Native American artists, exhibiting their work at the Blanton Museum, questioned me. Through photography, poetry, performance art, altar pieces, and collage, they asked: What is gender? Why national boundaries? How does language form belief? What are you not seeing?
The book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz challenged me to rethink the term “settler.” What did they settle, after all?
My history education, while it did not deny that Americans took the land of the native peoples; captured and enslaved persons from other lands; passed Jim Crow laws; and forced persons of Asian descent into internment camps, still managed to communicate that we were and are a good, decent nation. Really, the best of nations.
Rethinking those sanitized messages, realizing their impact on lives past and present, and the potential they carry for violence in the future hurt. I thought we were better. I thought we’d made more progress. I was wrong.
Ru Paul counsels us to look at the darkness, but don’t stare into it. How do we do that? Here are some ideas:
- Explore the visual, performance, and written art of persons on the margins;
- Do something that brings you joy;
- Receive news from more than one reputable source;
- Help someone who needs it;
- Use this link to discover whose native land your home/workplace/worship site is set on: https://native-land.ca/?emci=1c13d1ca-15a8-ef11-88d0-6045bdd62db6&emdi=777fea1a-47a9-ef11-88d0-6045bdd62db6&ceid=268119. Acknowledge that reality. Our home, and, thus the home of A Spacious Place, sits on land of the Comanche and Lipan Apache nations;
- Create something that speaks your truth!
We are, each of us, worthy of love and respect. Knowing that for ourselves, recognizing that for our neighbors—far and near—enables us to see the darkness, but live in the light.
What are your thoughts on our nation’s choices? How do you care for yourself and for others? Share your thoughts at contact@aspaciousplace.com.