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| "Honesty," by Dazaunggee. |
Artist's Note
Truth and Reconciliation? I hear the apology, I cry, and I say thank you. I take the eagle feather and I wipe off the residue that is the legacy of that experience. I face the sons and daughters of the settlers and I say, okay I'm changing, what are YOU doing to change what you are carrying from your ancestors? You must change too. We all must make the change and make the effort to forgive ourselves and each other. Then we can be honest.
Honesty is about knowing and accepting who you are. Honesty is about being in the beautiful spirit you have - that we all have. What happened to people in residential schools, in the reserves, in the colonial diaspora left us with blankets of shame covering that spirit. Our people lost touch with their spirit and that's where the lies are about “believing”. I want my sisters and brothers from all cultures to gather courage to take the blankets off – one-by-one; piece-by-piece. When you take the blankets off, the spirit comes up like a flame. Then we can know the deep part of us and we can know who we are in honesty.
Both the raven and the sabe understand who they are and how to walk in their life. Sabe reminds us to be ourselves and not someone we are not. An honest person is said to walk tall like Kitchi-Sabe... Like Kitchi-Sabe, Raven accepts himself and knows how to use his gift. You can dance at powwows and do the sweat lodge, but if you don't do the work to know yourself as a human being you will not be able to embrace the real meaning of that culture and way of life.
You need to remove the shame of embracing what is yours.
Truth and Reconciliation? I hear the apology, I cry, and I say thank you. I take the eagle feather and I wipe off the residue that is the legacy of that experience. I face the sons and daughters of the settlers and I say, okay I'm changing, what are YOU doing to change what you are carrying from your ancestors? You must change too. We all must make the change and make the effort to forgive ourselves and each other. Then we can be honest.
Honesty is about knowing and accepting who you are. Honesty is about being in the beautiful spirit you have - that we all have. What happened to people in residential schools, in the reserves, in the colonial diaspora left us with blankets of shame covering that spirit. Our people lost touch with their spirit and that's where the lies are about “believing”. I want my sisters and brothers from all cultures to gather courage to take the blankets off – one-by-one; piece-by-piece. When you take the blankets off, the spirit comes up like a flame. Then we can know the deep part of us and we can know who we are in honesty.
Both the raven and the sabe understand who they are and how to walk in their life. Sabe reminds us to be ourselves and not someone we are not. An honest person is said to walk tall like Kitchi-Sabe... Like Kitchi-Sabe, Raven accepts himself and knows how to use his gift. You can dance at powwows and do the sweat lodge, but if you don't do the work to know yourself as a human being you will not be able to embrace the real meaning of that culture and way of life.
You need to remove the shame of embracing what is yours.