You were born into beauty, as beauty, for harmoniously balanced life. That is the truth.
My gift to the world is describing the way back home; describing the journey back into a way of being human here that understands that I am part of a whole tapestry of life that is ever running.
This place of understanding is not a perfect place: there are potholes there. Perhaps it was never perfect. That's why my clan grandfather used to say, "Here we are, holy Earth surface walkers, dazzled by creation and coming upon temptation." We are being called to come to terms with the truth of ourselves, the purity of ourselves, the honour of this body, the innocence of our love and eventually to become the one who sends out that song of understanding.
So I say, "OK". I will live into this heart that You gave to me. It is a medicine unlike any other.
This section provides a small experience of a recitation of the Great Law of Peace, in order to frame our return to indigenous, sustainable protocols for peace, based on a more accurate understanding of our shared, human history.
Great Law of Peace Recital (Excerpt)
Two Row Wampum Working Group
Akala's address at the Oxford Union and David Graeber and David Wengrow's discussion at the University of Amsterdam both provide important intellectual background for those less able to follow what is being transmitted in the oral testimony above.
If you feel uncomfortable with such historical insight, it might be an idea to investigate your own roots, which are deeper than whiteness. In particular:
Realizing the depth of my ancestors’ humanity prior to the advent of white supremacy has given me the strength to be accountable to the harms that they carried out in its name. I have come to believe that facing our country’s history (and my own family history) of racist violence, grieving it and seeking to repair it, could be deeply healing for me rather than shame-filled. I believe that heeding the calls of activists of color to address past and present racial harms, and to unlearn our own conscious and unconscious racial biases, should not be shame-inducing, but instead a process of reconnecting to our true heritage.
Reconnecting to this history, to our roots that are deeper than whiteness, allows us to quell feelings of shame with meaningful self-understanding. It also allows us to recognize that our survival in this increasingly unequal and polluted world depends on our ability to ally ourselves with indigenous people and people of color. From this grounded place, we have the opportunity to re-enter multiracial community, witness the wounds of racism with open hearts, and take collective action to both mend these wounds and replace corporate domination with an economic system based on sustainability and care. Our emergence as genuine partners in such a revolution is made possible with the wholeness and self-love that comes when we remember who we are.
Akala
David Graeber & David Wengrow
Julia Watson