April 14, 2016
by Hannah Battiste
An average “Indian”
They say they know, but do they?
They correct and stare, as if they’ve lived our lives.
As if they died fighting, as if they struggled while protesting.
We were “found” and we were okay.
But they treated our people as if they were an unspoken disaster.
The use of direction, infection, and miscommunication made a Nation.
And for what? For selfishness, for determination, destruction, and wealth.
They say they’ve done the damage for a purpose.
The purpose was a lesson, a lesson not often educated, but a lesson well-known.
The lesson destroyed our nation.
The lesson destroyed our people.
They say that the past is the past.
But the past means having to live with the present
Having to live with the physical and emotional pain.
For what reason? For what lesson? For what person?
The survivors had to learn all over again.
The survivors had to love again.
The survivors had to LIVE again.
No, not everyone is the same
No, not every person is left to blame,
And no, we will not define this pain
An average “Indian” is the colour of brown
An average “Indian” is not most likely to succeed
An average “Indian” is most likely to live off welfare
An average “Indian” is mostly likely not educated.
We were ruined and misguided,
We were misidentified and judged,
We were followed in a store because of our appearance
We were kicked out of school because we’re not supposed to learn
We were beat down because we stood up for ourselves
We were broken into pieces and separated because:
We weren’t an average “Indian”
Now when I say we:
I mean them.
The Elder who fought their way to the top
The man who became a chief
The woman who was educated enough to be a lawyer
The Elder who worked hard labour for her children
The men who struggled to put food on the table
The women who took a beating for her people
When I say they
I mean the real warriors.
Today we have a lot more power then we know
We have a bigger team
We have a bigger nation
We have a bigger communication
We are all our own individual warrior
We are not an average “Indian”
We are First Nations
We have creativity
And we have other races
We have Nations
We have technology
We have voices
We are not an average “Indian”
Nor is any Indigenous person who has walked this planet
We will not be defined by the way we walk
The way we talk
The way we work
The way we rant
The way we tumble
The way we survive
Because we’re making it.
We’re changing history
We’re making history
We’re making our own rules,
We were making our own futures
Not just because we owe it to us
but because we owe it to the warriors
We owe it to the people who called us “an average Indian”
We’re making it in this nation
Because we create
It doesn’t matter what colour our skin is
It doesn’t matter how long or short our hair is
It doesn’t matter what language we speak
It doesn’t matter what God we worship
It doesn’t matter what we wear
And it sure doesn’t matter who we impress
Because WE ARE STRONGER
All the pain that was caused was meant to happen,
All the tears were supposed to happen
All the struggling was supposed to happen
Because look at where we are now
This is about us!
This is about what we are capable of
This is about our nation
This is about the warrior inside of you
The guidance you want to share
The ideas and talent we all have
We’ve built this place with our eyes
with our voices
with our brains
We could do anything we set our minds too
not because we now have power
But because we are not an average “Indian”
We’re our own guidance
We’re our own person
We’re our own WARRIOR.
When you look at someone succeeding
and think you can’t do it
Because you are the one who created this life we live in now
You are the one who created the power
We are the ones who fight.
No not because we are an average “Indian”
But because we are a SOMEONE
We are Lnu!
We are tomorrow’s history!
And we will never be “average”.
About Hannah Battiste
I am a young Mi’kmaq woman, who fights for what she believes in, and for her people. I believe that all bad things turn into good things. History is being made, and I’m planning on helping anyway that I can.
Image by Krystalline Kraus