disrupting/dismantling colonial systems as a methotheenia ini ilocano kwe. cook/farmer/birthworker. creator of
#settlersaturday
. venmo: twosisterbears
Hey it’s your big sis and I’m so happy to share that I am now a tribal council member ready to serve my community through this formal leadership manner.
I graduated!
I am a first generation college graduate. I graduated high school from the only reservation school in Kansas. I am a tribal college graduate. And now I graduated from a state college.
I am also the youngest person serving my nation as a tribal council member. ❤️
Hello settler allies!
Today is a perfect day to redistribute your wealth and share your privileges with Native folks.
This will serve as a thread of Native individuals and organizations you can give back to directly. Native relatives, I invite you to share your links and needs.
Last year, my sister gave birth to the youngest baby in our family. They are the sixth baby born to mothers who traditionally parent children.
I named them, I gave them a name that will help them through their life. We celebrated their arrival and welcomed them with our 1/
Settler allies!
Today is the perfect day to redistribute wealth to a Native relative!
I invite you to especially celebrate this day by beginning or continuing to share direct aid with a Native person or community.
Native relatives, please share your links and needs below!
Hello settler allies!
Today, July 4th, is a perfect day to redistribute wealth to Native folks. Native relatives are working through heavy news and hard times.
This will serve as a thread of Native folks you can share with.
Native relatives, please share your links and needs.
13/ youngest baby could have been taken days after being born.
This pushed us to become birth workers. And we have helped ensure that our children in community won’t be taken.
We show up to births and celebrate these important times. We are community people committed to caring.
Happy Indigenous People’s Day!
Settler allies, today I ask you to redistribute wealth to Indigenous folks. This will serve as a thread of folks who can use help. If you are unable to donate, RTs help.
Native folks, please share your links and needs below.
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
A few years back my sister spoke with me about dreams she was having. She was dreaming of planting and protecting seeds. She was the only who could protect these special seed beings. She asked me if we could plant a physical garden.
This was the beginning of 1/
Settler allies!
It’s Indigenous People’s Day! In honor of IPD, please take the time to RT and share some of that privilege with the Indigenous people of this land.
This will serve as a thread for Native people to share their links.
(Native relatives, feel free to add yours)
Hello settler allies!
It is
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
! Today I invite you all to share your wealth and privileges through giving directly to Indigenous folks.
This will serve as a thread of folks you can give directly to.
(Indigenous relatives please add your links below)
A week or so ago, I mentioned my tribe will lease land to me for growing. Well instead of leasing land for a garden, my tribe has given my sister and I the responsibility of the entire community garden. Now we have 10 acres to grow food and medicines for our community!
Hello friends!
I am so happy to report that my tribe had the winning bids on three tracts of land. We will again be caring for 350 acres of land that was stolen from us.
When we won the bids yesterday, I cried and sang thank you songs. This is some of the best news in my life.
12/ how to navigate the child welfare system. She knew advocates who surrounded her and her family with letters and calls of support.
And the case was closed. And we’re lucky because if we didn’t have this knowledge and support, things could have been much different. Our
11/ a state and facility that wanted to take her child and put the family through the system.
Luckily we had support and networks within our tribe, and we were able to bring the baby’s care to our health center for appointments. My sister herself worked in social work, and knew
Hello settlers,
This will be a thread of native people you can give back to during
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
and Th*nksgiving.
Share your resources and privilege.
(Native friends, share your links below)
2/ whole hearts.
My sister gave birth in a hospital one hour away from our reservation community. There is one hospital locally but there is a painful history with our parents giving birth and having their children taken away through work with this hospital.
Anyway, this is why
10/ the state deemed her unfit to care for her child. They investigated her home and life. She had a career and formal education and personally supported many during their birthing journeys, none of that mattered because she was an identifiable Native parent who gave birth in
3/ she chose to give birth further out. Historically the last birth in our actual community lands was over seventy years ago. And the last person born on the reservation recently passed.
