Rosalie Fish Rosalie Fish got my attention when this picture showed up on my feed a couple of months ago. Spokane tribal member Alex Flett took the picture as the 17-year-old high school student ran in her last track meet for the Muckleshoot Tribal Schools. A member of the Cowlitz tribe, she took that opportunity to publicize the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement (#MMIW), a call for action to solve the murders and the mysteries, and to change the culture that allows it to happen. To do that, she painted a red hand over her mouth "to speak for those who couldn't speak for themselves" and wrote MMIW down her leg.
Yesterday I was reading an article about indigenous gender identity. Before the "Great Colonial Flood," the indigenous tribes were pretty cool and laid back about what made a man or a woman and gays (Two Spirits) were accepted as the norm and were in fact considered to be a blessing if a Two Spirit was part of your family. Many tribes also were matriarchal with at least one where the women owned just about everything while their husbands owned just their medicines and weapons. Of course, this all was disrupted big time when Europeans arrived with their God. Part of the genocide that followed was the White Man's attempt to beat the "devil" out of the 500 Tribes through any means necessary. Over time the role of women in the tribes was diminished because the Judeo-Christian God said men were supposed to be in charge and women were to be subservient to them. Violence against Indigenous women and the people of Two Spirits grew and often became minimized or dismissed both within and outside of Indigenous communities.
The article made me think of Rosalie's red hand painted across her mouth as she ran alone and bravely for all of those who have been killed or are missing. I couldn't shake that bloody red hand out of my head and wondered why I never saw this malignant behavior towards women in the New Seminole. Instead, I saw the most romantic and supportive relationship between Nokosee's parents. Busimanolotome Osceola, founder of the New Seminole, led by example and his son paid attention-- Nokosee is the most loving and supportive husband a woman could want.
And then I saw this new hand evolving behind my eyes which symbolizes a family of colors. I rounded up the usual suspects at the Miccosukee Embassy and made prints of Nokosee's, mine, and Haalie's hands. This is who we and the NS are: a tribe of many colors, young and old, gay and straight fighting for Gaia.
Yesterday I was reading an article about indigenous gender identity. Before the "Great Colonial Flood," the indigenous tribes were pretty cool and laid back about what made a man or a woman and gays (Two Spirits) were accepted as the norm and were in fact considered to be a blessing if a Two Spirit was part of your family. Many tribes also were matriarchal with at least one where the women owned just about everything while their husbands owned just their medicines and weapons. Of course, this all was disrupted big time when Europeans arrived with their God. Part of the genocide that followed was the White Man's attempt to beat the "devil" out of the 500 Tribes through any means necessary. Over time the role of women in the tribes was diminished because the Judeo-Christian God said men were supposed to be in charge and women were to be subservient to them. Violence against Indigenous women and the people of Two Spirits grew and often became minimized or dismissed both within and outside of Indigenous communities.
The article made me think of Rosalie's red hand painted across her mouth as she ran alone and bravely for all of those who have been killed or are missing. I couldn't shake that bloody red hand out of my head and wondered why I never saw this malignant behavior towards women in the New Seminole. Instead, I saw the most romantic and supportive relationship between Nokosee's parents. Busimanolotome Osceola, founder of the New Seminole, led by example and his son paid attention-- Nokosee is the most loving and supportive husband a woman could want.
And then I saw this new hand evolving behind my eyes which symbolizes a family of colors. I rounded up the usual suspects at the Miccosukee Embassy and made prints of Nokosee's, mine, and Haalie's hands. This is who we and the NS are: a tribe of many colors, young and old, gay and straight fighting for Gaia.
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