Details

Storyteller: Joe
Tribe: Red Lake Band of Ojibwe
Created: 2018
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: I grew up on the Red Lake reservation in Northern Minnesota with my family, including my grandparents, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins who all lived nearby. I went to school on the rez for elementary, where all the other kids also identified as Native and we all came from the same place. My family instilled in me my identity as an Ojibwe person from a very young age, and I always knew who I was, and I was proud. It wasn’t until I went to school off the rez, in Bemidji, that I really started to see how misunderstood Native people and their culture are, and the ignorance and racism against us. I remember making friends with other kids only to be told days later that they could not be my friend anymore once they realized I was from Red Lake. However, I thankfully never felt embarrassed of where I came from and remained proud to be Red Lake Ojibwe. This ignorance from my peers only made me want to succeed even more and outshine them whenever I could. My mind continued to be blown as I got older and realized just how little these people knew about Native people and their history with the US, MN, and local governments. This complete ignorance, including disregard of the Nation to Nation relationships we have with the government that allows us our treaty rights, has served to only further the racial divide and institutional oppression. How could people who live so close to and among many Native people not understand anything about Native people and our history? How could they think our culture is one of alcoholism, addiction, violence, and gambling? I know that the problems we face are visible, but then why can't they see the historical issues that continue to hold us down? More importantly, why can't they see all the beauty that is our actual culture? I moved to St Paul to attend Macalester College when I was 18 years old. Suddenly, I found myself completely out of my comfort zone, and so far away from my family, my people, and my woods I grew up in. That first year, I was only one of two Native people who came from a reservation that were attending Macalester. Suddenly, I was meeting educated young adults from all over the country and world who had no idea that Native people still exist; this actually hurt me the most. I was excited about all the multiculturalism that surrounded me, but I was worried my identity and the issues that mattered to me as a Native person would be lost in the crowd of worthwhile identities and issues, especially because I was so shy. I took American Studies classes where we studied race, history, and the systems that continue to hold people of color down. However, I rarely learned anything about Native people unless it was in the context of a Native American class. I once asked why we haven’t learned about the Native aspect of something, and a professor said, "I'd love to be able to teach more about Native people, but I never learned anything myself." I did not find this acceptable, because it is a disservice not just to the Native people on campus but to everyone on campus to not learn this information. It was because of this moment that I sought out all I could on Native history and current events and shared it with my peers. I also brought back the Native student organization on campus to spread awareness of Native issues. Ultimately, I was inspired to major in both education and American studies with a long-term goal of redeveloping the education system on my rez and in the state. We need to fight ignorance with knowledge, and it is one of the only ways I see to dismantle these deeply entrenched systems that exacerbate racism and oppression. When I moved from the rez to the city, I think I finally really started to think from an outside perspective about my culture, where I come from, who I am, and what matters to me. So much has been lost in Native culture that we are now working to revitalize, but one of the big things I personally believe in is that my culture is not static and has always existed and continued to grow despite what was taken from us. We might not exactly look like our ancestors or practice everything exactly as they had, but we are resilient and we adapt, and our culture grows along with us in many positive ways. The negative side effects of colonization such as addiction can be healed with our culture, but they are not part of our culture. Native people are not a thing of the past to be forgotten. We are still here, still proud, still strong, and growing. We live everywhere, not just on reservations. Native people have history with and a connection to this land that no other group will ever have, and our tribes have a government to government relationship with the U.S. that entitles us to certain treaty rights. This history seems to be forgotten or ignored by many and their ignorance spreads hate and racism which furthers the systemic oppression of our people. We can all heal together if we are willing to listen and learn outside of the dominant narrative.