Here we go! @KamalaHarris up first. Her first interview as VP candidate is with @19thnews. Shouts out to all of the other women in contention. "We're gonna get this done." #19thRepresents
Harris: Didn't feel in competition with other women presidential candidates, but pride as a diverse group of women. #19thRepresents@KamalaHarris
Harris: "Biden had the audacity to choose a Black woman as his running mate." Brings risk and says something about Biden's character. A statement about his vision and about our future. "The Biden/Harris ticket is about representing who America really is." #19thRepresents
Harris: Biden/Harris administration that will focus on future and be unburdened by what has been. "I am not unique. There are a lot of people like me." This is who we are and what we are. Our ticket affirms who we are in the face of the current president. #19thRepresents
Harris: Joe and I share many experiences and values such as family, healthcare, job creation, etc. Values that are a combination of hope and vision and faith and commitment. #19thRepresents
Harris: Biden/Harris agenda is a shared one. Building Back Better is bringing dignity to working families, bringing healthcare to those who need it, care for caregivers. Shared commitment re: climate crisis. Ensuring communities of color are big part of the plan. #19thRepresents
Harris: Doug is so supportive of me and of women in general, he is comfortable in many roles, has a great relationship with Dr. Jill Biden. #19thRepresents
Harris: Re: suffrage centennial: We should celebrate but see how much we still have to do to achieve true equality, such as pay equity. Reminds us how Howard women fought for suffrage as well. Women build coalitions and fight together, & disparities still exist. #19thRepresents
Harris: "I'm the only Black woman in the United States Senate... we still have a long way to go." Biden helped to push progress forward by choosing her for VP. We must be conscious of systemic racism and injustice. #19thRepresents
Harris: We can't wait. We have to get uncomfortable so that we can get where we need to go. "Every issue is a woman's issue and 'women's issues' should be everyone's issues." She's often been the first woman in positions she's schieved. #19thRepresents
Harris wants to talk about issues, not necessarily about what it feels like to be the first woman doing something. Women have many priorities and they must be recognized. Women carry the weight, a disproportionate burden, so we must make these issues priorities. #19thRepresents
Harris: My mother said, "You may be the first to do many things, make sure you aren't the last." When you walk through a door, widen it, pull others through. #19thRepresents
Harris: There are so many talented Black women and WOC to fill her soon-to-be vacated senate seat and/or to do more. It's inexcusable that we don't have equity yet in politics. We must support BIWOC candidates running. #19thRepresents
Harris: Black women pay attention to the issues and they vote for people who represent their priorities and needs. Issues such as childcare, health care, pay equity, Black Lives Matter. Biden/Harris ticket speaks to those issues. #19thRepresents
Harris: This is a battles for the soul of our country, as Biden says. The current occupant of the WH doesn't lift people up. The Biden/Harris ticket isn't about who and how many you beat down but who you lift up. To give your pride. #19thRepresents
Harris fears the damage may be irreversible if we don't get current occupant of the WH out. This is the most important election of our time. Harris says to ask ourselves: Why don't they want us to vote? BC when we vote, things change! #19thRepresents
Harris: When we vote, things get better. People are treated with dignity and respect. We -- esp POC -- know how to get around obstacles and we need to do this in the next 80+ days, get around the barriers they are putting up to ensure our votes are counted. #19thRepresents
Sherri Mitchell (Penobscot) is the final speaker at the #Indigenous History Conference. She is the author of the award-winning book Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change. sacredinstructions.life
Mitchell: What guidance have I been given that will lead me into the future? It's a circular route that we travel. We have to be living for all of our relations. This is how prayers are ended, relations are acknowledged.
Mitchell: so maybe that's where we should begin: how do we be good relatives? Think about grandmothers, mothers, aunties, they are the ones who have taught us how to be a good relative. This matrilineal line was directly attacked by colonialism and patriarchy.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is first up. If you haven't read her classic BRAIDING SWEETGRASS, you should get the beautiful special edition of it now (would make a great holiday gift!) from Milkweed Editions @Milkweed_Books: milkweed.org/book/braiding-…
Kimmerer: Will discuss the prophecies of the Seventh Fire which counter the myth of the First Thanksgiving and the overall lack of Native American historical literacy.
And the second session today at the #Indigenous History Conference is "From Traditional Knowledge to Colonial Oversight to Indigenous Integration: Educator’s Roundtable Indian Education in New England" with Alice Nash, Tobias Vanderhoop (Aquinnah Wampanoag),
Jennifer Weston (Hunkpapa Lakota, Standing Rock), and
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant (Tuscarora).
Vanderhoop: "The colonial system of education happened to us." Wampanoag in the colonized schools were seen as more controllable, agreeable, etc. But their intention to get rid of Native Americans via the colonize education system failed.
This morning I'm attending the second to last panels of the conference! "Writing Ourselves into Existence: Authors’ Roundtable: New England Native Authors and Literature" with Siobhan Senier @ssenier, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan) @tantaquidgeon, Carol Dana (Penobscot),
John Christian Hopkins (Penobscot), Cheryl Savageau (Abenaki), and Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag). This has been a fantastic conference, I hate that this is the last weekend! Thanks to all for your hard work! @Plymouth_400@BridgeStateU@joyce_rain18
Dawnland Voices edited by @ssenier is the first collection of its kind from Indigenous authors from what is now referred to as New England. Tribes are very good at shepherding their own literary works.