Barry Dahl dot com

If you attended the conference in Anaheim in July 2023, you’re probably at my website because you accepted my challenge to “do something” (almost anything) beyond just nodding your head when I said the Land Acknowledgment. Here are those words:

“Before we go any further, I would like to acknowledge that the city of Anaheim is located on the ancestral homelands of the Tongva and Acjachemen nations people. We recognize and honor their enduring relationship with this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present, and future.”

Barry Dahl, from various sources

Then I challenged the audience to decide whether they are content with just the words, or if they are willing to take action. I’ve created a menu of possible actions that you could take. You can also feel free to order off the menu, and take action based on your own ideas.

If you choose to complete my challenge to you, I’m hoping that you will leave a comment on this post. Indicate what you’ve done, no matter how large or small, not matter how quick or long. Anything is better than nothing. Here are your choices:

Make a money donation

• LA Area: Acjachemen Tongva Land Conservancy – Take Action
• LA Area: Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples – Donate button in upper right corner
• Adopt a Native Elder – help reduce extreme poverty and hardship
• Red Feather – making homes safer and healthier in Native communities
• Warrior Women Project – a collaborative of matriarchs, historians, community organizers and multimedia storytellers working to bring to light the radical impact of Indigenous women
• USA: Pow Wows dot com lists several Native American charities
• Canada Helps: Indian Residential School Survivors Society
• Of course you can donate to the Indigenous charity of your choice.

Make a donation of your time

• Contact your local tribe or chapter and volunteer your time for one of their causes/projects
  • One example where I live: Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• Write a letter to your local paper advocating for the protection of endangered sacred sites in your area, or on another issue important to Indigenous peoples in your area.
• Invite a local tribal leader to coffee and ask them how you (and your friends/family) can help them accomplish their goals
  • Just Google (or Duck Duck Go) your local tribe, they’ll have a website
• Attend an Indigenous event in your area
  • Take some photos, post them on social media and link to it in the comments here

Buy Art from Indigenous Artists

• LA Area: Nsrgnts Artists Povi Marie and Votan Ik – Shopping site
• Indigenous Artists on Etsy
  • A few of my favorites: Indigenous Shawl #1, Indigenous Shawl #2, Indigenous Women Flag, Art Print: Seven Sacred Tipis, Art Print: Hoku the Hummingbird, Art Print: River Otter, Earrings: Pink Rosettes, Thunderbird Bracelet, Bracelet: Every Child Matters
• Duluth, Minnesota – Indigenous First Art & Gift Shop

Buy Books from Indigenous Authors

• Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir, by Ernestine Hayes
• Joy Harjo, 23rd Poet Laureate (USA)
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, by David Truer
• Fiction? Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Listen to a Podcast Series About and By Indigenous People

• Stolen – Season One: The Search for Jermain and/or Season Two: Surviving St. Michael’s
• History on Fire – Sitting Bull (5 episodes). Episode 54 – Part One, Episode 55 – Part Two (you’ll find the others)
• This Land is a timely exposé about how Native children are being used to quietly dismantle American Indian tribes and advance an agenda. Two seasons (so far)
• Collection of David Treuer podcast episodes:
  • Repairing the Past: Returning Native Land
  • Preview of his book: ‘The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee’
  • No Better Remedy
  • Language Carries More Than Words
  • On Native American Loss and Triumph
  • Letter Men: Brothers Fight for Ojibwe Language

Educate Yourself About Things You Weren’t Taught in School

• How the Iroquois Great Law of Peace Shaped U.S. Democracy (from PBS)
• Who was Maria Tallchief? Learn about her with this free NYT article.
  • More about Maria Tallchief at this Library of Congress blog post.
• Maybe you’ve heard the “mythologized version” of Squanto, the “friendly” Indigenous guide who teaches the English Pilgrim settlers how to plant corn, and together, they celebrate their first harvest. The white man’s Thanksgiving. There’s more to the story. A CBC article. Also see the Cape Cod Times.
• Academic article: Sacred Waters. 19 page PDF. About the desecrated Santa Ana River in southern California, providing a tribal specific (Acjachemen and Tongva) understanding of lands and waters.
  • Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Vol 7., No 1, 2018, pp.40-58
• Feel free to add more suggestions in the comments.

Follow 3+ Indigenous people on social media

• Twitter (or look for them on whatever platform replaces Twitter when it dies)
  • Angela Sterritt, Investigative Journalist at CBC & Author
  • IllumiNative is a Native woman-led racial and social justice organization
  • Moose Hide Campaign, taking a stand to end gender based violence
  • Indigenous Environmental Network
  • Lakota People’s Law Project
  • Kory Wilson, an educator at BCIT (a D2L school!)
    • Leads the Indigenous Education Affinity Group
• Insta (I’m not a Zuckerberg fan, but you do you)
  • Winona LaDuke, “Join me in creating the next economy for our people.”
  • Native Womens Wilderness
  • Sage Initiative, Indigenous Womxn Impact Investing Collective
  • Nadia George
  • Many more found at Parade dot com
• TikTok
  • I’m not really a TikTokker, but if I was, there are many I’d like to follow on these lists:
  • Izea: Top 14 Indigenous Influencers on TikTok
  • The Influence Agency: 20 Indigenous TikTokers to follow

Now the rest is up to you. For each person who completes the challenge I will make a cash donation to one of the charities listed above. Completing the challenge means that you leave a comment telling what you’ve done.

Filed under: Desire2Learn, Personal |