Dominate Culture as a Culture of Violence

A Mother’s Kinaaldà Prayer
The child, a sacred being
whom we have been entrusted with
now herself is Changing Woman
The years of my journey on Earth Mother
to nurture her, she now begins as a woman
as I speak to the Holy Ones, I am centered
my thoughts are focused, well organized,
good thoughts for her coming of age as
She welcomes the change in her body, mind and
spirit
as she evolves into a flower of blossom for the
world to witness, behold, and honor,
she will carry her clanship into eternity
Be it her essence as she glories in the yearning
in her being, as she begins to see the universe in
a
different light, she walks lightly and gently as
not to disturb the beauty of life, the kindred spirit
she feels for her relatives of all walks, the creatures….
Now, at this time, she feels the core of who
she is, the spirit of the fire, the spirit of the water,
the spirit of the air, and she is the heartbeat of
the Earth Mother, they are one
We join her to embrace ourselves
she has always belonged, not to us,
but to the Way of Life, she is blessed
by the ancestral spirits,
the chants have beckoned them
And someday, she will be prepared and
when she is ready, in maturation, she, too,
will bring forth sacred beings to cherish
She will continue the Way of Life
-Shea Good luck


Tonight I went to a video screening and discussion of a film documentary: Listen to the Grandmothers, sponsored by The Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, Two Feathers Native American Family Services and Ink People Center for the Arts, and supported by Humboldt Domestic Violence Services and North Coast Rape Crisis. The video was created to help share the lessons and stories of elders as well as too help tribal governments and communities improve their support system and ground their methods and techniques of supporting and protecting women in their cultural traditions by better understanding violence against Native Women, from both traditional responses to violence as well as a cultural perspective. The video supported the response and awareness needed for survivors, advocates, tribal leaders, elders, health care workers, law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges.

It is something in our blood
It is something in our song
It is something in our soul
That makes Native Women strong
-Jayci Malone, Stockbridge,-Munsee Band of Mohicans

-Calvin Morrisseau, Ojibwe
(Anderson 2000)

For me, the film was a great reminder of women’s strength and wisdom, and that somewhere along the way, the value and respect women had has been lost. What happened to the “sacred woman?” It reminded me of the strength and importance women carry in raising a family, and how that role and those values seem to be lost. The video mentioned a few ways in which the value of women as the leaders of their communities has shifted. Reflections of this shift are due in part to both colonialism and the Native boarding school era. The genocide and oppression Natives have experienced has not only reminded me of the need of cultural values to be honored and remembered, but it has also shifted my awareness of the change in people’s relationship to alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, child abuse, mortality, depression, and suicide (this list is not exhausted by all means). Violence has real affects on the lives of children and their children’s children, and what does keeping them safe really mean? Something that was powerful for me in the video was something along the lines of hands and bodies are sacred, and were not mean to be violent. How can we as people, be responsible for our actions? How can we instill equality for women, men, and children?

“Many of the practices from the past cannot address current problems. However,
if the values attached to those practices could be reclaimed and new practices
built upon them, then it could work. For example, if the value of respect for elders
could be taught to young people in effective ways, then the knowledge of the elders
could inform youthful behavior in ways which would be acceptable to both.”
-Joan Ryan (1995)
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Calgary and
Senior researcher with the Arctic Institute of North America


The poem, quotes, and some of the information regarding this entry come from the following source:http://www.tribal-institute.org/download/Listen_to_Grandmothers_Video_Guide_%20June08.pdf