Telling the truth at home
For too long those of us who live on Shawnee land have lived with a poverty of information and understanding not just about Indigenous history, but of the present day realities of the Shawnee people.
Sometimes when tabling for SHF we find ourselves addressing two foundationally untrue misconceptions: that this land was an empty or a “shared” hunting ground, AND that Indigenous people are part of history- not the present. When trying to help foster a future of Shawnee excellence and representation here in the homeland, the poverty of knowledge on these issues presents us with a new opportunity.
As this effort got started, our only goal was to be a vessel of support and reparations for the Shawnee tribes. What’s evident is that these reparations are only going to come from those who have clarity about this land’s history and the reality of the Shawnee people today. Because too few people have this understanding we’ve amended the scope of our work to include the education of non-Native people about these truths. Creating a more informed and aware population here in the Shawnee homeland not only increases the support we can pass along to the tribes themselves, but also creates a more fertile culture to welcome the Shawnee people home and into relationship.
This education takes place in everyday conversations between our team and the community. Whether it’s tabling at a farmers market, speaking to class, or facilitating Shawnee led interpretation in museums and historic homes- every aspect of our work aims to help fill the vacuum of information around this land’s pre-colonial history, the realities of Indigenous removal, and the excellence of the Shawnee people today.
There’s this phrase: “history is written by the winners" as an explanation for the crooked stories we hear about our colonization and our city’s founding. While that explains the state of the story, I take issue with the title “winners”.
Can you imagine how much was lost when we chose not to learn from the communities that spent millenia in relationship and kinship with this land. Can you imagine the untapped brilliance that may have come from the collaboration of minds in food, agriculture, and medicine? Can you imagine the thousands of now-extinct and endangered flora and fauna that once sprawled across meadows that now only support soy and corn? Can you imagine if we raised our kids with a national origin story of cooperation, curiosity, vulnerability, and friendship- instead of the current fictions about bravery and strength on the frontier?
Consider the ways in which Indigenous genocide, forced removal, boarding schools, and war not only hurt those who lost the fight, but also damaged the very foundation on which a country was built.
Are there really winners in this scenario at all? We’re seeking a shared victory in the throws of stalemate?
There’s an ecological phenomenon where antidotal medicine very often grows right next to poisonous or toxic plants they counteract. We believe that here, in this place of displacement and poverty of knowledge- we have an opportunity to tend the pain and begin the long work of healing that’s desperately needed both here in non-Native people and in the long, wrongly displaced Shawnee people.
Healing goes both directions
Contact us
Have more questions? Want to work together? Fill our the form here or send an email to info@shawneehonorfund.org