It’s Indigenous People’s Day, Hooray!
I was recently informed that October 12th is Indigenous People’s Day…so we got that going for us!
Though when I looked at the calendar I was confused cause it said, ‘Columbus Day’. I thought, ‘Well, that would be a fucky thing to do – go ahead and give all Indigenous People’s one damn day and double dip on Columbus Day?’
Then I looked closer and learned it was also Canadian Thanksgiving Day…
I was suddenly confused about what to be celebrating…and how.
When I dug a little deeper I was told that “Columbus Day isn’t really a thing anymore,” but as long as it’s on my Bob Ross calendar, and the Italians gather in the streets to celebrate I’ll have to beg to differ…
It struck me as somehow relative that Black people are honored with the shortest month of the year, and that women were ‘granted’ the right to vote in 1919…that native people’s get a whole damn day (or, I guess, more accurately share a whole damn day) to celebrate their contributions to this country is perversely proportional I suppose…
(Never mind that Indigenous People’s contribution to this country is the actual whole damn country…thanks for that, Indigenous People – here’s a day…err, a part of the day, anyways…
Failing the factual backstop that a single Google search might provide, I suddenly worried if I might be sadly enacting my own narrow form of racism – was this one of those worldwide days like “International Day of the Girl Child” (celebrated on October 11) and I had simply assumed it referred to the Indigenous People of the USA? Should I have perhaps entertained the notion that the day is in honor of the entire world’s marginalized Indigenous People’s?
Can’t be. Could it?
Be efficient on the part of the powers that be though – just knock ’em/us all out in one day.
As I pondered what it means to me to be a percentage Indigenous (that’s a weird thing to say…what part of me actually houses the Indigenous part of me, I wondered…the obvious answer might be my mohawk, or is that racist?)
A great notion might reasonably be advanced that as soon as a generation is born on a land, a certain percentage of them becomes Indigenous to that land…the unfortunate history of this country notwithstanding, we are all – in our bones – American…indigenous to this land by virtue of being of this land.
Or, something like that?
Maybe being Indigenous comes from taking a sense of pride and responsibility in and for the earth around us? In that case almost none of us are Indigenous – seeing as we don’t give two shits about the fowling of our environment and the impending collapse that is coming as a result of it.
Spoiler alert – when things get really fucked, we’re all gonna wish we were more connected to the native wisdom of this land.
I wish I had some of my own indigenous wisdom to offer, but one of the greatest tragedies is how intentionally cut off we were and are from that wisdom…I’ve gone so far as to reach out to my estranged father to try and tap into this unknown, unnameable, and largely untapped source of wisdom…
My inquiries were met with so many grunts, and a plate of grilled ribs.
The ribs, at least, were satisfying…
Meanwhile, the earth as a shared resource meant to be stewarded into the next several generations has been reduced to a slogan for soap.
Reconnecting to source must pass through a newfound sense of wonder for the earth that we’ve seemed, as yet, content to simply use, abuse, and destroy…so celebrate the day by connecting to the earth and drink some clean water while you can…
Find an old, wise soul to teach you what to eat and how to find it…when I was preparing for my brief appearance on Naked & Afraid I reached out to these types of folks from Grenada to Hawaii to Boulder…I drank the curative sap of the banana palm, but stopped short of eating the wild greens proffered to me from the lady on Pearl Street plucked as they were from amidst the dog shit and litter.
And that should’ve told me enough right there…
I will put this bluntly so it is not misunderstood…if you don’t trust the ground beneath your feet to produce food that you’d be willing to eat, then you should do one of two things – move to ground that you do trust, and take immaculate care of it from then on; or, do your utmost to revitalize the ground you choose to stay on.
Farming may have been the single biggest mistake ever made by man, but now that we’ve committed to it, we need to recommit to a sustainable version of it…
In his wonderful book Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life David R. Montgomery outlines some simple, radical parameters for accomplishing this including abandoning plowing – a practice foreign to this country before White farmers used their Black slaves to force it on this land.
But, as with anything, don’t just take my word for it…dare to do a little light reading yourself in honor of the Indigenous folks that did and do steward this earth, those that every day persist and are born in this country and others…
Enhance your perspective – hell, I’ve read the Koran, the Bible, and Harry Potter just to know what all the hullabaloo was about – it being from time to time important to immerse oneself in the cultural milieux…
Consider the following:
- Start with anything by Sherman Alexie including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
- Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynn is a pretty thrilling read with a predictable end (spoiler alert – the Natives lose)
- I’m savoring Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer in espresso sized sips…
- Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery offers hard science and practical lessons for both Big Ag and backyard growers
When the shit hits the fan and Canada and Mexico form a compact threatening to take over the US it will be critical that we all remember that if you were born in America you are a Native American…at some point our land, our language, our way of life and way of being might very well depend on that common identity and a celebrated, mixed-ancestry…
Happy Indigenous People’s Day!
Justin “Jud” Kaliszewski is the best-selling yoga teacher and renowned creator of Outlaw Yoga. Author. Artist. Adventurer. Though his studio is currently closed per state order, you can still take his class NOW at outlawyogaclub.com and www.youtube.com/outlawyoga. Find his writing and art at www.justinkaliszewski.com and his presence all over the internet – for an outlaw, he’s shockingly easy to get ahold of.