#the 1491s

[rezcowgirl]

This song has been in my head for a week and someone should just come kill me.

[perfectionistwannabe]

Theater Review: Between Two Knees

I don’t know who is on the Tony Awards committee, but whoever you are, I need to you to see this. I need you to vote for Between Two Knees. It may make you feel a little uncomfortable (especially, if you are white), but by the end of the show, you’ll feel a little differently about how you approach the subject of Native Americans. You know, that race of people that everyone seems to ignore when…

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[sephirajo]

so help me god Ryan Red Corn is the funniest son of a bitch on earth

[sephirajo]

also, ryan red corn is the funniest human to have ever fucking lived

[hist2000indigenousresistance]

The 1491s

The festival that hosted the 1491s was called “inPublic”. It was a public event, anyone who wanted to could go, but to me, it seemed that people more or less were there intentionally. 

There was a lot of Native people in the crowd, which makes sense because the 1491s are an Indigenous comedy group, and that’s probably who they are most popular with. I think in class we talked about the visibility of Native people. By not being portrayed everywhere, and only being portrayed in places like statues outside of Art Museums or other places where they are relegated to the past, this myth of “All the Real Indians Died Off” gets reinforced. But in this instance, it was a very open public event, with both Native presenters and many Native attendees. There were people from all different parts of “Turtle Island” from Alaska to Oklahoma, people who grew up on reservations, those who grew up in cities, all of them here at that event in Boston.

To my knowledge, I’ve never seen that many native people in Boston before. By seeing those people, and hearing them laugh and ask questions and banter with The 1491 members, it brought a lot more humanity to what we are learning and talking about it class. 

In the past when I’ve met native people it’s been in a formalized setting. Such as when I attended a powwow, or when I heard Adrienne Keene give a talk. There was this divide between us and them. But laughing together is powerful. It's a tool to build community (like this festival was all about) but also to recognize each other as people. People with our own individual cultures, communities, experiences, and knowledge.

After the festival, when I was talking about this with my classmate, I realized that not only did we get to experience this membership of audience with all these different people, indigenous and non-indigenous, but the fact that we were all watching indigenous people mattered too. 

From my experience as a marginalized identity, the ability to see yourself in public matters. To be able to exist simply as yourself without being politicized, matters. Seeing authentic reflections of yourself impacts your self-esteem, and seeing people like you, out and about in society, reinforces the idea that you are allowed to exist in public spaces. 

I feel like in that same way that I need to see my own identity reflected in public, Indigenous people also need to see their identities reflected in public. So even though the skit was “Ask and Indian”, which to me appeared to be aimed at non-native people, the skit was also for native people. A space for them to building community, and see each other (and themselves) in public spaces. And you could visibly see and hear that in the way that Native people in the audience asked their own questions and raised their own voices, and actively participated in the skit. 

[pteyetu-waste-win]

Bad Indians by Ryan Red Corn. The 1491s.

[exorpiona]

I'M GOING TO SEE THE 1491s TONIGHT! 😢😭🙌

[exorpiona]

There's a big chance I may be able to see the 1491's at HSU tomorrow night! 😃🙏