Community Post 1: Two Spirit Pow-wow
On February 3rd I went with a few friends from campus to the Bay Area American Indians Two Spirit Pow Wow in San Francisco. The pow wow was at Fort Mason Center. The building was on a pier overtop the bay. I recognized the emcee, L. Frank. They were a visiting artist in a course I took with professor Cherrie Moraga last year. They announced changes in the dances and events on the main stage, which was in the back of the building. In the front half of the building there stands set up with people selling handmade soaps, candles, shoes, as well as hats, clothing, jewelry etc. On their website BAAITS describe the event as "a space for Bay Area two-spirits and friends to come together to "socialize, share and network in an alcohol and drug-free environment. BAAITS sees itself as an organization for Two-Spirit people to explore their rich heritage in a safe environment. To that end, BAAITS is committed to offering culturally relevant activities for LGBT individuals of Native American ancestry and their families and friends." while at the event I remained in the periphery, and found myself at many moments uncomfortable with the space I may have been taking up in my presence. This discomfort was benign however and very likely a form of non-native guilt that did not need to be entertained by any one other than one of the other black students I came with, as this is a feeling I should be feeling all the time as a guiding mindset for strategic alignment with native communities since I am always embodying a taking up of space on occupied land. while at the pow wow I was mainly in a state of analyzing interactions through a racial/gendered lenses. I attended with 3 students who are also black, and was aware of other visibly black identifying people present. I am interested in where the experiences of black and native communities overlap and have historically overlapped, but try to remain constantly aware of the ways the black experience dominates the mainstream racial conversation in ways that further marginalize native experiences and issues. there were also many white people in attendance. the presence of non-native people there led me to thinking of the public and fundraising nature of the powwow, which was interesting and personally helpful, because I would like to support more native businesses, but it is a dynamic that seemed like could be potentially stressful or annoying to have to do. it's a weird position to be in, as a diasporic indigenous African person in another place that has been colonized and is still occupied. While I face particular disadvantages in this country, there is still a considerable amount of privilege I embody with there being more visibility for anti-blackness in the public consciousness. As a black indigenous person in someone else's home, I am working towards committing my life to being in alignment with indigeneity in the place that I am living. I hope to be a political organizer one day, and will work towards supporting indigenous communities in my adult life. the fund raising aspect of this powwow is connected to the ways that the native community is actively disenfranchised, and in my hopes/priorities in my future I want to work towards eradicating these practices of disenfranchisement and oppression, and redirect resources and structures to financially and socially support native communities. Native people should not have to fundraise to be in a place where people get fat on the spoils of their stolen land. While it was inspiring to see members of the Bay Area two spirit community coming together in celebration and fundraising efforts in the wake of continued state racism, it was personally inspiring and motivating to continue to work to dedicate my life to work aimed at dismantling anti-ingenuous racist/financial/state systems.
Community Post 2:
The reading and q&A with poet Tommy Pico at the Nacc was a truly stunning time. Pico read continuously for about 30 minutes from his book titled Nature Poem. Nature Poem is book length poem where Pico speaks about living in the city, interacting with people, writing about nature and actively "NOT writing about nature". His reflection and illuminations of the environments he is in is poetic in a way that almost makes me forget that what I am hearing/reading is mediated. The images and dialogue and truisms and dreams interwoven so neatly and also so messily that, when delivered in his voice, was transformative of the space. He challenges expectations of what naive artists should be writing about, exemplified in the lines "I can't write a nature poem, bc its fodder for the Noble savage." thoughtout the piece he "doesn't" write about nature and writes about nature, seemingly making a satirical point about the absurdity of separating life in the city or social sphere with life in nature. A friend that I attended with said afterwards that he would forget where he was for minutes at a time, so immersed in Pico's reading. Pico's work was refreshing and really challenged my understanding of form. Throughout his work he has dialogue of him shutting problematic people down in real time with to how he is treated regarding his indigenous and queer identities.
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