mybasementstudentworld:

First Nation Artists

Beddy Rays - Week On Repeat

King Stingray - Milkumana

Alice Skye - Everything is Great

Barkaa - King Brown

Jessica Mauboy -Glow

Xavier Rudd - Messages

Yothu Yindi - Treaty

Thelma Plum - Better in Blak

Archie Roach - Took The Children Away

(With Respect) Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Wiyathul

Nooky - Bars of Steel

The Kid Laroi - Always Do

Baker Boy (ft. G Flip) - My Mind

Budjerah - Wash My Sorrows Away

Aodan - Butterflies

yashaflowers:

As a proud indigenous woman, I want to remind everyone that with Thanksgiving coming up, to stay educated on the history of what actually happened. And don’t forget to honor and stay educated on the hundreds of diverse native american nations

“You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you”

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger"

“You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew”

“And we are all connected to each other in a circle, in a hoop that never ends”

yashaflowers:

As a proud indigenous woman, I want to remind everyone that with Thanksgiving coming up, to stay educated on the history of what actually happened. And don’t forget to honor and stay educated on the hundreds of diverse native american nations

I have for a year watched as my comments and tags have filled (despite all the wonderful comments) with non-native people discussing skin color, blood quantum, and debating the validity of lighter skin toned native americans

So let’s clear some things up

First, gene variants, even in north america skin tone variants exist. People always assume lighter skin tones must mean a mixture of native american and european genetics. But that is not that case. There have been discovered gene variants (like the one on MFSD12) for lighter skin tones only found within native american populations MEANING lighter skin tones can reflect native american ancestory only. These variants have existed even before Europeans arrived.

Second, let’s take a look at a map, and look at where the equator is located, individuals and societies who are farther from the equator have evolved overtime to have lighter skin tones to produce vitamin D more efficiently. That is the same case in North America, just like on the continent of Europe. Native Nations that are located in more northern latitudes have historically had lighter skin tones even before Europeans arrived

Third, There are more than 500 federally recognized nations within the boundaries of the United States. The idea that Native Americans as a whole are monolithic and must all have dark skin and look the same comes from stereotypes. Many non-natives have limited contact with Native Americans, instead their ideas come from appropriated images and caricatures used as mascots and offensive labels that are racial slurs like “Redskins” that serve to make non-natives believe that color is a defining aspect of being Indigenous

Then you have those Native Americans who are mixed, black and indigenous, white and indigenous. The idea that blood quantum, your percentage of “native blood” is what actually matters is an idea that has been spread by those who benefit from the statistical elimination of Native Americans and, by association, all responsibilities of the federal government to Native Americans

Skin tone is unfairly being tied to who is an “insider” and who is an “outsider” Skin color should never be used as a marker of legitimacy. I have seen light skinned Native Americans over and over again get harassed and mocked by non-natives. Online and in everyday life. The entitlement of some non-natives to think they have any say in determining who is “native enough” is extremely frustrating and hurtful

If you are basing your criteria on whether or not someone is Native American based on how likely or harshly they are going to be discriminated against by white people, then you are centering white people, when they have never and should never have anything to do with whether or not someone is Native American

For any other Native Americans reading this post, please remember that as Indigenous people, we retain the right to define ourselves and this includes a right to disentangle our sense of self from colonial ideals and definitions