Before this, our relatives giving birth were sent to another state. They would have to
9/ the state immediately opened a case. That next day (Monday) the state worker came out to investigate my sister’s parenting.
My sister was four days postpartum. Although, she had family and community support and years of proven experience with caring for her children well,
5/ in, my sister made the choice to give birth an hour away. She had a high risk pregnancy, and had many late night trips to the ER.
I always joined her. I had to be sure that we were safe and treated fairly. And it helped because I could be the voice during those times. Anyway,
4/ travel away to an unfamiliar hospital and hope their babies would be born safely. And in my own family’s story, those children did not always make it to birth, even though the parents loved and cherished the pregnancy.
Taking all of the generational and community experiences
8/ Sunday, she was just too tired to travel an hour away with the newborn to see someone who probably knew just as much as her about breastfeeding through lived experience and community work.
And because she didn’t go to this appointment, the hospital contacted the state. And
Settler allies,
I’ve noticed many Native folks needing help with essential needs, many without funds for their rent. It is a good time to share/redistribute wealth to Native relatives.
If you cannot donate, retweets are helpful.
Native folks share your links and needs below.
6/ my sister gave birth in the summer. She gave birth on a Thursday at the hospital. Because of the pandemic, she was to be discharged in 24 hours if all was well.
This was my sister’s third birth. Again, we traditionally parented our children. My sister and I both breastfed
7/ all of the children we gave birth to together. We were able to work and go to school through the support of the other sister.
My sister was discharged on that Friday, as planned. The hospital was adamant that she see a breastfeeding counselor that Sunday, in two days.
That,
In honor of the upcoming Native Breastfeeding Week (August 8-14), my sister and I wanted to highlight our community and the care they provide us.
Our tribe grows a variety of corns for our people and we’re able to nourish ourselves and children with these gifts. We’re Kiikaapoa.
9/ This space is inclusive of our journeys and who we are as people. We take care of this space and she takes care of us.
Our children have a relationship with the land their grandmothers were separated from. And the seeds my sister protects have a home.
I’m so happy to introduce, Keketiikaanemenaani, our inclusive garden.
Today I received the deed to land in a space where my people have historically been separated from. This land will be cared for by my family, we will grow Indigenous foods and medicines to care for community.
We have snow covering our grounds here and it’s customary to begin our storytelling.
I am a story teller, stories come to me and I help share them in ways that are understood by the audience. It’s a gift that I always remember having.
I’ll share one of my favorite stories. 1/
I hope you all take time to understand how violent October and November are for Native folks. We need our voices heard and uplifted during Indigenous People’s Day. Every Halloween we have to call out the racists who mock us through costumes. And thanksgiving, oh no. All harmful.
Good morning settler allies,
This will be a thread of Native folks you can pay your rent to on this colonial holiday.
(Native folks, please include your cash links in the replies.)
Two weeks ago, I wrote this playful tweet about allies helping get a home in my people’s lands. With so much support, we’re $4100 away from having 90% of this goal raised.
Thank you all for supporting through shares and donations! 💛
8/ space needed a name. We consulted a language speaker and explained what we wanted to call our space. He created a word for us, which is spiritual to us as our language is alive.
We created new life through this space. Her name is Keketiikaanemenaani, our inclusive garden.
I am the target of a violent man. He is a threat. Everyday he is stalking and harassing me.
I need you all to please take notice in this. There are threads and blogs written about him. He is actively harming Native women, two spirit, and non binary relatives.
Please stop calling the tribal office with your dna results asking for your “INDIAN INHERITANCE”. Ma’am, me and my friends are poor, passing $10 around on the internet.
Today our family is upset and outraged after attending a school event for one of our children.
At the end of the event, the school gave recognition to the students for completing the year through. They gave each student an award but they didn’t give one to our child.
4/ We are bear clan, we have responsibilities as such. We were given opposite names of each other as children. Shotheekwe and Keotekwe, two sister bears who everyone calls “the girls.” Sun and Moon. Liwanag and Giizhis.
