Gather is a new project currently in production that explores the state of Native American Food Sovereignty thru film, photography and print journalism.
Gather
Gather is a new film and journalism project on Native American Food Sovereignty.
We’re hoping (and fantasizing) that thousands of Americans will watch Gather on Netflix this November as a step to understanding and then healing. Any help in sharing would be sooo appreciated ... 🙏🏽
Thanksgiving is a day where Americans celebrate family and community. But we should understand that this is not a holiday for a lot of Native people.
The Thanksgiving myth was created by the elite in the late 1800s to give brown and olive skinned immigrants an American narrative that highlights our supposed Puritan roots- a clean, crisp myth about the founding of America - to assimilate these immigrants into white, protestant society.
Do we stop celebrating family and gratitude this Thanksgiving? Not If you don't want to. But how powerful can a holiday be if it was founded upon a cover up of murder and theft? For the Mashpee-Wampanoag, the qualities of gratitude and community are celebrated every day. They don’t need a holiday to remind them of that.
If you want to do something tiny but significant- please donate to First Nations Development Institute
Thanksgiving is a day where Americans celebrate family and community. But we should understand that this is not a holiday for a lot of Native people.
The Thanksgiving myth was created by the elite in the late 1800s to give brown and olive skinned immigrants an American narrative that highlights our supposed Puritan roots- a clean, crisp myth about the founding of America - to assimilate these immigrants into white, protestant society.
Do we stop celebrating family and gratitude this Thanksgiving? Not If you don't want to. But how powerful can a holiday be if it was founded upon a cover up of murder and theft? For the Mashpee-Wampanoag, the qualities of gratitude and community are celebrated every day. They don’t need a holiday to remind them of that.
If you want to do something tiny but significant- please donate to First Nations Development Institute
Dear friends,
We are now available on Netflix. Please share this post widely so we can reach as many people as possible.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
We are now available on Netflix. Please share this post widely so we can reach as many people as possible.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
First they took the land. Then they took the children. They tried to destroy the culture. But they failed.
Getting the land back is just the first step.
If you haven’t watched Gather, maybe this weekend is a good time to. On Amazon, iTunes, Vimeo On Demand (see link in profile).
@nephi_craig @apachefarmer @apachepeoplesfarm @cafe_gozhoo
Getting the land back is just the first step.
If you haven’t watched Gather, maybe this weekend is a good time to. On Amazon, iTunes, Vimeo On Demand (see link in profile).
@nephi_craig @apachefarmer @apachepeoplesfarm @cafe_gozhoo
Nearly every Native or First Nations family has a horrific story about boarding schools. Often those stories will never be told to anyone, even family members.
Here’s a scene from one of our previous movies @3100film in which one of the supporting cast members, Shaun Martin (Diné) endeavors to pay tribute to his Father, medicine man Allan Martin. Allan was forcibly kidnapped from his family’s homesite on the western areas of the Rez, as early as 6 years old and taken 110 miles south to Leupp, Arizona. Allan began regularly escaping, following the Little Colorado River for 6 days until he reached home.
He’d save breadcrumbs and other scraps to fuel his journey and would only move at night, to evade school patrols. He did it every year, each time getting captured again shortly after returning home.
Dozens of his classmates attempted similar journeys. Some survived. Many did not. These were CHILDREN. Six, seven, eight year old kids, wandering through the high desert alone, for days - in the vicious cold and heat. With animals everywhere. Imagine how unsafe a kid would have to feel to leave shelter for uncertainty like this.
Shaun, an ultra marathoner, started a prayer run at the site of the old school and ran 110 miles through ravines and canyons to end up at the ancestral homesite.
Allan’s experiences were so traumatic that he never took his sons or wife to that homesite, until the filming of 3100 Run and Become (on Amazon). Shaun’s arrival there (via GPS) was the first time he’d ever been there.
The film is about a number of running traditions, but Shaun’s story is worth the time in and of itself.
@wings_of_america
Here’s a scene from one of our previous movies @3100film in which one of the supporting cast members, Shaun Martin (Diné) endeavors to pay tribute to his Father, medicine man Allan Martin. Allan was forcibly kidnapped from his family’s homesite on the western areas of the Rez, as early as 6 years old and taken 110 miles south to Leupp, Arizona. Allan began regularly escaping, following the Little Colorado River for 6 days until he reached home.
He’d save breadcrumbs and other scraps to fuel his journey and would only move at night, to evade school patrols. He did it every year, each time getting captured again shortly after returning home.
Dozens of his classmates attempted similar journeys. Some survived. Many did not. These were CHILDREN. Six, seven, eight year old kids, wandering through the high desert alone, for days - in the vicious cold and heat. With animals everywhere. Imagine how unsafe a kid would have to feel to leave shelter for uncertainty like this.
Shaun, an ultra marathoner, started a prayer run at the site of the old school and ran 110 miles through ravines and canyons to end up at the ancestral homesite.
Allan’s experiences were so traumatic that he never took his sons or wife to that homesite, until the filming of 3100 Run and Become (on Amazon). Shaun’s arrival there (via GPS) was the first time he’d ever been there.
The film is about a number of running traditions, but Shaun’s story is worth the time in and of itself.
@wings_of_america
Boarding Schools are *current history*. There are thousands of survivors of these residential schools who are still in their 50s or even younger.
What was uncovered in Canada (an unmarked burial site for 215 students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School) is the tip of the iceberg.
Residential schools have caused such a profound amount of trauma. So many elders simply cannot speak of the physical and sexual and psychological assault they faced in these genocidal labs. And yes they were by all definitions genocidal - according to the definition of genocide, one of the criteria includes separation and destruction of culture. And we know as well that a number of young girls were given forced sterilizations. And that too - as horrific as it is - is a step away from what was revealed at Kamloops.
It’s all just too painful.
What was uncovered in Canada (an unmarked burial site for 215 students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School) is the tip of the iceberg.
Residential schools have caused such a profound amount of trauma. So many elders simply cannot speak of the physical and sexual and psychological assault they faced in these genocidal labs. And yes they were by all definitions genocidal - according to the definition of genocide, one of the criteria includes separation and destruction of culture. And we know as well that a number of young girls were given forced sterilizations. And that too - as horrific as it is - is a step away from what was revealed at Kamloops.
It’s all just too painful.
We know that guns=power for the dominant white ruling class in the US. And we can be sure that this particular fetish can be traced back to the earliest colonizers. But let’s go a little deeper.
The military advantage Europeans had over the Indigenous of Turtle Island were horses and guns (and, later, disease).
The thirteen colonies pushed toward a Revolution because of issues around land (in part). Remember, the entire Eastern seaboard was not *wilderness* but a carefully cultivated map of farm land and other food supporting ecosystems. The Anglo Europeans (as opposed to the Spaniards) recognized the extractive value in this preciously preserved topsoil. Rather than mine gold, they mined carbon, transforming regenerative farmland into massive mono-cropped plantations that generated tremendous wealth. Of course, this “economy of scale” depended on stolen land and stolen labor.
By 1763, in just 150 years, American farmers had so depleted the topsoil of the East that they clamored to push over the Appalachian range and steal more land. But, that push would need British Military support. Why? The Indigenous would come back again and again to try to retake their land and these American “Farmers” needed ammunition, garrisons and supply chains.
The British had just issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, forbidding settling west of the Appalachians and ceding that land to Natives (as if it weren’t already Natives’ land). And American farmers were livid. Economists say this was the first major stimulus of the Revolutionary War.
One of the first things the new American congress did post War was open up these territories, destroying the sovereignty set into law by the British. And expanding the American economy again w/ guns and bullets.
Bullets upheld the economy and kept the power toward white land owners vs Natives and African Americans. Nothing has changed.
Ledger art by @montileauxart
The military advantage Europeans had over the Indigenous of Turtle Island were horses and guns (and, later, disease).
The thirteen colonies pushed toward a Revolution because of issues around land (in part). Remember, the entire Eastern seaboard was not *wilderness* but a carefully cultivated map of farm land and other food supporting ecosystems. The Anglo Europeans (as opposed to the Spaniards) recognized the extractive value in this preciously preserved topsoil. Rather than mine gold, they mined carbon, transforming regenerative farmland into massive mono-cropped plantations that generated tremendous wealth. Of course, this “economy of scale” depended on stolen land and stolen labor.
By 1763, in just 150 years, American farmers had so depleted the topsoil of the East that they clamored to push over the Appalachian range and steal more land. But, that push would need British Military support. Why? The Indigenous would come back again and again to try to retake their land and these American “Farmers” needed ammunition, garrisons and supply chains.
The British had just issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, forbidding settling west of the Appalachians and ceding that land to Natives (as if it weren’t already Natives’ land). And American farmers were livid. Economists say this was the first major stimulus of the Revolutionary War.
One of the first things the new American congress did post War was open up these territories, destroying the sovereignty set into law by the British. And expanding the American economy again w/ guns and bullets.
Bullets upheld the economy and kept the power toward white land owners vs Natives and African Americans. Nothing has changed.
Ledger art by @montileauxart
We are beyond grateful to have been awarded the Food and Farm Communication Fund 2021 impact media award, which we shared with the amazing @whetstonemagazine .
As you well know, we did not expect anyone outside Indian country to have any interest in this project much less non-Native media organizations. It moves us beyond imagination to see the sort of dialogue that has begun and the right and proper elevation of Indigenous people in leading these conversations. No longer will Indigenous people simply stand on the sidelines or deferentially accept a mere seat at the table. Diversity and inclusion does not equate to acceptance of leadership.
And the critical issues plaguing the world right now require more than just a seat at the table. Gather was created to show the urgency of giving stewardship and leadership back to those who have the capacity to heal the world and not those who continue to destroy it.
We are profoundly grateful to all those who considered us for this award. And we are so honored to share the stage with @whetstonemagazine 🙏🏽🙏🏽
As you well know, we did not expect anyone outside Indian country to have any interest in this project much less non-Native media organizations. It moves us beyond imagination to see the sort of dialogue that has begun and the right and proper elevation of Indigenous people in leading these conversations. No longer will Indigenous people simply stand on the sidelines or deferentially accept a mere seat at the table. Diversity and inclusion does not equate to acceptance of leadership.
And the critical issues plaguing the world right now require more than just a seat at the table. Gather was created to show the urgency of giving stewardship and leadership back to those who have the capacity to heal the world and not those who continue to destroy it.
We are profoundly grateful to all those who considered us for this award. And we are so honored to share the stage with @whetstonemagazine 🙏🏽🙏🏽
