corazonyflores:

tuulinokameramblings:

dearnonnatives:

Spent the night emailing Elementary schools because I’m tired of this.

I’ll never forget the conversation I had with my niece when her kindergarten class said they were having a “powwow” to learn about Native Americans. She was so excited, thinking it was the same powwow she knew, so she put on her mocs and waited in excited anticipation for her favorite jingle dress dancers. When I spoke to her after, the sadness and disappointment in her voice as she described shitty craft stations and making paper feather headbands broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces.

This was in 2017.

I really had high hopes that people would get their shit together and stop doing this in time to not traumatize the generation after me, but uh, turns out, nah.

I am a Mexican Native living in the area the the Lumbee and Coharie live. When I was a school teacher back in 04-07 the curriculum I had to teach at the private “chr*stian” school I was teaching at. Had teachers teaching that Natives no longer exsisted and we moved from our own land willingly. I ofc refused since out of a class of 20 16 of my kids were Native. So I junked that crap and used that day to invite parents and the kids if they cwlt comfortable. To share their culture,traditional wear and even regalia. I was written up all 3 times and was fired for my “inability to stick to school a sanctioned circulum and makeing a spectical of myself in Indian clothes.” I wore a simple Huipil and Tehuana with Chinantec to wear while it was my turn. Nothing grandiose or over the top. But yeah American schools are shit.