With November almost upon us, we, a twitter collective of Indigenous Peoples, want to initiate a challenge. As most peoples are aware of, November has been known as ‘Native American Heritage Month’. Often tied to a goal of celebrating “the heritage, culture, and history of Native Americans and [recognizing]the many contributions Native Americans have made to our nation.” We decided to take the extra step for our celebration.
Therefore, between November 1, 2017, to November 14, 2017, we ask that you join us in a challenge. We have created themes for photo opportunities. They are as broad yet unique in their own way, catered to celebrate the multiplicity of our strengths, our stories, and our knowledges, despite daily acts of cultural genocide and cultural appropriation.
Among ourselves, we have emphasized particular issues in our communities that have been either been ignored or silenced, but not forgotten; created and maintained by the same ‘nation’ that wants to celebrate our heritage, culture, and history.
This challenge is intended to reclaim control over our narratives, restore our resilience, and revive our personhoods.
It is crucial that this effort centers on amplifying our voices, before and afterward. While also fortifying our resistance to the everyday challenges of colonization in all its forms; misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, anti-blackness, xenophobia, colorism, racism, classism, and every other system of oppression.
Social media movements such as #MMIW, #WaterIsLife, #ChangeTheMascot, #WeRNative, #StandingRock, etc. will be revisited as these movements are still pertinent in today.
We could not decide which hashtags to use, and so we have created four of them; #N8VMoments, #N8VNovember, #N8VMoves, and #NativesBeyond. Each unique and intended to be used in whatever way for this challenge.