CONTENTS
EDITOR'S NOTE
INTRODUCTION, by Sara Sinclair
EXECUTIVE EDITOR'S NOTE, by Mimi Lok
MAP
Gladys Radek, Terrace, Gitxsan / Wet'suwet'en First Nations
When Tamara went missing, it took the breath out of me.
Jasilyn Charger, Cheyenne River Sioux
My son's buried by the river. . . . I vowed to him that he's going to be safe, that no oil was going to touch him.
Wizipan Little Elk, Rosebud Lakota
On the reservation, you have the beauty of the culture and our traditional knowledge contrasted with the reality of poverty.
Geraldine Manson, Snuneymuxw First Nation
The nurse was trying to get me to sign a paper to put our baby, Derrick, up for adoption.
Robert Ornelas, New York City, Lipan Apache / Ysleta del Sur Pueblo
A part of the soul sickness for me was being ashamed. . . . What we were being taught about Indians was so minimal and so negative.
Ashley Hemmers, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe
I didn't work my ass off to get to Yale to be called a squaw.
Ervin Chartrand, Selkirk, Metis/Salteaux
They said I fit the description because I looked like six other kids with leather vests and long hair who looked Indian.
James Favel, Winnipeg, Peguis First Nation
You're a stakeholder because you've got to walk these streets every day.
Marian Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo
Indigenous peoples' reason for being is to be the caretakers of the air, the water, the land, and each other.
Blaine Wilson, Tsartlip First Nation
When I was twenty-five, thirty, there was more salmon and I was fishing every other day. Now I'm lucky to go once a week.
Althea Guiboche, Winnipeg, Metis/Ojibwe/Salteaux
I had three babies under three years old and I was homeless.
Vera Styres, Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk/Tuscarora
I was a 'scabby, dirty little Indian.'
GLOSSARY
HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF INDIGENOUS NORTH AMERICA
ESSAYS
- The Trail of Broken Promises: US and Canadian Treaties with First Nations
- Indigenous Perspectives on Historical Trauma: An Interview with Johnna James
- Indigenous Resurgence
TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO
FURTHER READING
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS