I’m Writing A Book!

Since I started Reclaiming Indigeneity in 2020, I have taught 30 reconnecting Natives about how to come home to ourselves, our lands, and our hearts in a good way. My students so far have come from all across the Americas. Most were raised in Canada or the United States, but trace their roots back to Mexico, the Caribbean, all the way down to Chile and across the Atlantic to Africa. They come full of hope and longing for a place to belong. Permission to be themselves even though they weren’t raised speaking their Native languages, with their Native peoples, or on their Native lands. They are often afraid of making mistakes, being culturally appropriative, or taking something that isn’t theirs. The impact of colonization on all of our families has been real. Assimilation, alcoholism, and sometimes abuse have taken their toll on us all. By the end of our class together, my students weep with relief because they know that it is possible to come home, they just need to put in the work to do it responsibly so they can be good community members.

It is an honor and a pleasure to share my experiences of implementing the teachings of Native elders and Indigenous mentors on how to do this work. We all have different starting points, our own opportunities for growth along the way that only we can learn from, and so will end up identifying differently at the end of our healing journeys. It is a delicate balance of how hard we are willing to work, how closely we listen to the universe and what it is trying to teach us, and the choices that we make along the way.

When I started teaching classes for non-native allies on Turtle Island, I realized that what we had in common was being raised in capitalism. My decolonization journey is very different because I have Native heritage from the Muisca people of Colombia, and have done the work to identify as Native Raised Other today. The journey of allies will take them back to reconnecting with their own homes, wherever those may be. But the process of examining our values, how they shape our behavior, and peeling back the layers of assimilation that capitalism, colonization, and white supremacy have imposed on all of us who were raised within the capitalist system, is the same.

I want to be able to share the many gifts that doing this work has brought me with as many people as possible, which is why I have decided to write a book. Teaching a few students at a time is essential, but if I have a book to sell that I can put in someone’s hands, then they are more likely to listen to what I have to say. It establishes my expertise, and serves as an organizing, educational and marketing tool for these ideas. I want to organize a whole slew of people who are trying to figure out how to have a good connection to their Native or Indigenous heritage to come home as responsible community members. I want to educate reconnecting Natives and allies to Native nations and Indigenous peoples on how to change their behavior so they can act in accordance with Indigenous values and ways of being. So they can be good friends and be in true solidarity to build Indigenous power together. I want to use the book as an opening to talk about decolonization work on talk shows, podcasts, do book tours and speaking events, and earn media coverage.

My goal for this book ultimately is to sew the seeds of change for a new world. A world in which people know who they are and where they come from. Where we share the same language to talk about home, what our responsibilities if we are guests on the land that we live on, and what it would take to feel safe and free on that land without private home ownership and the other trappings of capitalism. Where we can do the work of decolonizing so that we can move towards a new but also very old way of being. An Indigenous one.

I want to thank the Jewish Liberation Fund, the City of Boston Artist Fund, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council for funding my writing with grants. I also want to thank all of my family and friends who have donated to my GoFundMe to support me and this book. In the past year I have figured out that I am the project of writing this book, and the project is me. Please become a supporter and donate today.