Event- Kauaenoe Batangan Talk

A few reflections on the talk:
I would say one of the most interesting things to me during the talk was hearing how he engaged in policy in a meaningful way without having a direct path. Policy has always interested me, but I never felt aggressive enough, or full enough of righteous indignation to take on that path, but he seemed like a super chill and upstanding person, so maybe that is possible in politics! I guess I have to rethink my life now! I really appreciated the fact that he was so upfront about the path that his life followed and that the constant flux of life doesn't stop after college. it felt like when you read one of those relatable teen novels when you're sixteen and everything feels profound, because you feel more connected to the ~human experience~. It was really reassuring to me, even though I front like I'm not TERRIFIED of the future, I do worry about it some times.
It was also interesting to see how he did something that he really cared about and incorporated his identity into how he wanted to make change in the world. I also appreciated hearing about how his experiences as an undergrad shaped him. I thought it was even better that it was experiences and not classes that did the shaping!

Alyssa Farrow - Final (Pendleton Woolen Mills)

Why do native people place a high monetary value on Pendleton blankets? In this day in age, many of us [native people] stress the importance of supporting or buying companies that are “native-owned,” or “native-made,” instead of “native-inspired.” Yet, Pendleton blankets are still viewed as a highly valuable items that are used ceremonially, in regalia, and for trading purposes.

The Pendleton Woolen Mills was created in 1909, by the Bishop family, who used the geography of eastern Oregon and it’s major railhead in the Columbia Plateau, to begin sourcing wool from sheep farmers. The mill was originally built in 1893, as a “wool scouring plant,” and in 1895, it was transformed into making blankets and robes for native people, this eventually failed as native people were unable to purchase these blankets because they were not able to easily leave the confines of the reservations, to the city of Pendleton. At this point in time, the tribes in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho) had signed treaties approximately 20-30 years before this around 1850s-1860s. In September of 1909, the Bishops had reopened the Woolen Mills and released “Indian Trading Blankets,” which then became what is the now tradition of the Pendleton Blankets.

These “Indian Trading Blankets” were created based upon a “study of the color and design preferences of local and Southwest Native Americans that resulted in vivid colors and intricate patterns.” Unfortunately, this wasn’t always true. On the website, you can find many blankets under the “Native American-Inspired Blankets,” tab and one of the first blankets that pops up is the “Chief Joseph Blanket.” Chief Joseph was from the Nez Perce tribe in what is now the state of Idaho, who was relatively close with my tribe (Cayuse). This design and color scheme has no significance to the Nez Perce tribe, nor does it have significance with Chief Joseph. The Pendleton Woolen Mills have profited from created a design and named it after Chief Joseph, without permission or given a portion of the profit to Chief Joseph’s descendants or the Nez Perce tribe.

Unfortunately, this is only one example of how the Pendleton Woolen Mills is using native people’s designs, names, colors, and cultures (some that aren’t even used by tribes – just makes the items more desirable) to profit off of. None of the proceeds from the Pendleton Woolen Mills go to tribes in the Northwest or Southwest that they continually borrow names and designs from, but why do we continue to support Pendleton blankets?  

Pilli Final Project

I wrote this poem in response to a culturally insensitive moment with one of my best friends. So often I find that people feel offended when you point out that they offended someone. In other words people don't take the time to understand someone else's emotions or reactions and instead become aggressive. When talking to David my roommate from South Dakota slang I use instead of cool or dope is sav. Like instead of that so cool I would say thats sav. Not realizing the different between the cultural context I said this to David and noticed that he was slightly surprised by me calling him that.I wrote this poem as a response and apology. 

Ive always been careful with my words

And today every curved sound that escapes these unchapped lips was given a burst of meaning

I was told

I have the power to define the words I speak

but after so many slipped wispers

Uttered mistakes

Unthunk murmurs

And yelled blasphemy

I realized

I take for granted the power of my lungs

I take for granted the presence of my voice

I take for granted  how easily I speak

Ands because of this im not as careful as I think

So when a best friend explained to me he was a hunter

I responded with

“Thats sav as fuck bro”

I was met with a pause

A quick mistep or an unchecked mouth vomit of words

the lines is far finer than i thought

Because

it means so much more when Your people have been called not just sav but full blrown savages

When the people who called you savages still may not say that word but treat you as if you were one

When I a close friend of yours started to sound like a reminder of those people

(Quietly) you are not a savage

Let me say it again

You, are, not, a, savage

The thiefs, the murders, the culture vultures, the hate breeders, the bleach skinned colonizers, the hate breeders, the school shooters, the hate breeders

Have always been the savages

Day of the dead

I went to two day of the dead ceremonies. One at Stanford and one which my grandmother held. The photo is of the altar at my grandmothers ceremony where we had an overnight vigil where we sang prayed and danced together. This ceremony has always been an extremely spiritual and powerful event for me and being able to share it with family and now Stanford family is a new layer of enjoyment. 

