Details

Storyteller: Brittany
Tribe: Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe
Created: 2018
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: Until the age of 15, I grew up in a town of 400 people. There were no stop lights, a restaurant, a gas station and 3 churches. An old farm town, we were always surrounded by fields, and a field had always been my backyard. I learned how to drive by the age of 10 and all of the cuss words I know today came from riding a school bus for 2 hours to school and 2 hours back home. My parents treated everyone as though they had been friends for years. We were interdependent upon each other - when you needed a babysitter or a lawn mower, or a ride to town, someone else was there to step up or step in. Interdependence was key to our survival. My dad served on City council, the parade planning committee, basically any committee or council that the 400 of us needed or didn’t need. And he always framed this work in terms of service - he was serving the community he was a part of. It was here that I learned the true meaning of being a member of a community.

We then moved to what my friends and I always called "the Cities" but actually we lived in a suburb of the Twin Cities. Here I learned an independence I never had anticipated. My parents, being the community members they are, focused their time and energy in our Indian Ed Parent Committee for our school district. My sisters and I spent an hour a week each with the Indian Ed Counselor learning some Dakota or Ojibwe language, beading or other cultural teachings. My senior year, I also served on the yearbook committee, and the editors wanted to put the former mascot, a Chief, on the cover of the yearbook to commemorate the school’s 50th anniversary. This was the first time I got to exercise my newfound independence and my new-found cultural knowledge. Upon raising the issue how inappropriate and blatantly disrespectful this character was, the loudest voice claiming it was okay was a Native girl. I found affirmation from the Indian Ed parent committee and was proud to defend my stance at a school board meeting. At a final meeting with the school board on the issue, a handful representatives from the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis stepped in to provide community reinforcement. It reminded me of the mob you see in movies, without visible guns; their words proved to be used as their guns and the school board put a hard stop to the Chief imagery from being used. It spoke to the strength a community, and really our community and the community I am a part of now has in speaking up about injustices.

As an adult, I have had the opportunity to stand in solidarity about issues that are important to me personally and the greater Twin Cities Native community. For Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, anti-mascot campaigns, in celebration of American Indian Heritage Month, we have stood together. I am continually reminded and driven by the experience I had in high school. For me, this is what it means to be a community member - giving up of your time and talents to serve your neighbors to the best of your ability.