NDN Collective Stories

Turning skinned knees into toughened bodies and deepened spirits.  Turning tragedy into unsuspecting beauty, blossoming over and over again. 

A poem by Mark Tilsen

I know what it’s like to grow up indigenous in a country and culture that does not embrace my features or skin-color. Coming of age in Michoacán and California, I was called names like ‘indita,’ ‘charilla’ and ‘oaxaquita’ – diminutive slurs meant to infantilize and demean indigenous people. As an anthropologist conducting fieldwork in Mexico,… Continued

Indigenous Nations today can transition our economies from colonial models to culturally responsive systems based on care, reciprocity and the regeneration of life.

We can’t erase the lasting effects of federal policy, but we can make a conscious choice to redefine our identity as Native people.

Reflecting on the many ways that we can better nourish our spirits and minds, heal our hearts, and strengthen ourselves and our families, these are more than just resolutions. These are also daily prayers.

"Indigenous communities are determining our own futures, powered by the Sun, Wind, and Water."

A New Book on Healing Funding Relationships and Philanthropy to Native America

Consider the songs, the kinship, the lineal seed keepers, and ceremonies that guided Indigenous cosmologies, landscapes and people. Those sacred commitments left no person hungry or without medicine or without worth.

While Native women are ready to make history this election, they will win only if their supporters vote.