'reward' for good behavior in school, certain children were sent away to live with white families as slaves to 'learn the white way' during long breaks between school periods. 

Keep the families of those who lost loved ones who never returned and the survivors who lived through unimaginable trauma in your hearts. On September 30th wear orange. Join a protest. Support indigenous peoples every day, but especially on September 30th (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), June 21st (Canadian National Indigenous Peoples Day), and October 8th (American Indigenous Peoples Day). Share our stories. Educate yourself on our history, not the false history written in books by white men, churches, and governments that supported and endorsed these institutions.

Because Every Child Matters.

Resources where you can learn more:

Orange Shirt Society

CBC News - scroll to find the map

NPR

CBS News

CNN News

The Indigenous Foundation

[fleshadept]

"the US education system didn't teach me about other countries so i didn't realize mexico had modern cities until i was 21" (real reply someone made on a post) is so telling about the general issue with the whole deal about blaming the US education system for everything. like that is just racism. pure, unanalyzed racism and lack of curiosity about the world around you. when people say "unlearn racism and prejudices" this is what they mean--the assumption that mexico hasn't hit the industrial revolution comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is the uncritical acceptance of racist ideas that permeate white america, whether you consider yourself racist or not.

you're right, the US education system does not have required classes that say where major urban centers are, but so what? it betrays an embarrassing lack of curiosity and passivity in your own experience and conception of the world to so freely admit that not only did you never speak to anyone from mexico or think about it hard enough to realize the irrationality of that thought, you passively took in racist ideas about our neighbors and accepted them with ease. did you think all mexicans were involved with drug cartels, too? would you have needed a class in high school to teach you that wasn't true?

so many of the worst example of people saying "but the US education system--" are people using the stilted, slanted historiography the education system perpetuates as an excuse for their own racism. whether that is about mexicans or any other group of nonwhite people that a certain kind of white american believes they could never have conceptualized as full humans without a required high school course on it, a belief they are shockingly willing to admit publicly

[lee-romee]

AllField --- Mother/daughter-in-law duo, Métis

BeadboxCrafts --- Jen Covington, who learned to bead from an Alaskan native artist

BezhikBeadwork --- Pammy G, Nipissing First Nation

DybbuksCorner --- Artist of Potawatomi, Tonawanda Seneca, & Nakota Sioux descent

Floresbotiqueab --- Made by indigenous people from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, & Peru

KagigeDesigns --- Lee-Ann, of Anishinaabe descent

mayanexpressions --- Mayan artisans from Chiapas, Mexico

Midnightsundesign --- Suzanne Flumerfelt, not a native artist, but one who has First Nation relatives and lives on Kluane First Nation land, teaching beadwork to Kluane First Nation children

Ozhitoon --- Anishinaabe artist, member of the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma