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In this episode, Dani talks about land acknowledgements & better ways to help Indigenous communities. She recognizes the things she’s mistakenly done, & attempts to right them with intention & action.
For links & recommendations, view full episode notes.
Dani is honest and refreshing in her takes on the world and society. Listen as she explains how she’s come to understand the world through kindness, both towards ourselves and everything else.
[0:00] Hey there everyone! It’s me, Dani and welcome to Understanding Kindness! Today’s episode is inspired by the first episode of a podcast by Indigenous Action titled “Acknowledge This!” Perhaps from the title & the podcast name, you could guess what today’s episode will be about. At the root of it though, I want to recognize mistakes I’ve made, learn from those that I’ve hurt with my mistakes, & use this episode, & segments from future episodes, to begin to reconcile those mistakes. I fully intend to continue fighting alongside & supporting our Indigenous siblings in a variety of ways, this just being one. Of course, I’m sure, there may be more I can do to better accomplish this goal, so feel free to let me know. Hopefully I’m able to elevate & shine light on the voices that my land acknowledgments strive to, well, acknowledge. If you’re ready for this smattering of ideas and recommendations, keep listening, and welcome to this episode of Understanding Kindness.
[1:01] (Theme). *Interruption noise* Alright everyone, calm down. We’re working on it, we’ll have a theme song soon. Okay? (Theme cont.).
[1:13] So, this part is a little weird now since this whole episode pertains to the land acknowledgment segment. Instead of what I’ve done in the past few episodes since adding the land acknowledgment, I’d like to do something more in-depth. In future episodes, this segment will be different from today’s, but it will hold the central theme of elevating voices of Indigenous individuals & clans, & encourage Non-Natives to create change inspired by what our Indigenous siblings tell us they need. One difference with today’s episode is that I will be coming back to the land acknowledgment, or whatever I end up calling it, at the end so that I can talk through the points in the Indigenous Action podcast episode & you’ll see how I’m trying to create a better acknowledgment segment going forward. Hopefully by the end of the episode, I’m able to come up with something that is thoughtful and helpful to our Indigenous siblings.
[2:06] Woah there, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though. I’ve gotta thank my patron while we’re here. Thank you so so much Meg B. I can’t tell you how much your support means to me and just to my process in general. I love seeing that somebody cares. So, your are the coolest!
-Okay, now on with the show!
[2:28] I’m not entirely sure where I found this podcast called Indigenous Action, I’m guessing it popped up on some page that I follow. The podcast “dig[s] deep into critical issues impacting [Indigenous] communities throughout Occupied America/Turtle Island. [It’s] an autonomous anti-colonial broadcast with unapologetic and claws-out analysis towards total liberation.” Turtle Island is the name that Indigenous Americans use to refer to North America, which comes from a common Indigenous creation story. So the podcast is done by three Native individuals that host episodes & talk with one or more Native guests about how Indigenous communities are impacted by colonialism to this day & how to combat that while striving for complete liberation for all.
[3:15] I listen to a lot of podcasts and a few tend to end up adding to my subscription library before I’ve had the chance to actually listen. This one was sitting there for probably a few months before I finally got around to listening to the first episode. I did see it sitting there waiting for me though; an episode titled “Acknowledge This!” Now, I believe I found this podcast after having wrote the first episode with a land acknowledgment in it, and once I saw the title I immediately began questioning my practice. True, I didn’t actually know what they were going to say in the episode, but I could feel the sarcasm in the title & had the feeling that I’d be needing to change something for future episodes. Once I started listening, my intuitions were proved right. I began listening to Indigenous people talk about how the thing that I just started doing because I thought it would be helpful to them was not actually helpful to them. This, inherently, felt pretty bad. I was being told that my efforts weren’t amounting to anything, and in fact, just adding to the bureaucratic bullshit.
[4:20] Throughout the episode, six Natives discussed their thoughts on land acknowledgments/statements. The overall consensus was that typical land acknowledgments tend to be empty words with no meaning behind them. They discuss how this is particularly not surprising, considering all the treaties that have been written up and then just ignored by the US & Canadian governments. This is nothing new to Indigenous folx. These empty words are the precise reason that land acknowledgments have done nothing to help those it’s specifically designed to acknowledge.
[4:51] So before I get too far, I want to say that (I believe) each person in the episode mentioned that if there was action behind the words spoken in the land acknowledgments (specifically to give land back) then this would be a different conversation. It may not even be a conversation at all because in the end, all Indigenous people want is to have the land given back to them & herself and for all of us to be free from colonialism.
[5:15] Now let me talk a bit about the land. It was mentioned in the Indigenous Action episode that Indigenous Peoples tend to be synonymous with land. In my understanding, the land is her own & Natives are the caretakers of the land, & in Natives’ views, taking care of the land is what makes someone Native to a place. One of the individuals on the episode (it’s hard for me to know who is who just yet), they discussed listening to the land and abiding by what she says. This resonated with me a lot & I want to expand on it a little bit. I’m hoping that my expansion on this is appropriate and in alignment with the way of thinking that Indigenous Peoples tend to have.
