Empowering Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in 2022.

Did you know that November is National Native American Heritage Month? 

One Spirit Learning Alliance is based in Lenapehoking, the ancestral home of the Lenape People, and our staff, students, and graduates live and work on the lands of many indigenous tribes and nations throughout the world. Due to the ravages of colonialism, genocide, and forced relocation, the Lenape People are currently dispersed throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the United States recognizes 574 indigenous tribes and nations within its borders, all survivors of colonial oppression and displacement, all enduringly connected to their ancestral lands. 

As the National Congress of American Indians writes, “[This] month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.”

With this in mind, we share below (and on our website) some practices and resources, and we hope you find them as rich as we do.  

Sacred Practice: Acknowledging the Land

To serve the creation of a better future, we need to understand the complex history that has led to us residing on the land we inhabit. But we must also examine our place within that history in the present day, for colonialism hasn’t ended: it’s an ongoing process, still alive in our systems and culture. Acknowledging the Land is one way we can increase our mindfulness of Indigenous Peoples and their enduring relationship with their traditional territories. 

• Native Land – locate and learn about the Indigenous people on the land you inhabit
  

• Native Governance Center – How to create your own indigenous land acknowledgment statement
  

• Insight Into Diversity – Acknowledging native land is a step against indigenous erasure

Additional Resources to Celebrate Indigenous People and Culture

• Pray: Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address – Download this prayer of thanksgiving to all the beings in the natural world (or click here to listen to the prayer in the original Mohawk language)
  

• Celebrate: National Native American Heritage Month – Learn the history and stories of Indigenous Americans through Exhibits, Collections, Audio & Video
  

• Learn: Critical Issues Affecting Tribes in the US from the Indian Law Resource Center: 

  • Ending Violence Against Native Women

  • Environmental Protection

  • Human Rights for indigenous peoples

  • Land Rights

  • Native Sovereignty and Self-Governance

  • Protecting Sacred Sites
    

• Read: the Work of Joy Harjo – the United States’ first Native American Poet Laureate 

  • Perhaps the World Ends Here ( video )

  • Remember ( video 2:03 )

  • Eagle Poem ( audio 1:01 )

  • Living Nations, Living Words: a map of First Peoples’ poetry
    
    

• Witness: Native Americans in National Leadership 

  • Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna and Jemez Pueblo) Secretary of the Interior (the first Native American cabinet secretary) from New Mexico

  • Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw) from Oklahoma

  • Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee) from Oklahoma

  • Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) from Kansas

  • Rep. Yvette Herrell (Cherokee) from New Mexico

  • Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele (Hawaiian) from Hawaii 
    

• Go Deeper: Indigenous Allyship This overview is rich with definitions, positive actions, learning materials, and resources for standing with our Indigenous allies. 
  

• California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center

  https://www.csusm.edu/cicsc/land.pdf

  
  Lenapehoking is the Lenape name for Lenape land, which spans from Western Connecticut to Eastern Pennsylvania, and the Hudson Valley to Delaware, with Manhattan at its center. Due to centuries of colonialism perpetuated by genocide, forced displacement, and systemic oppression, today the Lenape Diaspora is dispersed throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Lenape diaspora includes five federally recognized nations in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.
  

Empowering Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in 2022

Though the study of indigenous wisdom has been foundational to One Spirit’s training programs, we have sometimes fallen short through cultural appropriation, inadequate representation, and hesitancy to translate learning into action. However, as part of our antiracism efforts, we are currently taking action to disrupt and dismantle white supremacy and become better ancestors for future generations. 

• Decolonizing the Curriculum: All programs are being reviewed and reoriented to study world religions and indigenous culture without the historical filter of the white gaze. 

• Fair Share Tuition: We have overhauled tuition structures to attract a more economically diverse student body, including reserving 50% of the most discounted tuition tier for BIPOC students. 

• New Voices: We’re examining engagement and hiring practices to bring new voices into our classrooms from a wider variety of ancestral perspectives.

• Admissions: We are exploring ways to reach out to BIPOC communities and attract a more diverse student body to One Spirit’s events and programs.  

• Staff Training: All staff are receiving continuing education about systemic racism and the skills needed to facilitate experiences of true belonging for all students in our classrooms.

• Graduate Training: All grads will be invited to free post-graduate training so they may become better allies and join in sacred service that disrupts and dismantles white supremacy.

• Organizational structure: External consultants are performing an inventory of One Spirit’s structures, policies, and practices to ensure they reflect and empower our antiracism work and support a diverse workforce and community.

If you are moved to contribute to this amazing work, a handful of generous donors have pledged to double any gifts you make this season, up to $29,000. 

Celebrate the Holidays with One Spirit

• Join us for our annual Holiday Celebration on December 16th at 7PM to help us amplify and channel the energy of our antiracist work. 

• Gift a Free Application to a Friend with the code LUMINOUS – Please tell your friends and family about our new tuition structure and encourage them to apply! 

In the spirit of American Thanksgiving, we thank you for being a vital part of our community. We are humbled and grateful for the work we have done over the past year and for the work we have yet to do as we grow into becoming an antiracist spiritual organization. 

Thank you for your messages of support and for sharing our vision.