#native
Viola chamissoniana is a member of the violet family known as ‘olopu in and endemic to Hawaii where it is found on several of the islands in the chain. The subspecies native to Oahu is a federally-listed endangered species, largely as a result of the grazing of introduced feral goats and pigs which pose a threat to many other Hawaiian endemics. Introduced herbivores are far from the only threat as introduced plants such as Ageratina adenophora pose troublesome competition from a plant I’ve also seen growing wild and introduced here in California. While human development is one of the leading causes of species endangerment and habitat loss, it is clear that secondary effects, even centuries down the line, continue to ravage natural ecosystems.
A less dour fact about Violas is that they usually have two types of flowers borne in different times of year. The flowers we appreciate are known as chasmogamous – showy things designed to attract the attention of would-be pollinators and incidentally us as well. This promotes cross-pollination and in Violaoften results in a seed pod which explodes, propelling diversified seeds to colonize surrounding areas. There are also sneaky flowers which are almost never seen, hunkering close to the base of the plant or even underground. These flowers are cleistogamous and are self-pollinating. The fruit containing these seeds instead dumps them close to the parent plant as the offspring are more likely to have a similar genetic makeup which allows them to thrive in the same conditions.
Thanks to Hui Ku Maoli Ola for lending me this plant as a subject along with the others!
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Achyranthes splendens (Ahinahina in Hawaiian) is an endangered Hawaiian endemic plant in the same family as amaranth. This species occurs only on the Hawaiian islands, growing at low to moderate altitudes typically along western and southern coasts in relatively dry habitats. While the inflorescence I had to photograph is missing flowers (they fall off pretty rapidly and easily) the flowers when blooming are light green and barely distinct from the rest of the inflorescence without quite close inspection. They are not as much appreciated for the flowers as they are for the beautiful tomentose foliage which presents a shifting metallic sheen overlaying the green leaf tissue. Sadly, like many Hawaiian plants, this easily-grown species is still threatened by habitat loss, and with its decreasing population may follow in the steps of its relative Achyranthes atollensis which was made extinct through civilian and military development in 1964.
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Person with long brown hair cascading down their shoulders appears in video, with a sped-up version of Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls in the background.
White text at the left side of the screen says, “We get it, you’re proud that you’re Indigenous. Who cares?”
A picture of the person as a child appears on screen, white text to the right says “She does.” The child is seen smiling at the camera, possibly in a gym setting with balloons covering the background of the floor. They’re hanging onto a railing. In the back, there’s an arts and crafts poster that says “Aim To Do Your Best”.
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The video shows a map of North America, South America, and a bit of Africa before zooming in on North America. A model of a car squiggles a red line across North America to show where it’s going, before crossing the North Atlantic ocean, and settling down in Europe.
White text says, ““we can’t just give the land back, what do you expect us to do - pack up and move back to Europe?”” This text is said in the voice of a colonizer, most likely a white person. Another text, larger than the other, says “yes” in response.
The sounds of the video go from a loud distorted groan, before going to what sounds like a ping, to some normal instrumental music, to a chipmunk-like voice telling someone to “shut the fuck up” before being cut off by the sound of a the among us imposter sound effect, and finally ending to an upbeat happy, slightly chaotic tune.
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A person in dark red ambient light stars at the camera silently as Sleep Walk by Santo and Johnny play. A ceiling fan is on in the background without any noise, making their long hair sway.
The small white text on the top of the screen says, “what keeps me up at night is that in the beginning of the pandemic when Native communities asked for PPE, the US government sent them body bags instead…”
The dark red ambient light changes to a soft, sad blue.
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Person with a blue face mask has their head turned and eyes staring at something offscreen, seemingly daydreaming.
The text the the middle of the screen says “native women in their regalia” with two greater than symbols following it to show their appreciation.
A pitched and sped-up version of George Michael’s voice in the song Careless Whisper plays in the background as the person turns to the camera, shaking it and making a splayed hand gesture over their covered mouth in excitement.
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A person appears wearing a black t-shirt with a skeleton hand design on the chest and pink shorts.