[5:51] I’m thinking of something that just happened a few days ago, as of this writing, on 25 December when I was at my sister’s house visiting.
[5:59] Let me say real quick that I had COVID-19 two months ago, but have still been keeping distance, quarantining, & washing hands frequently. According to research, an individual has 3 months after the last sign of symptoms when they cannot contract nor spread the virus. Of course though, I’m still taking lots of precautions & this visit was the first time I’d seen my sister & her family in a couple months.
[6:22] So anyway, my 8 year old niece was chasing the dog, Clark, around trying to pick him up. He was responding by running away and jumping out of her arms if or when she managed to grab him. On one of her failed attempts I told her that it was obvious he didn’t want to be picked up. He isn’t an aggressive dog at all and doesn’t bark much, so his constant running away & leaping out of her arms was the only indicator we had here. My niece then told me that she wanted to pick him up though. I told her she should listen to what Clark’s telling her. She looked at me like I had a bag of garbage on my head and said, “How can I listen to him? He can’t talk.” I looked back at her and said, “We can listen to his body language. If he’s running away from you, he doesn’t want to be picked up. You can listen to that.” She preceded to roll her eyes, but left him alone, at least for the time being.
[7:17] It was sad to me that my niece believed the only way we could listen to someone is in the words they speak to us. That limits our listening to individuals who can speak a language, and in her case, only individuals who can speak English. One of the great things, I believe, about being human animals is that we can use & understand multiple ways to speak and converse with one another. Something that many of us have forgotten, & this forgetting is a strategy done purposefully, is to listen to everyone around us. Listen to nonhuman animals around us, to the plants around our house & in our gardens, to the trees outside, to the land herself. If we actually really listen, we can understand what they’re all saying to us. They can help teach us how to be human animals. They can teach us how to live in harmony with everyone. We’ve gotta stop talking so much and taking so much. Earth is responding to us & we’ve been refusing to listen. Our wants are not the most important thing. What do you think human animals did before they could get anything they could ever want? If you remember anything from episode 16, you could guess that they were a lot happier, more creative, & more grateful. Can’t we see that a route like that is obviously better for everyone?
[8:43] This, now, is reminding me of a book I just read called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It was written in 1992 & attempts to answer the question how things came to be this way. The book discusses culture on Earth before & after the agricultural revolution. Human animal culture before the agricultural revolution was based around hunting & gathering (but also of course included all the other facets of culture like music, dance, art, language, etc.). This culture, performed by people the book calls Leavers, is about tending to the land & learning from all that is around us. The other culture, the culture that came about once the agricultural revolution began, the culture of the Takers, as the book calls them, is based in man being god-like, in man having the ability to control everything he wishes to: hunger, life, death. This culture, the Taker culture, is how most of us currently live. Because Takers believe that man was created to control whatever he pleases, we see him take from the land whatever he pleases, take from nonhuman animals whatever he pleases, take from human animals whatever he pleases.
[10:03] Because this Taker culture has taken over so much of Earth for so long (that’s thousands of years people) we are now, in our lifetime, seeing the true, devastating effects of what a Taker culture does- it takes and takes and takes until there is literally nothing left. If we continue as we are, we know that climate change will end our species on Earth, along with many other species I’m sure. Sure, those of us that are here now may not have to reap those consequences, but it is certain that our descendants will if nothing changes. We are here, at this moment in time, when we can make decisions to change. And I’ve got some really great news for you: there are still Leavers here. Despite the Takers’ attempts to kill & exterminate everyone that does not agree with their “one true way to live” (ugh, *eye roll*), there are still Leavers here. They’re here and we are living on their stolen land. The land that the Leavers’ ancestors cared for for millions of years, learning from generation to generation how best to live with the land and with all the beings of Earth.
[11:24] So, knowing this now, where do we go from here? Let’s circle back to the beginning of the episode and listen to what the Natives of the Indigenous Action podcast have to say. They are descendants of the Leavers that were killed by the Takers claiming they knew the “one true way to live”. They are the Peoples that have been fighting the Taker regime since its inception, fighting the Taker mentality that man has been created as the pinnacle of creation & there is no evolving from here. Leaver, or Indigenous, Peoples have learned over millions of years, passed down from generation to generation to generation, how to live on Earth with the millions of other beings here. And of course, no two Indigenous Peoples are the same. Each group of Peoples came from very different places on this Earth. Places with different climates, with different nonhuman animals, with different plant life, with different terrain. Each of these Peoples adapted to their own environment & how they could best live given their conditions. No set of Indigenous Peoples follow all the same cultural “rules”, but they do all have one thing in common: they live with the land, and with all the beings and life around them. They’ve honed their skills & knowledge through millions of years of trial and error, & for some reason, Takers believe that their brand new (relatively speaking of course) “sophisticated” way of life is the “one true way to live”. In our thinking brains, does that seem to make sense to us?
