Thread by @DalyAmandaMay

The firestorm around the #SacheenLittlefeather allegations has had me glued to Twitter for the last few days with a sense of creeping dread. I finally saw the tweet I knew was coming… one directed at me and people like me, who have been displaced, adopted out or disconnected (1)

There are people who believe that people like me, who are reconnecting to community and culture, should sit down and shut up, that we should not show leadership, that we don’t have the lived experience of indigeneity. This is false. We are Indigenous and we are alive (2)

Displacement and interference in our connection to culture IS an Indigenous experience. The last residential school closed in Canada in 1996. What happens to us in our lives and what takes us back to culture are important and should be talked about. We are survivors and our (3)

Very existence is resistance. We are our ancestors dreams come true. This is not to say that we know everything and we can speak for others. With my work I speak for myself, from my own heart and with the platforms that my relative privilege affords me I ALWAYS raise up others(4)

It’s important to remember to be humble, to be gracious, to be kind. Every opportunity that has ever come my way to advocate in any way I have always chosen to lift up the voices of those who know more than me. That’s the work. Lifting others up, raising the bar but always (5)

ALWAYS understanding that there is more to learn. If you’re an Indigenous person who was cut off from culture, your voice still matters, you deserve a place in the conversation because what happened to you is #colonialism & those who seek to restrict your ability to contribute (6

Those people who say that you are not Indigenous enough are misguided. My #bloodquantum has never been challenged in my life before this month. I grew up in culture to the age of 9, I KNOW I belong, even if #BillC31 robbed me of the right to registration until I was an adult (7)

I acknowledge the damage done by #pretendians and understand the harm. What I am saying is that those of us who are of mixed ancestry or have been displaced in some way, we still deserve our voices to be heard on #NativeTwitter and in the world at large. There are ethical ways (8

To #reconnect with culture and community. For me, I got involved in direct action, I reached out to relatives and mentors whose work I admire and respect. I re established ties to community and most of all I put my heart and soul into advocacy. (9)

For me, and I’m just saying this is my experience… My contributions to direct action are born out of my connection to Spirit and culture. Having to prove my #bloodquantum to be allowed to contribute in any space makes me deeply, deeply uncomfortable. (10)

I’m saying all this in hopes that 1 person out there, who has been reading the #SacheenLittlefeather controversy and wants to reconnect to culture but is afraid of being accused of being #pretendians even though you know you’re #INDIGENOUS Don’t be scared. You matter too 🧡