In November we honor American Indian Heritage Month. One of these heritages is the land on which we and Coast Salish peoples live and worship.
The ELCA has recently declared their commitment to “strengthening our anti-oppression efforts with a greater focus on realizing justice and equity for Indigenous people.” (Learn more here.)
Prairie Rose Seminole, program director for the ELCA’s American Indian Alaska Native Ministries says, “I’m seeing people willing to put themselves in a space where they’re going to learn other narratives about who we are as a church, and that’s really promising to me because I feel that’s who we are as Lutherans. You are living your faith in action when you are questioning the truth around you and finding out what’s missing.”
In this spirit, we offer these resources for learning more and strengthening justice for indigenous people this month.
Watch:
The Guardians
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8150132/US. Interweaves the story of the threatened monarch butterfly with the life of a Purhepecha community whose ancestral lands are now part of Mexico’s protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere.
Princess Angeline
https://meaningfulmovies.org/events/princess-angeline-2/
Shop:
The Duwamish Tribal Longhouse Store for Christmas gifts
https://www.duwamishtribe.org/store
Read for yourself or with your children:
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard
Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Sharice Davids and Nancy K. Mays
Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock, by Aslan and Kelly Tudor
Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie
We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell
The River That Made Seattle: A Human and Natural History of the Duwamish by B.J. Cummings
Interview with author: https://crosscut.com/2020/06/how-duwamish-river-defined-seattle-and-could-again
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Find more here: https://coloursofus.com/32-native-american-childrens-books/
The ELCA’s American Indian and Alaska Native membership is around 4,850. The American Indian and Alaska Native Ministries works closely with 30 native congregations around the country.