Black text with white background says, “so rez her nits pop when straightened her hair” with a grimacing emoji.
Person pretends to be straightening their hair with a pink leopard print hair iron, all the while popping sounds play in the background in reference to the nits.
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The video starts off with a picture of “The Eye of Fire”, or where a fire opened up on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
There’s white text above it stating “the Gulf of Mexico is on fire because of a pipeline rupture wtf” with four question marks.
The video switches to a person.
“So we have to talk about Line 3, again. Line 3 is being illegally built through sovereign Indigenous territory.”
Behind them shows a map of said territory.
“Not only this but it (Line 3) has the possibility to pollute over 200 bodies of fresh water and will put out the same amount of emissions as 50 coal plants”
The screenshot at the back says: “It’s the spills — which always happen with pipelines. It’s the disruption itself of just the pipeline going into 800 wetlands, 200 bodies of water. Then there’s the climate change piece, emissions of this 50 coal plants, absolutely insanity,” a quote from attorney Tara Houska of Couchiching First Nation who is the founder of the advocacy organization Giniw Collective. This came from a interview with CNN in March.
“This violates Indigenous treaty,” the person says as another screenshot pops up.
It says, as a quote from Aubid, one of many Indigenous climate activists: “The Line 3 extension would also cross through the Leech Lake and Fond Du Lac reservations — land where, according to the terms of a 1855 treaty, Ojibwe tribes have the right to gather, hunt, and fish. For this reason, Anishinaabe activists say the pipeline violates the terms of the treaty.”
The article from MSN News continues: “What is spelled out in the treaty — the pipeline could pollute food sources, water sources, everything spelled out in the treaty what we as Anishinaabe people can do — hunt, fish, gather food, medicine. Line 3 goes against what we do spiritually as people,”
A picture of Indigenous activists with a couple of signs, one says “Honor our treaties, #StopLine3”.
“Currently Indigenous water protectors are being arrested,”
“We don’t have time to argue. The ocean is on fire. Entire towns are burning to the ground because of the climate crisis. Building another pipeline right now, especially when it’s going to bring more violence to Indigenous communities is only going to hurdle us faster towards climate disaster.”
A tweet that originally shows the same picture in the beginning from a verified account (Brian Kahn) that says “The Gulf of Mexico is literally on fire because of a pipeline rupture”, continues with another verified account (Dallas Goldtooth) retweeting it, “THIS IS WHY @.POTUS MUST STOP Line 3 — Shut down DAPL and end all climate-destroying fossil fuel projects”.
“If you don’t want this happening, in some of the only lakes in the country that provide us freshwater, during one of the biggest heatwaves of the century, then fight with Indigenous people against this pipeline. Against Line 3. Go to the site linked and sign the petition. Educate yourself. Tell others.”
The petition they were talking about is here: StopLine3
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The audio starts with singers and drums in the background. An audio clip starts of a Canadian member of parliament speaking on the issue of the Trans Mountain pipeline project. This audio is from 2018.
“-and his minister adds that Canada will not be able to accommodate all Indigenous concerns. What thats means is that they have decided to willfully violate their constitutional duties and obligations.”
The speaker, Romeo Saganash, a Cree Lawmaker, continues.
“Mr Speaker, sounds like a most important relationship, doesn’t it? Why doesn’t the prime minister just say the truth and tell Indigenous people’s that he doesn’t give a fuck about their rights?”
The video is of a person leaning down to the camera (in a small area of grass and trees) before turning their back to it and dancing at the end of the video with orange text stating in all caps
“WE’RE COMING FOR EVERYTHING OUR ANCESTORS WERE DENIED”.
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The video starts with a person holding the camera.
“Hi! So, this is a message specifically for my non-Indigenous friends that are on Native TikTok.”
“Hi. We have to talk about something. I love seeing how much positive engagement Indigenous creators get on this app. Anytime I see a video of someone in their regalia, dancing, singing, sharing our languages, it gets all kinds of love and engagement in the comments and I’m just… I really appreciate seeing that, but, we need to talk about something else.”