Anyway, back to my sister’s dream. She had these seeds she
I met my partner Derek at a Native student conference. After my tribal college group left the conference, I called up my uncle who is a language instructor and asked for help writing a love letter.
Then I sent my love letter to Derek along with wild rice and jam for his grandma.
Happy
#IndigenousPeoplesDay
!
Today we celebrate our lives and the lives of our ancestors and children.
Today I invite settler allies to redistribute wealth directly to Indigenous relatives.
This will serve as a thread where Indigenous relatives can share their needs/links.
I tried something new and out of my comfort zone, making and selling charcuterie boxes.
I am hoping to have one sale per month, serving relatives on the rez and in town. This is my classic box, I’ll also be making a sweet version on Feb 14. 😊
2/ the time in our lives where we actively worked towards learning to care for land.
Our own journey doesn’t begin with us. The stories of our grandmothers lives help share who we are. During the Relocation Era, our grandparents were moved from their communities to California.
Our child was the only student who didn’t receive an award or certificate. Their reasoning for this was they forget.
We are so hurt. Our child is the only Native student in their class in an institution that is in a border town of a reservation.
Odé’s new dance beadwork is complete and has made it home to her.
It’s so beautiful! I’m filled with so much gratitude for the love and support our little Odé has from community here, thank you. 💙💙💙
Hello settler allies!
Today I invite you all to redistribute wealth directly to Native folks and their community causes.
We are nearing the end of
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
with time to learn how to build allyships!
Native relatives, please share your links and needs below!
I am watching y’all fund a white man’s childhood home fundraiser while everyday we’re sharing pleas for support to help Black and Native relatives stay housed.
7/ systems and institutions for generations, we become well versed in finding a way for ourselves.
And we found our way in front of the city council, requesting to buy land back from a place we were historically displaced from. The land called us and we found her.
Our growing
Settler allies!
It’s
#FourthOfJuly
, and while some of you may be celebrating, there are some Native folks who need direct aid.
Today we welcome you to redistribute wealth to Native relatives.
This will serve as a space where Native relatives can share their support requests.
Hey Native relatives,
Feeling someway about someone’s cousin shaming us for sharing our cash links?
Well, I have 12K followers who seem to not mind. We don’t need to hold shame for needing help. Post your links below.
Settler allies please RT or donate to Native folks in need.
3/They raised their children in this new urban setting away from family and land who loves them. It was an effort that could have taken all of our connections.
Fortunately, as children we made our way back to Kansas, the place our grandmother was taken from years before.
Whenever white vegans come after Indigenous folks, especially the monthly recycled conversations on twitter, I think about the stories we have as Indigenous people of our relationships w the plants.
They are literally our relatives. We have stories where our human relatives 1/
We are not going to hold any shame for needing help. These systems are violent and take everything possible from us.
There is no shame needing to be held by those of us surviving these systems and looking for happiness.
I don’t want to name the school or the town for safety, but this is very disheartening.
Our sweet little baby was left out of a celebration. And it’s not right.
Settler allies,
We are nearing a new month and I’ve noticed many Native folks needing help, from education costs to housing. It is a good time to share/redistribute wealth to Native relatives.
If you cannot donate, retweets are helpful.
Native folks share your links and needs!
5/ needed to protect. We tried our hand at growing on our reservation. The space we began growing at did not ultimately work out due to tribal politics.
So we ventured to find a new space. This was a great venture because we lived in border towns, the towns that surround
This will be a thread for Native students that may need a bit of help with supplies, books, fees..
The fall semester is beginning, if any Native students need some help, drop your links and hopefully someone out here on twitter can help.
Here's a reminder to white folks "learning" from Natives, you are not entitled to our time. We are not at your disposal for conversations, discussions, or to do research for you. Our time, labor, and knowledge is valuable and should be compensated as such.
Friendly word usage reminder: Native people did not LOSE their languages/cultures. They were taken through settler colonialism in effort to commit genocide of Indigenous peoples.
Hey white settler allies, there are many Native folks needing financial help lately. It’s a great time to reallocate that privileged wealth.
