In 2011 I felt so tired of the Thanksgiving narrative and normalization of a day that celebrates invasion and genocide that I started an intentional practice of celebrating Indigenous resistance and resilience. So every year where ever I am at I take time to remember that despite all of the horrors of colonialism that indigenous peoples are still here. Still living, breathing and loving. I offer these images as a way to fight against erasure, invisibility and the violence of forgetting.
This year, 2016, I say Red Fawn Fallis name to remember that as the State enacts violence on Indigenous Peoples it also targets individuals like Red Fawn. Red Fawn is being accused of attempted murder and the Morton County Police Department says she fired off three rounds after they tackled her to the ground. But we know these fabrications are being used to try to discredit the protectors. So today I focus my prayers and gratitude to this sister.
On the Free Red Dawn page she shred the following poem:
“Keep Strong; Keep protecting.
One Heart, One Mind, One Prayer.
As long as we stay together, and stay in prayer, we will be alright.
I have no fear for/of this justice system.
This is what I was raised to do;
This is my purpose in life.
This is a small price to pay for future generations
and the truth shall prevail.
Thanks for all the support,
I appreciate each and every one of you.
Mní Wičoni
Water is Life
Cante Washte Win
Good Hearted Woman
Red Fawn”
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A portrait of a young woman with black hair and brown skin looking defiantly into the distance. She wears geometric red and yellow earrings, a blue cap, an orange “American Indian Movement” t-shirt, and holds a small white dog in her arm. Her other arm is lifted to raise her fist. A pattern of blue and turquoise rays radiate out from behind her head. Above, the text states: “GIVING THANKS for over 524 years of Indigenous Resistance.”
