Details

Storyteller: Serena
Tribe: Red Lake Band of Ojibwe
Created: 2018
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: I was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian reservation and had lived in Minneapolis for five years after high school. Although Rez Life can be challenging, living in Red Lake since birth gave me such pride for me, my people and  my culture. Living in Minneapolis amplified that thought, and it wasn't until I was away from home until I found my calling. I fell in love with Ojibwe language while I lived away from home. In 2015, my fourteen-year-old nephew battled cancer throughout the entire year. Throughout this year, I built up a strong feeling of helplessness and unworthiness. After cancer took Aaron from us, I was sitting at his traditional funeral and Anton Treuer began speaking in fluent Ojibwe. While sending off my nephew, I remember thinking about how beautiful my language was, but also shameful because I didn't know much. After the funeral, I began researching tribal language loss statistics, and I barely slept after this - something clicked without me realizing, and I'm thankful to Aaron every day because during the worst day, but also the best day of my life, I found a piece of my identity at his ceremony, and he changed all of our lives with his kindness, love, and heart. Prior to knowing that I wanted to spend the rest of my life serving the Ojibwe language, I hadn't ever thought of where I sat within society, or what my true identity was as an Ojibwe person. The largest influence on what I do today is knowing my dad beat in school for speaking Ojibwe language at the age of six. The reason why this is the most influential to me is that, if my father was literally beat for speaking our language, and nearly fifty-five years later, his daughter is learning the language, and pursuing her education to become a licensed Ojibwe teacher, then I broke the cycle. I hold this at such a high regard because it truly shows the pure strength of Ojibwe culture and language, but at the same time, it gives me so much strength within my identity as an Ojibwe person. What I'd like people to know based off of my story is that you can have everything: culture, identity, and education.