“I’ve noticed that when Indigenous content creators talk about things like inter-generational trauma, talking about residential schools, talking about ‘Indian’ hospitals, talking about MMIW, police brutality against Indigenous people, the list goes on and on and on and on, they aren’t met with that same… turnout.”
“So, I’m just here to remind you that you can’t love consuming the culture if you don’t love the people behind it, too.”
“I just need you to show up for the people as much as you show up for the culture.”
They smile and shrug at the camera.
“Have a good day.”
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Person appears holding a bundle of furs.
“Hi! My name’s Siqiñiq, I am Iñuipaq from Alaska, Iñuit, and I want to show you my furs!”
They shift the furs in their arms, holding up a white with blue undertone fur.
“This is blue fox, I’m going to use this on my girl’s parka’s (atigi)”
They hold up a white and brown colored fur.
“This is lamb, which in the city many of us use as liners.”
They next switch to a caramel colored outfit.
“This is sikshrik, squirrel. This is what you would use as a liner traditionally. It’s much softer, so pretty.”
The next fur is a white-grey color.
“This is silver fox, my favorite.”
The Tiktoker holds up the finale fur.
“And my wolf!”
They wrap the wolf fur around their head.
“Okay, yesterday Biden signed support in one of the largest fossil fuel projects in North America right next to my village where my mom lives right now-“
White text that says “Willow Master Project” shows up. They put the fur down and bend closer to the camera.
“-a dynamite mine less then 10 miles away would be installed over 300 miles of pipeline. This completely goes against the Paris climate agreement.
You can take action now.
Visit the link in my profile, it’ll go to a YouTube video of testimony’s of real people in these communities. Then go to silainuat.org
Thank you!”
The video stops
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Person slides into view.
“Hey everyone, it’s Xochitl back again with another Nahuatl lesson.” The sparkles emoji pops up with text saying “Happy Mother Language Day”.
“It’s international Mother Language Day, so what better to celebrate by paying tribute to my and probably your mother language, Nahuatl.”
Greenscreen opens up to map. “So many words we know today come from Nahuatl.”
“Nahuatl is the most widely spoken Indigenous language in North America. It belogs to the Uto-Aztecan family of language. It’s related to the Huichol language of Nayarit, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the Hopi of Arizona, and the Shoshone Indigenous language of Wyoming.”
“The Nahuatl language experienced it’s Golden Era in the 15th and early 16th century. During this time, the Nahautl language spread from Western Mexico to the Gulf Coast and even parts of Central America.”
Picture in background changes to a art recreation of a Nahuatl city, with the three names of the greatest cities, Tenochtitlan, Tetzcohco, and Tlacopan.
“These theee cities right here are the greatest empires of the Mexica People.”
New picture pops up of an ideogram of Nahuatl language.
“This right here is pictographics script, which is how the Mexica People used to communicate and write down their Nahuatl language. To this day, along with written manuscripts in Spanish, that’s how we preserve the Nahuatl classical language.”
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Video opens up to uncut beluga meat on a wooden cutting board, gently zooming in with an ulu at the side. It zooms out to show soy sauce collected in a white with red rimmed bowl. Another person slowly starts cutting off the raw beluga fat from the beluga skin
“Yes, this is beluga. Our favorite traditional meal, called mattak. We eat it with soy sauce, and we use this traditional knife called ulu.”
“We cut off the fat. We make sure to cut it in small pieces because it’s hard to chew, it has a rubbery texture.”
Video shows the beluga meat being diced, still connected to the skin. Person dips the mattak into soy sauce and eats it.
The person recording holds up a big and thin piece of dried caribou, turning the camera to themself as they eat it.
