In her poem “Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question,” Lac Court Oreilles Anishinaabe poet Diane Burns describes all the wrong ways for a person of European descent to relate to a Native person. Fortunately there are many opportunities to learn the right way to go about it. Here follows a simplified succession of steps to get you from Ms. Burns’s “stoic expression” to genuine human-to-human relationships.
Step One: HUMILITY
Accept that there is nothing that sets any other people or any other culture above those whose history predates European colonization, including your own.
Acknowledge that there is benefit in learning from other cultures besides your own.
Step Two: ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Accept that the land you currently occupy was taken by force and duplicity from its rightful inhabitants.
Acknowledge who those inhabitants were.
Commit to actions that can address the harm that resulted.
Step Three: EDUCATION
Learn about the people who inhabited the lands where you live in the time before European colonization.
Learn about the diversity of peoples who inhabited the lands now known as the United States.
Learn the history of European colonization from the point of view of those people: genocide, subjugation, resource extraction, assimilation, and erasure.
Keep up with current events that involve or impact these people, especially those whose land you currently occupy.
Step Four: ADVOCACY
Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny.
Learn about treaties and pressure the United States to honor them.
Advocate for the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Step Five: CELEBRATION
Learn about great historical figures and events, especially of the people whose land you currently occupy.
Enjoy films, videos, and music produced by Native artists.
Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct 12th rather than Columbus Day.
Step Six: SUPPORT
Patronize Native craftspeople and businesses.
Promote Right Relations among your friends and associates.
Step Seven: RESPECT
Read Native authors.
Watch or attend lectures and performances presented by Native people.
Don’t co-opt Native cultures or ceremonies.
Step Eight: PARTICIPATION
Attend powwows and other Native cultural events to which non-Native people are welcome.
Attend Native-organized and Native-sponsored events for non-Native people.
Step Nine: ALLYSHIP
Question and actively oppose racist stereotypes such as demeaning expressions, sports team names and mascots.
Question and actively oppose cultural appropriation and pretendianism.
Step Ten: CONNECTION
Reach out to Native people who are open to relationships.