I visited Alcatraz for the indigenous peoples day ceremony. Here we were able to see a number of different cultures in what I would consider a sacred location. The entrance to the ceremony early in the morning on the boat was something I will always remember. Also, being able to see so many people unite for what they believe in was beautiful.

Xolotl Pilli Cruz-De Jesus

Jayden's Events - Kauanoe Batangan & First Nations Dinner

Kauanoe Batangan

 

📸PC: Alyssa Farrow

I really enjoyed Kauanoe’s Alumni Speaker presentation. We come from similar backgrounds. We both grew up in Hawaii and attended Kamehameha Schools. I think it is really cool that he was one of the students that helped to create the Hawaiian Language class on campus. 

First Nations Fellows Dinner

 

📸PC: OLP Photography

I attended the First Nations Fellow dinner at the NACC. The stew and frybread were very delicious. I really enjoyed when each group shared their songs and dances with us. I loved that they got everyone involved by teaching us the "Friendship song." I made me think of home when the Hawai'i group sang "Hawai'i Aloha."

Jayden's Final - THE QUEENʻS PROCLAMATION

"`O WAU, LILI`UOKALANI, ma ka lokomaika`i o ke Akua,

ma lalo o ke Kumukanawai o ke Aupuni Hawai`i,

MŌ`ĪWAHINE,

ma kēia ke hō`ike pa`a nei i Ko`u kū`ē

I kekahi hana a mau hana paha a pau i lawelawe `ia

e kū`ē ana ia`u iho a me ke Aupuni Kumukanawai o ke Aupuni Hawai`i

e kekahi po`e e koi ana ua kūkulu lākou he Aupuni Kuikawā no ka manawa

no kēia Aupuni.

Ke `ae wale nei nō Au ma muli o ka mana `oi ikaika o `Amerika Huipū`ia

nona ho`i ke Kuhina `Elele Nui, ka Meamahalo`ia John L. Stevens, ua

kauoha aku i nā koa o `Amerika Huipū`ia e ho`opae `ia mai ma Honolulu, a

ua kūkala a`e e kōkua nō `oia i ua Aupuni Kuikawā `ia no ka Manawa i

`ōlelo`ia.

No laila, i mea e kaupale aku ai i na ho`okū`ia `ana o nā puali i ho`olawa `ia

me nā lako kaua, a malia paha o ho`opō`ino `ia ke ola; no laila, malalo o

keia Kuahaua Kū`ē a i kauhola `ia ho`i e ua mana ikaika la, ke `ae wale nei

nō Au e pane`e aku i Ko`u Mana a hiki i ka manawa a ke Aupuni o `Amerika

Huipū`ia, ma muli o nā mea `oiai`o e waiho `ia aku ai i mua ona, e hoololi ai i

nā hana a kona Luna Aupuni a e ho`onoho hou ia`u ma luna o ka mana A`u

e koi nei ma ke `ano Ali`i`aimoku o ka Pae`āina Hawai`i."

Translation:

“I, Lili`uokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.

That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.

Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”

Queen Lili’uokalani would do anything to protect her people. She was a strong and loyal leader of the Hawaiian people. When a group of men planned to take away her power, as the Monarch of Hawaii, her biggest concern was the wellbeing of her people. I believe that Queen Liliʻuokalani wrote the Queen’s Proclamation to protect her people rather than creating a conflict that may have resulted in many deaths.

When the men tried to remove Queen Liliʻuokalani from the throne, they called in the army to help protect them. Queen Liliʻuokalani had no way to fight against the United States Army. She knew that any type of conflict would hurt too many people. Queen Liliʻuokalani did what she could to protect her people. I think she wrote the Queen Proclamation because it was the only way to ensure the safety of her people. She knew that the Provisional Government had no right to take her power away from her. She trusted that the United States government would help to get rid of the Provisional Government and reinstate her as the Monarch of Hawaiʻi.

Queen Liliʻuokalani trusted that the United States government would do what is right and help her by remove the Provisional Government that a group of men formed in Hawaiʻi. She wanted to protest the formation of the Provisional Government in the most peaceful but effective way possible. I think she made the best choice by choosing to let the United States government deal with the Provisional Government. Queen Liliʻuokalani did give up her power to the throne to the United States government, but she thought that the United States government would reinstate her to the throne after they removed the Provisional Government set up in Hawaiʻi.

Event Number 2 - Kaylee B

I went to a talk by three members of Native American Women in Computer Science. The talk was a panel discussion about the various ways these Native Women have used their technology skills and their passion about their culture to create interesting and useful projects. It was very empowering to hear about this talk and to see Native Women taking the stage at the largest conference for women in computing. Through at the entire talk, I was continuously reminded of the resilience and strength of Natives.

Final Mini-Project: The Wampanoag Tribe Online: Through Children’s Eyes

Perhaps the most striking part of this class for me was reading on the imagery of the “Indian Head”. As someone who is Black and Native Hawaiian I grew up vaguely aware of the ways in which minorities in the U.S. (and Western society in general) can be viewed as strangely exotic through violence, cultural appropriation, and erasure. It took a couple lessons in high school U.S. Government to be enlightened to ignorance from gaps in our education on indigenous history, both on my own part and my classmates’. So few knew about the overthrow of Hawaii, but at least they knew Hawaiians existed: many, including myself knew nothing of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe despite the shift in the holiday of Thanksgiving towards a narrative of “generosity” between pilgrims and the tribe. Thus, for my project, I wanted to read common online facts taught to children about Thanksgiving and the Mashpee Wampanoag specifically in comparison to how the tribe teaches about itself and the violent history described in There, There. 

The first website that appears when searching for “wampanoag tribe kid facts” is “Facts for Kids: Wampanoag Indians”, a fairly simple website created “for young people learning about the Wampanoag tribe for school or home-schooling reports” and lists “answers to the questions we are most often asked by children”. Check it out here: http://www.bigorrin.org/wampanoag_kids.htm I was actually fairly surprised by the level of detail in this website. It acknowledges that the British pilgrims at Plymouth attacked the Wampanoag, causing much death, that different tribes grouped culturally as Wampanoag exist, attempts at language revival, attempts conversation on gender roles, homes, and other cultural characteristics. While it doesn’t go into the legal history the Mashpee Wampanoag website does, it seems to do a moderately good job of reminding children that these people and their culture are more than generic “indians”. While there were a few other educational sites high on the search results that gave some insights to the 

Unfortunately, switching the search to “Thanksgiving facts for kids” without any specific mention of any Wampanoag tribe leads to websites with little acknowledgement of indigenous people or the acts of violence committed against them. On Ducksters Educational Site (https://www.ducksters.com/holidays/thanksgiving_day.php), Thanksgiving day “was originally a holiday to give thanks to God for the harvest. Today it is an opportunity to give thanks for all the good things God has given us. It is also a day to celebrate family.” In the History section, they describe a story where pilgrims shared their harvest with the Wampanoag Indians and didn’t use the term Thanksgiving until rain broke a drought two years later. While the site mentions Thanksgiving not being made into a federal holiday until Lincoln declared it in 1863, there is no mention that the Pilgrims were unrelated to its revival and more talk of parades than genocide. Kim Grundy’s parenting blog is also one of the first search results (http://allparenting.com/my-life/articles/969379/20-thanksgiving-fun-facts-to-teach-kids), and her “20 Thanksgiving fun facts that will totally impress the kids” primarily highlights the lack of forks at the first event, parades, and football. Not a word on Wampanoag people and interactions with settlers beyond the shift from a traditional fast of thanksgiving to a feast. 

Perhaps online fact websites of a small sample size aren’t indicative of the ways children in the U.S. are in fact being taught about Thanksgiving, however, it’s clear by searchability of these misconceptions that misinformation, or at ignorance, pervade one of the worlds largest sources of information. In the future, as someone interested in communication, I’m wondering what my role could be in reducing the reinforcement of inaccurate narratives around indigenous people, re-adding our stories to mainstream narratives. 