This will serve as a space for Native folks to share their cashlinks and needs. Please share/give.
(Native folks share your links below)
6/ reservations. These spaces are historically anti-Native. Anyway, the ones who owned land were rich white farmers who were known to harm the land and Native communities.
How would we find land with no money in these spaces? Well, after surviving colonial
TW.
If you haven’t noticed, there is an account missing on Native twitter that deactivated bc they have been exposed as a pedophile. I am so beyond disgusted because I had interactions with this person and they lied and tricked all of us under the guise of working to help MMIW.
my name is shotheekwe, i am a kiikaapoa and ilocano kwe, bear clan, big sister to anyone who wants to be siblings, i’m a sweetie and precious relative who is cared for, i lead my life with love and kindness.
💗💗💗
Happy Indigenous Peoples History Month! 💗
quote w/ a pic of yourselves n tell us something you’re proud of, or write a sweet msg to your inner child.
I’ll go first.
lil ari, you’re the ray of sunshine that’s deep within me, that gives me the strength I need to push forward.
Happy Native Heritage Month!
Today we begin celebrations of our unique cultures, languages, and identities.
If you’re a settler ally, support a local Native community or you can support the online Native community!
(Native relatives feel free to add your links or needs below.)
Did you ever see three sisters graduate together?
Representing all of the love their relatives shared with them?
Representing their families, clans, and communities?
Here we have graduates in Business Administration, Human Services, and Tribal Administration and Governance.
Hey white folks your proximity to Native people doesnt give you permission to recreate/use parts of culture that belong to those tribal people.
Maybe some Native folks invited u to a ceremony, feast, or event but that does not give you ownership to what youve witnessed/learned.
Hey settler allies,
Tomorrow is
#SettlerSaturday
and that is a day dedicated to settler allies giving back to Indigenous folks. If you have extra to share, you can even get a start tonight.
This will serve as a thread for mutuals to share their needs/links. Please RT!
I made a three sisters soup with buffalo tonight.
I don’t use salt when I cook with Indigenous foods, this is what the aunties taught me when they cooked for ceremony. Let’s hope this medicine heals my family.
I was at a powwow breastfeeding my baby in public. After my baby fell asleep an elder native man approached me asking if I was breastfeeding my baby. I thought "oh no he's gonna shame me.." Instead he told me he was happy to see me feeding openly like the women when he was young.
Settler allies!
Today we cannot hide from the violence of colonialism.
We want to transform this day to a day when settler folks redistribute wealth.
I invite you all to give directly to Native relatives.
This will serve as a thread where Natives can share their needs/links.
Allies!
It’s
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
, a time that recognizes the contributions Native people have given and continue to give.
One way to honor this is to give back to Native folks.
This post is for Native folks to share their cashlinks in effort to help those needing it.
I stayed up until 4AM to make this. It’s a maple cake with maple buttercream.
The maple syrup and maple sugar used in this cake are from a Native farm named Ziibimijwang Farm. 🍁
Hello settler allies!
Native relatives are needing support with basic living necessities as we enter a new month and new season of cold weather.
This will serve as a thread of Native folks who need direct aid. RTs help too!
(Native relatives please share your needs below.)
I made sixteen jars of blackberry jam today! This is most likely the last berry jam I’ll make this season.
I am so happy I was able to pick berries this summer and make jam. Maybe I’ll try peach jam next.
I’m nine followers from having 10k followers. 😅
Please know that I post fundraisers for Native community and my family quite a bit. I like to cook and create pretty desserts. I’m learning to care for a community garden as well.
Great news!
We closed on a house. 🙂I almost can’t believe it.
I don’t have pictures to share right now. My partner is working on the interior of the house for us. It has repairs needed, but its cute and ours.
Thank you friends for the love and support, more updates to come.💛
@shotheekwe
This Thanksgiving, I am asking settler allies for direct support as I am nearing my graduation date.
I am a Native mother of three, completing my last weeks of school to become a Licensed Addictions Counselor!
Please share!
or vnmo: kingkeote