We are still here

It is out of sadness that write today, but I still have hope.

I attended a three day conference on Race and Racism. The Science Museum of MN catered teachings on racism to reflect our community in Rochester. It was a wonderful three days though it was hard and we had to confront our own biases and those of others.  During the conference, one morning the leaders of the seminar held a moment of silence for my people, whose land this once was.  It was a lovely gesture and it made me cry.  I remain committed to ending racism in Rochester and I remain true to my faith and my people.  I kept and journal during the conference as was required, and I will continue to keep a RACE journal going forward.  It will not always be posted as a blog like today, but I felt a yearning to write.

My people go back to Chief Thunder > Glory of the Morning (b.1620-30), on my grandfather's line and back 7 generations on Joseph Sabrevior Decaris's (b.1630) line.  All these have had their temple blessings  done as well, as I believe in the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ. At any rate, a proud people, here before time was, created in the image of the Creator > Heavenly Father.  This land, given to my people to safeguard and to be stewards of. This is my history.  Even Glory of the Morning fought for the survival of her people and so too it is with me, to bring the truth in the light and to move our people forward in hope, looking forward to the return of the Creator, Himself.

Our church is quite proud of their genealogy commitment.  I had my complete line all the way back to Chief Thunder, and suddenly one day it was gone.  Someone with the last name of SMITH completely changed my family history.  I was beyond shocked.  I was speechless.  It was as if a part of me was lost.  I can't even look on the site without crying.  I am looking into other sites, who do not do such heinous things to people's precious family trees.  Someone actually replaced Glory of the Morning with Mrs. DeCarrie.  It's still painful.  Yet their work has been completed and I need to move forward.

Now to today, which set me on a path to write, to rid myself of the pain and anguish which I feel.  Today in church, our stake president, a goodly man, in an attempt to help us see that we have more things in common than we do our differences asked all those who were first generation immigrants to raise their hand.  This continued until we got the the 7th generation of immigrants.  I waited to hear that only NA's should have their hands down, but alas nothing further was said.  Now this was done to help us as a church be less biased and to stop the racism in the church or our stake in Zion.  There it was, the perpetuation of the racism I face each day.  The racism my children face each day.  We are invisible.  We are not here.  We have been dealt with.  Just as the French and the British have done before; put us in our place and moved forward with their acts of genocide and greed.

At first I felt surprised and then I felt sad. This is my church, and again, I and my family were being ignored, disregarded, and forgotten.  It just keeps happening over and over again.  it happens at work, especially with the SW's, it happens in the community, especially with the Park Department, and now in what is to be my refuge. What more can HF ask of me?  I keep going despite the hardship. Do my children see?  Do they see that I acknowledge the injustices and see that I continue to rise above their fray and move forward, only side lined for a day or two, but always moving forward.

I hope my children can move forward, not color blind like so many ask us to be, by trying to white wash the situation and see everyone as white or colorless. Or I hope they try not to appease anyone by being politically correct never confronting racism.  I hope they rise above the efforts by the dominant society to silence us POC, through the termination of the discussion before it even begins by setting up their norms to LIGHTLY address biases.  I will not always be here and my children need to be strong.

Glory of the Morning did what she had to, to ensure her people's survival, so too it is with me. She survived two regimes, the ire of her people after she became a Chieftess, and the ever changing landscape of her homelands given to her by the Creator Himself. I do not believe I would have been so brave or resilient to do what she did. I need to be strong for my children and my people. We are still here even if others do not see it or acknowledge it.