First Nations Dinner

This dinner was hosted at the NACC for the First Nations Fellows who were here visiting from Alaska, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. I enjoyed hearing the different languages and introductions they all shared with us, especially the different dialects within their same indigenous groups. It was also a really cool experience to see and listen to the chants and songs they shared with the rest of us. I always enjoy going to this dinner every year, and glad that I can learn more about their cultures through this event. 

(I lost my picture ):  ). 

Alcatraz Sunrise Ceremony

This was a very interesting and informative trip for me. I learned a lot in the process about the reclamation of indigenous rights and the birth of a movement in this act of resistance. I felt that it was powerful that a celebration of history, culture, and revolution were brought back every year. It gave me a more depth into my own engrained notion as to how I imagine acts of resistance by native people. It is not only the wars fought for land, the protest in the streets and Alcatraz, but the act of being, unapologetically, that directly opposes the colonizer. To exist holistically, against all odds, is the most terrifying thing someone can do in a system that doesn't want them to exist. 

I also appreciated the palpable sense of excitement and buy-in of everyone on the trip. Even though we had risen at an unfortunate hour, we came together for something that, for everyone involved, was of significance. That energy is powerful, especially considering I feel it is hard to get excited about anything at Stanford, where even our hopes are settled into steps as part of our "plan." I really appreciated the time and intentionality to just spend and be there with everyone else. I feel like that is something that is so fleeting, that spending time for communion of any sort is incredibly healing. Even these small moments, so precious, can be acts of resistance. I think this is embodied in the format of the event itself. 

For example, many acts were done in communion. Before anything started, we learned or remembered about the occupation of Alcatraz, and then we walked up to the top together, before listening to the prayers offered. It was a single morning, but the light there was something I hope to find in more moments in my life. 

On The Blood Quantum as Historical Racism and Future Implications

The blood quantum was an unjust and racist extension of settler colonialism, with lasting implications to this day. The institution of the blood quantum is apparent today in tribal governance, but changing landscapes of native autonomy may be changing the traditional narrative of the blood quantum. Only through Native autonomy will it be discovered if settler colonial tools can be repurposed for indigenous rights, or, if they must be done away with altogether. In this essay, I will explore the historical use of the blood quantum, the shifting of this traditionally colonial tool, and through this, make the case for native sovereignty.

Blood has its own connotations depending on cultural context. It can span the bridge of both the metaphysical and physiological. European colonial concepts of blood, rely on their notions of race, and are purely physiological. In turn, in their violent quest to colonize America, they tried to force this notion onto the indigenous people of the continent. There prescription of race was based on the idea that your physical heritage defined you. That you could break down an identity into something quantifiable. This was institutionalized first as a way to strip native people of their independence as tribal nations, and then in the ethnocide via the assimilationist panderings of Pratt and his ilk under his devastating “Indian Boarding Schools.”

Though these institutions are devastating to indigenous populations in the U.S., the current use of the blood quantum is in some ways disrupting this. On the topic of enrollment in a tribe, some tribes choose to institute a blood quantum, while others do not, choosing instead to opt for the use of lineal descent, often tracing back records under the Dawes Act of 1887. Of course, there are several instances in which this choice is restricted by the US government, but still the act of reclaiming the blood quantum, makes it apparent that only through native sovereignty can equitable coexistence between native nations and the US Government begin to take shape.

Two arguments, popular amongst native activist in increasing Tribal Sovereignty for Native Americans is the Case for Reparations, and the Case for Restorations. Reparations suggest that the US Government use its economic power to put money directly into the pockets of indigenous populations, whom it has disenfranchise since before its conception. However, since indigenous identity is often intertwined with land, monetary compensation alone is likely not enough. Instead, a more holistic approach can be found in the case for restoration, which suggests that full tribal sovereignty be given over original tribal lands. This may be idealistic as it would require the dismantling of the U.S., but this is the path to justice.

Final: Chickasaw Original Art-MiMi Tarter

This is a crawfish, which are very important to the Chickasaw tribe. They can't live in polluted waters. I painted and drew this in response to our discussion of urban natives, and what it really means to live in polluted cities as opposed to living with our tribes.

Event #2: Urban Native Era Talk

I found Joey Montoya's story to be really interesting and appreciate that he came to talk to us. I really admire that he is using his platform to advance Native issues and to retell Native stories to a wider audience. The project he is currently working on--to tell the stories of American national parks through the eyes of the tribes that once inhabited those areas--seems particularly incredible to me.