We are still fighting to 'exist' as Indigenous

Indigenous life-way.
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2017

Injustice. The word just sounds evil. My Indigenous people have been through so much since 'contact.' We as Indigenous have stood, been knocked down, cried, mourned since the European came to the shores of our ancestral homelands. Through all the autrocities that have been committed against us as Indigenous, we still stand steadfast.  During this time of great political change in America, we as Indigenous keep strong to our ways, our Indigenous prayer-ways keep and sustain us.

Although the statement is often said, "We are all one, we are all humans" the fact is that my Indigenous people are not like the ordinary man or woman. We have maintained our ways of being, our Indigenous epistemologies are our survival life-givers. We still have our sacred Indigenous languages that are sustained via our prayer lives, our spiritual lives are strong as ever.

In this year of 2017 across America my Indigenous brothers and sisters, and the elders too, are amidst a plethora of turmoils. We are all still fighting to 'exist' as Indigenous people - for the America of our ancestors time and in the 21st century still does not want us here. They still maintain the same colonialist theories and tactics to 'wipe' us off this earth. In North Dakota the People are still standing steadfast against the Dakota Access Pipeline, still doing all they can to protect the sacred waters and sacred sites.  The 'NODAPL' Water Protectors are our present day warriors, they have the blood of their historical past of warrior-hood flowing through them.

I share this with you because I am hoping to bless the People, to bless this land which was tainted from the very beginning. We are Indigenous are the direct, sacred creation of the only one and true Creator God. We were put on this earth for a purpose, I believe it is to remind "they, the others that the Earth is sacred, and that the elements of Earth are blessings to maintain the spiritual life, and that WE Indigenous are watching.

This blog is dedicated specifically to my southwest desert Pueblo and Navajo ancestors, but really too to all Indigenous of North and South America, and it is still about 'Indigenous Adornment' but these other issues we face too are a part of the experience. I 'adorn' myself as a way of stating visually that I am a child of the desert lands, and I wear my turquoise as a way of respecting the beliefs and ways of my southwest Indigenous heritage.

I 'adorn' to say, 'I'm still here, my life is relevant, my Indigenous existence is sacred.'

Blessings.

By Venaya J. Yazzie 2017

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED