“All folx living in the Americas who are not indgienous to the lands we live upon, myself included, perpetuate and benefit from anti-Indigeneity and colonial land theft. All white people in the Americas are settlers and must acknowledge their settler privilege, and many non-Indigenous POC in the Americas perpetuate settler privileges.” (Ricketts 79)

Mother’s Tongue Says

Few are free of this insidious web as the founding of many countries in the Americas are founded from the European’s quest to expand through domination and conquest.

The collective needs to address this as the trauma has not been healed nor has the Domination mindsets that led to the conquest of the Indigenous evolved to mindsets of Partnerships. The collective can not move forward and transition from a System of Domination to a System of Partnership without decolonization. 

In order to decolonize, one step is recognizing the history of your ancestors, examine whose land you live on and your settler privilege. 

Settler Privilege defined by Dr. Kyle Powys Whyte: “means that some combination of one’s economic security, … Citizenship, sense of relationship to the land, mental and physical health, … career aspirations, and spiritual lives are not possible–literally!–without the territorial dispossession of Indgienous peoples.” 

“2% of the total population identify as Native American or Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with another ethnic identity,” so chances are if you are reading this in the US, you are not indigenous to the lands you live upon. Irregardless if you were the one who stole the lands, you are benefitting only because others have been oppressed. 

Colonization was driven by imperialism, a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. In doing so, they conquered a group of people by using violence by exterminating them, converting them, raping them, enslaving them, erasing their culture, hunting them … 

Colonization efforts were exacerbated by evangelical Christains - hyper focused on spreading the “word of God” and setting up as many Churches as possible and forcing Native Americans to relinquish their earth-based religions. 

Conquest on top of conquest. 

The very foundation is spoiled with this history and mindset. You cannot rewrite history but you can evolve. In order to evolve, you must heal. Healing requires doing the inner work. The inner work is required of the collective.

“We're looking at mass migrations [due to climate crisis] … these are all ramifications of a colonial and capitalist worldview that eradicated a balance, a sense of reciprocity, a sense of spiritual connection to our homelands …” Nikki Sanchez

How can you do this work?

“Use your work combined with your passions and with your gifts to start to dismantle a history that none of us should be proud of so that maybe we can offer our [future generations] a planet that's livable but a social system and community that's equitable.” Sanchez

“Decolonization is work that belongs to all of us.” Sanchez

Embodiment Exercise

• Take a look at ​​Nikki Sanchez’s Ted Talk, “Decolonization is for Everyone.” Some key points can be found on the attached document.
• Research the land you are living on.
• Begin to learn about the importance of Land Acknowledgement and how you can start.
• What can you do to take responsibility for decolonization?