Thread by @GabriellaCKelly

I get questions like: Where are you from? What Tribe are you? What percent Indian are you? Do you get money from the casinos? Do you speak Indian? Do you know about (obscure historical fact)? Do you know (Native who lives in another state)? Do you live on the reservation?

Do you have a lot of alcoholics in your family? I found out I'm Native recently, do you know how I can find out more about my Tribe? Is it offensive to say "reservation"? Do you know a Medicine person or healer I can talk to? Have you done peyote?

I have gotten these questions while in elevators, on sidewalks, standing in line at the grocery store, eating dinner with my family in public, waiting in line at Disneyland, riding an airplane, sitting on a bench, while reading a book, on my social media about unrelated topics,

People have touched my hair, grabbed my arm, rubbed my arm, reached for my face, straightened out my t-shirt to get a better look at it w/out my permission. I also get comments about my appearance and my "exotic features" all the time: teeth, eyes, skin, hair, these cheekbones.

When I ask for safe spaces, I am not asking for "special treatment", I am asking to be left tf alone, to experience a space free of curiosity about my body, or invasive questions. I am asking for people to not feel entitled to dehumanize me or my community.

But like... why do I have to ask for that?

Why do I have to convince people that others treat me differently? How much evidence do I need to provide before y'all just believe and think, "You know what, that sucks - we can do better." "We got this."

Why do I have to experience pain in order for my concerns to be valid? We make cars with seatbelts and brakes, because we KNOW we're going to need them. We put fire extinguishers in houses because there's a possibility we'll need them. We prepare for all sorts of emergencies.

White Supremacy is an emergency. We're in a state of emergency. It's literally costing us our lives. But there are absolutely no safety measures being built. So we'll just keep subjecting the "sensitive people" to racism in the meantime and degrading us when we speak out.

If I go to your meeting and you do NOTHING to address racist comments being made, you are part of the problem. There should be community standards, there should be policies and protocols, you have to know how to identify it.

when people say they smell smoke and they see flames, you need to believe them and jump into action. In the meantime I'm going to leave the room. And if that room is prone to bursting into flames, I'm not gonna keep coming back. I can try to put it out, but not by myself.

Your house is on fire and you're debating whether the flames are real.

Sure, your house might burn to the ground and that could be the end. Or it could spread, like it's been spreading since 1492.