because Columbus Day is racist as f*#k

And a few fun facts:

Chris Stevens, the diplomat who was killed in Benghazi in September, was a member of the Chinook Indian Tribe of Washington State. (Okay, maybe that fact’s not so “fun.”)

Native American/First Nation language achievements of 2011
This is so cool because I’ve been wanting to learn Cherokee, since I have it on my both my maternal grandmother and grandfather’s sides, but have been hesitant because, “Where am I ever going to get the chance to use it?”

Thank you, Google.

IndiVisible: Exploring the lives of African-Native Americans

Within the fabric of American identity is woven a story that has long been invisible—the lives and experiences of people who share African American and Native American ancestry.

African and Native peoples came together in the Americas. Over centuries, African Americans and Native Americans created shared histories, communities, families, and ways of life. Prejudice, laws, and twists of history have often divided them from others, yet African-Native American people were united in the struggle against slavery and dispossession, and then for self-determination and freedom.

For African-Native Americans, their double heritage is truly indivisible.

I am reminded me of the time I checked Native American, along with Black, on a standardized test in school and my teacher said to me, in front of my 6th grade class, “You ain’t Indian.”
I just stared at her and said, “I think I know my family better than you do.”

And lastly, Wilma Mankiller was the first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee (1985).
Wilma Mankiller.
Mankiller.

I’m just imagining any time a male member of the council thought about disagreeing with her and her looking at him, like, “Did you read my name?”

Today, and all days, proud to be Black, Tsalagi (Cherokee), Siksiká (Blackfoot), and Irish