[12:58] Now, let’s go back & talk about the land acknowledgment. It’s clear that simply making a statement to acknowledge that you’re occupying land that was stolen from Peoples that were already inhabiting it & caring for it is not even close to enough. It’s actually, essentially nothing at all. Empty words with no action. So, how do we change that? We do some action, put meaning behind our words, listen to what our Indigenous siblings need & try to deliver that. What Indigenous folx are asking for is not absurd, it’s not out of the question, it’s not even radical. It’s simply doing the right thing. It’s righting the wrongs that many of our ancestors did when they came here preaching that their God was the only God & their way of life was the one true way to live, & when they came here to murder the Natives of this land when they refused to assimilate. It’s been evident from the beginning that the colonizers did not care to hear about the Native ways of North America/Turtle Island or about compromise. Why would we want to continue upholding a culture that exterminates anyone with a different opinion? How can you be sure that your opinion on how to live may not one day be seen as “different” & in need of extermination in a place where the goalpost is constantly moved & someone’s word holds no meaning behind it?
[14:24] In future episodes of this podcast, I’ll use the land acknowledgment or Indigenous segment section to talk about specific issues going on in Indigenous communities, possibly & likely issues that affect us all. I will strive to learn more about how to right these wrongs & put action into making change happen. I’ll use this platform to continually talk about Indigenous Peoples & to call on all of you listening to incite change. Natives are here everyday, not just on specific holidays “dedicated” to them, not just when sacred land is being threatened by some company’s desire to continue making more and more money. (Check out stopline3.org for some info on an example of that happening right now. And that was stopline the number 3 .org. There’ll be a link in the episode notes.) They deserve to be talked about and highlighted everyday until their demands are met, which are clearly outlined and very simple: give the land back & stop the colonial regime. We can take action to aid in our Indigenous siblings’ fight.
[15:31] In the episode notes I’ll link resources to check out, such as Indigenous Action’s website, where you can learn more about Indigenous Action, see pieces of Native-Inspired artwork, read news covered from an Indigenous “claws out” perspective, listen to their podcast, read zines covering specific topics surrounding de-colonialization, & contribute either with services or money. I’ll also link to a site I heard of from the Indigenous Action podcast called Indigenous Kinship Collective. You can also access news covered from Native perspectives there, & you can learn about mutual aid & MMIWGT2S (meaning Missing & Murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls, Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, & 2Spirit people- if that’s a whole acronym, it’s gotta be a pretty big thing, huh?), & you can find ways to support & donate there, which I’ll link in the episode notes as well; those include the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund, the Kinship Collective Mutual Aid Fund, a toolkit for supporters of our relatives in Unisto’ot’en, & a fund to support the Tiny House Warriors in unceded Secwepemc territory. The links include information on each issue & an easy way to donate.
[16:48] I’m continuing to learn & grow with y’all. I’m sharing these resources because I don’t want you to just listen to me about these things. I’m not the one you need to be listening to. We all need to listen to Indigenous folx & then proceed with action & create change.
[17:06] So, for our recommendations today, of course first up we’ve got “Acknowledge This!” by the Indigenous Action podcast. I’d really recommend any episode by them, but this episode specifically sheds light on how the US & Canada, & colonizers in general, make empty promises & use empty words to make themselves look better, when in reality the intention behind the words was never even there. Seeing this can allow us to look at our society more critically, & that’s a big reason for me recommending this episode to you today.
[17:38] Next up, is the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Wow, this book, it’s just so good! If you’ve always felt a little confused, or like something wasn’t right in your life, or our society, our culture, our world, this book will help you find the answers to those questions that maybe you didn’t even know how to ask. I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s one in a trilogy of books by the author that, apparently, isn’t even the best one. I haven’t read the others yet, but you bet they’re on my list and as soon as I can find them somewhere, I’ll be reading them as well. For now, this one is a great place to start!
As always, links to find these recs will be in the episode notes!
[18:22] If you enjoyed this episode, help support the podcast! All this content is free and I’d love to make it my job one day, so if you’re financially able join our patreon or send a one-time or recurring donation through paypal! You can also share an episode with family or friends, and give UK a kind rating and review!
Check out UnderstandingKindness.com for all episodes, transcripts, and blog posts. And why not take a listen to my other podcast, Better When Awkward, co-hosted by my childhood best friend Jasmine!
Get in touch with me by emailing UnderstandingKindness@protonmail.com, or through social media. You can find all links in the episode notes.
For now, be kind, be compassionate, be understanding, and question everything. I’ll be here. Thank you for listening to this episode of Understanding Kindness. [End transcript]