How to Be a Good Guest

 

I wanted to share a framework that I’ve been working with as part of my own decolonization work (and really, this feels like life work). Hopefully these slides will help other white folx to consider their relationship to this indigenous land and to be better guests and stewards.

Know whose land you’re on
{Look up your zipcode at native-land.ca}
…and know that it is stolen land
Land acknowledgement, not coupled with loving action, is an empty gesture
{Look up your local Treaty at digitreaties.org}

Be generous to your hosts
{this is not in the spirit of ‘charity’}
“Giving someone something that belongs to them is not doing them a favor”
—Magogodi oaMphela Makhene
Can you pay tax to the tribe whose land you are on? Can you help with relief efforts? Can you support upholding of sacred treaties that have been desecrated? Can you physically give land back to the rightful stewards?

Learn to speak a few words in the native language
{English is a foreign tongue on this land}
Offering even a few native words to the land you are on is a way of healing that colonization

Enjoy trying native foods
{Learn to cook a few indigenous recipes}
Support indigenous farmers/businesses when sourcing foods

Don’t appropriate sacred traditions or rituals
{Indigenous regalia is not a costume}
{Don’t make and sell products that exploit native iconography or knowledge}
We have stolen enough, don’t perpetuate violence and erasure
Rule: if it feels questionable, air on the side of caution

Leave the land better than you found it
Can you think 7 generations ahead and be a good future ancestor?
{What healing traditions are you incorporating for you and passing on to your future decedents?}
{What harmful acts + stories are you refuting or dismantling?}


In a panel I watched last fall, Tommy Orange illuminated that “the Western mentality is to take credit for everything.” In order to not perpetuate that erasure, I want to acknowledge that I’ve been ruminating on these ideas for a while, with inspirations from the powerful teachings of Robin Wall Kimmerer (whose book Braiding Sweetgrass opened my mind in so many ways), Corinna Gould (co-founder of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust which I pay Shuumi to each year in gratitude), Lyla June (who inspired me with her run for office and 7 day fast to honor the 7 generations of the future), and most recently the incredible line up of indigenous teachings via Love as a Kind of Cure BEFORE THNKSGVNG festival. I’m sure there are many other teachings and inspirations that I have absorbed in many ways, so I am not able to name them all, but it is important to honor at least some.

I am also not all-knowing and am in a learning process myself. If anything on here feels inaccurate, or if I missed something important, please let me know in the comments or via email! I am evolving and learning alongside you all. In the words of the Chochenyo Ohlone language, I am inspired to tappe ta-k hinnan (learn with the heart)