There’s been a lot of words said about Line 3, at the United States government, specifically in Minnesota at the Minnesota Government, which is all valid but what I’m not hearing, in our communities, among the tribes, is our anger at our own government because I am livid at the tribal councils who willingly sold our land again. Line 3 already exists in our reservations. This is not the first time they have exchanged what is not theirs for something so fucking trivial as money. I am used to the greed of the white men who run the rest of the world. It is not new, and I don’t have any expectations for how low they are willing to go. The shame I feel for my own people, now, is new. We are taught to look ahead 7 generations in everything we do. We are taught to preserve the Earth, that we are Her guardians. We were created to protect her and we are failing. I thought we were better. I thought that we had learned.

moccasinmama | Ojibwe

Anishinaabemowin LGBTQ Pride Month Vocabulary!

inawemaagan - relative (gender neutral) inawem - be related to someone wiijiiwaagan - partner (gender neutral) niijii(kiwenh) - my male friend (spoken by a man) niijiikwe - my female friend (spoken by a woman) ninjiwaam - my friend (gender neutral) wiidigemaagan - spouse (gender neutral) nindikwem - my woman, my wife ninaabem - my man, my husband eyekwe - Two-Spirit, a trans woman niizh ojichaagwan - Two-Spirit niizh manidoog - Two-Spirit naawe-nangweyaabe - Two-Spirit, ‘one who holds the center’ ikwekaazo - s/he pretends to be a woman, s/he is like a woman ininiikaazo - s/he pretends to be a man, s/he is like a man ikwewaadizi - s/he has a woman’s nature ininiiwaadizi - s/he has a man’s nature wiijikwewan gaa-misawenimaad ikwe - lesbian, wlw wiijininiiman gaa-misawenimaad inini - gay man, mlm wiijiiw - go with someone, accompany them, “go out with” someone beshwaji’ - be close with someone zaagi’ - love someone zhawenim - love someone, treasure someone mazhi - have sex with someone apiitenim - be proud of someone, hold them in high regard ishpenim - think highly of someone, respect them zhiingenim - hate someone, disapprove of someone ojiim - kiss someone giishikijiin / giishkigwen - hug somoene aabitoojin - embrace someone wiidigem - marry someone, live with someone as a partner owiijiiwaagani - s/he has a partner mazhiwe - s/he has sex bi-zaaga’am - s/he comes out (slang) zoongide’e - s/he is strong-hearted mashkawizii - s/he has internal strength ishpenimo - s/he is proud of h/ self, s/he has self-respect miigaadinoke - s/he starts a fight miigaazo - s/he fights gotaaji / zegizi - s/he is afraid gaazo - s/he hides h/ self odikwemi - s/he has a wife onaabemi - s/he has a husband jiikakamigiziwin - celebration bimaawanidim - there is a parade, they march in a parade nagweyaab - rainbow gikiwe’on - flag agwaakwa’igan - a sign posted somewhere dibishkoose - it is the anniversary minikwewigamig / ziiginigewigamig - a bar wiidigendiwin - marriage, wedding mikwendaagwad - it is remembered

ajijaak (crane)

Water protectors are facing off against Line 3 and camping out to stop the pipeline in Northern Minnesota.  Line 3 will hurt the Anishinaabe people living there as well as all other living things.  It’s harmful to water, land, and the climate. If you are financially able please help them however you can. 

Gitchigumi Scouts Amazon Wishlist

Land Back Fund to Purchase Land in the Way of the Pipeline

Giniw Collective

Legal Defense Fund

Stop Line 3 Linktree for More Resources

Not to be That Indigenous™️, but are you ever driving or hiking or literally anywhere and you get hit with wondering what the land might be like if settlers never came? What hills and forests could have been? And then you just ache inside and out for your ancestors?

Sámi blood and DNA

I get shivers thinking about the phenomenon of connecting blood and DNA to being Sámi. It’s so diminishing and offensive against the whole Sámi culture and the Sámi people.

Right now genealogy through DNA tests is very popular and I often see people expressing pride over their results. I think there is something very disturbing and foul about the reasoning that a certain blood heritage (any kind of blood heritage) is something to be proud of.

In my opinion, using the method of DNA analysis to “prove” your Sáminess is wrong in so many ways. Furthermore, the method has turned out to be not especially reliable. A DNA test can give you a clue in your family research and partly lead to knowledge you need to reclaim your Sámi heritage. Because it’s the cultural heritage, not the blood, that makes you Sámi.

“Sámi blood” is an expression we should leave behind with racial biology. Feeling pride because of a DNA test therefore becomes strange and I strongly disagree with it.

– Ina Omma

@marianne_bandweaver

Seems like there is about to be a raid in Wet'suwet'en, despite the ongoing natural/climate disaster in BC they still have time and resources to make sure the CGL pipeline can be constructed

A natural disaster just happened, as the OP said, and there's an urgent need to find missing people, rescue people who are stranded, get food and meds to people, etc and time is absolutely of the essence.

And the RCMP is using resources to block food, meds, potable water, etc. getting into Wet'suwet'en territory and possibly raiding the entire area while cameras are focused elsewhere.

The RCMP cares more about getting pipelines built than saving lives.

Not sure if this meme has been made yet but I did it anyway bc this is a constant mood

I've seen several articles lately refer to canadian residential schools as "a dark chapter" in our history, but that feels so inherently wrong.

The betrayal, subjugation, abuse, and oppression of native peoples in canada is ongoing, and has been since bougie europeans set foot here.

It's not a chapter, it's the whole damn book.

I might elaborate later (or not bc it's been said before) but two spirit isn't the native way of saying "trans" or "queer" and not all trans or queer Indigenous people are two spirit and using that term to describe a white identity is WRONG and using it to describe an Indigenous person who hasn't explicitly told you they're two spirit is also...get this wrong

I just wanna remind everyone,

Indigenous isn’t just Native Americans/First Nations, theres indigenous people all over the globe, please give them attention too!