“And this is dried caribou, called nikkuk. It’s delicious. All of these animals are hunted by our people, family, friends, and we feed to the whole community so it’s completely—“
The audio cuts off with white text clarifying, “The animals lived a happy natural life, we do not waste any part of the animal. We need to STOP the stereotypes of this being “cruel” and “inhumane”. This is the best way to hunt food.“
Screen switches to the Tik Toker’s name and username, Shina Nova / @shinanova
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Person with a red dress comes into view. A red handprint is over their mouth signifying Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women with text saying “Wear Red Campaign” and “Honor our Missing & Murdered Indigenous Sisters Feb 8th - Feb 14th”.
The panel switches to a black cat cleaning itself by a window, a red cloth draped over the frame. Text says “hang a piece of red cloth in your window”.
The scene switches once again to the person outside in the front of their house, another piece of red cloth in hand before stringing it over a piller. “Hang a piece of red cloth in your front porch or yard.”
Person comes fully back into view with text between saying “post to social media for #WearRedCampaign & raise awareness for MMIWG”. MMIWG stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
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A person in a grey hoodie and glasses comes into view, messing with and brushing their hair as white text appears above them.
“As of February of this year-“ (last year, 2020), “61 reserves across Canada dont have access to clean water, or are on boil advisories.“
“Neskantaga First Nation in northwestern Ontario has been on boil water advisory for 25 years. And recently had to but 300 band members in a hotel in Thunder Bay over the holidays during a pandemic. Due to the governments neglect of their crisis.”
The person starts taking three strands of their hair and braided it.
“My reserve, Chapleau Cree Dirst Nation has been living off bottled water for years and i cannot remember the last time i was able to drink from the tap on the rez. But if you drive 5 minutes to the nearby town, their waters fine.”
They start braiding the right side.
“This is a reality hundreds of Indigenous people in Canada still have to face.”
Screen switches to the Tik Toker’s name and username, Lauryn / @rezdog99
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A person in a grey hoodie with an embroidered witch stands with the greenscreen on and waves. Letters above them say “Aunty T’s History Lesson”, along with a collage of art such as an eagle, three hands holding pink cups, and the back of a Native girl with braids.
“Tansi! Hello, welcome to Aunty T’s history lesson.” They wave.
White text appears where their hand points to the left, along with a police car. “Today we are going to be talking about the Starlight Tours also known as the Saskatoon Freezing Deaths.”
“So, the Starlight Tours were a series of 3 and possibly more deaths that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s.” Above them this time is replaced by yellow police tape that says ‘crime scene do not cross’.
“So the Saskatoon police would pick up Indigenous, usually men, for alleged drunkenness and disorderly behavior and sometimes without a reason at all.” A little fake moon in the top right corner glimmers.
“So they would take them to the outskirts of the city, strip them of their clothes and abandon them to walk home in the middle of the night in freezing conditions.” More information stays at the top of the video, saying tha Saskatoon can reach -30 to -40 weather.
“The three victims that I mentioned earlier were named Neil Stonechild, Lawrence Wegner, and Rodney Naistus and they all sadly died from hypothermia.” Pictures of the boys sit at the top of the screen.
“And keep in mind that these incidents date back to 1976.”
They continue as a book about the Starlight Tours pop into view. The book is by Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud at it’s about the last, lonely nights of Neil Stonechild. On the book their is a red part that reads “a teen’s suspicious death, a shocking police cover-up, and a mother’s search for the truth.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims as well as the families that suffered from these traumatic and heartbreaking incidents.”
Screen switches to the Tik Toker’s name and username, Tia Wood / @tiamiscihk
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A short lesson from @karnythia.
I feel like even if this wasn’t a majority white country, white supremacy would still definitely function in a way that preserves itself.
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Another piece I did a super long ass time ago been wanting to do more art but that wouldn’t be laggin’ it
Please reblog and help spread the word!
In Muskeg Lake Cree Nation Ontario
this womans aunt, Deanna Greyeyes, was murdered. The RCMP has not been helping with the investigation. Very likely because they are indigenous. Racism toward native canadians is extremely prevalent. They aren’t given respect, they are killed, and in times like these they are thrown to the wolves by our government.
Help her get justice for her aunt.
Reblog, & share on social media
If you have any information you can leave an anonymous tip at crime stoppers 1-800-222-8477
